West Virginia District Office Success Stories

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SBA Funding Brings New Concept in Total Car Care to Morgantown

On any given day in Morgantown it can be extremely difficult to maneuver through the streets of this thriving metropolis. From the traffic generated by West Virginia University, local hospitals, small businesses and federal agencies, automobiles are...

SBA-Guaranteed Loan Keeps Resort Zipping Along

Historically, when Ernie Kincaid and Jerry Cook take on a project at ACE Adventure Resort in Minden, W.Va., they approach it a little differently than other business owners might. The owners of the 1,500 plus acres of wilderness nestled along the...

Martinsburg-based Firm Receives First Government Contract

Strategic Resolution Experts, Inc. (SRE), a 100 percent woman/veteran-owned small disadvantaged business, signed their first federal contract with the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service. SRE, owned by Jeannette King and...

Woman-Owned Small Business Lands First Government Contract

A-Zone Environmental Service, LLC (A-Zone), a small woman-owned disadvantaged company, signed their first federal contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District. A-Zone, based in Charles Town, W.Va., is a participant in the U.S....

Small Business Owner Receives 7(a) Loan, Access to Credit Line

It has been said by small business owners many times and in various ways, but Richard Kerns, Chief Operating Officer for Troy, LLC in Harrisville, W.Va. is quite sincere when he stated, “In all honesty, we wouldn’t be here today...

Minority-Owned Business Achieves High Growth and Success with 8(a) Program

Jay Reddy has lofty goals for his company. He not only wants to become the most successful small business in West Virginia, but be recognized as one of the best in the entire country as well. By the way, his company has been growing, it might not...

Small Business Owner Receives SBA Loans for Start-up, Growth

Mike Harris knew at an early age what he wanted to do when he grew up. While the neighborhood kids were out playing games and riding bicycles, Mike was hard at work at Home Industry, the local bakery shop. This small business began about 100...

Small Business Owner Receives 7(a) Loan for Start-up Capital, Starts Exporting

Did you ever wonder while sitting on an airliner at a boarding gate how the lights and air conditioning/heating system worked without those noisy jet engines running? Well, you can thank a small business located in Morgantown West Virginia that...

SBDC Helps Small Business Owner Through Business Plan, Gain Access to 7(a) Loan

Edward “Beau” Necco is making a significant difference in the lives of hundreds children in Kentucky and Ohio, and soon, in West Virginia. And it all began with a U.S. Small Business Administration loan packaged by the Marshall...

Woman-owned Business Receives Help from SBDC for Start-up, Growth

Robin Hildebrand, president of Blue Smoke Inc. in Ansted, is in many ways a typical West Virginia small business entrepreneur but in other ways quite unique. Born in rural West Virginia, the 12th of 14 children, Robin’s family supplemented...

8(a) Small Business Owner Receives 7(a) Loans, Government Contracts

For a little over a decade, Craig Hartzell has been looked to as a leader in the West Virginia technology movement. He’s extremely proud of his company’s accomplishments and successes, which he attributes to their involvement in the...

Small Business Owner Receives 504 Loan to Re-build Business

When a fire on Sept. 12, 2003, destroyed the three saw mills that constituted the heart and soul of Mill Creek Builders Supply, it was a big blow, not only to the company, but also to the town of Mill Creek, W.Va. This small business, with...

Minority-Owned Business Finds Success Through 8(a) Program, Mentor-Protege Relationship

Entrepreneurship is a familiar word to Chirag Patel. He was just 5 years old when his parents, Pravin and Tara, relocated to West Virginia from New Jersey to open the Heldreth Motel and Restaurant in Kingwood. That small business venture has...

SBDC and Other Resource Partners Help Small Business Owner with Start-up

Introduced by mutual friends, Jim Bostic and Denver McMillion quickly connected, built a high level of trust and combined their diverse professional backgrounds to form a manufacturing company. Needing some assistance to put together a good...

SBDC Helps Small Business Owner Gain Access to Microloans for Start-up

Following a lay-off by Nisource (Columbia Gas), 20-year veteran Richard Shell tirelessly searched the Internet before finding the right franchise opportunity. Once he determined the type of business would best suit his entrepreneurial desire, he...

SBDC and SCORE Guide Small Business Owner Through Start-up

After scribbling a list of her abilities and the names of potential clients on a napkin in a local restaurant, Kathleen DuBois decided to start her own marketing firm but needed a little help to get it started. That’s when she turned to the...

Small Business Owner Attends SBDC Workshop, Increases Net Profits

After spending 15 years as an accountant and later a financial consultant, Jamie Dickenson awoke one morning divinely inspired. “Your kids and money are your most precious assets,” she observes. “How can you spend more time...

Small Business Owner Receives 7(a) Loan

Larry and Margaret Brown, owners of Weston Transfer Inc. and Jack’s Septic Inc. located in Weston, West Virginia, have been in business since 1979. Margaret is president of Jack’s Septic Inc. and Larry is the president of Weston...

SBDC Helps Small Business Owner with Options, Working Capital with 7(a) Loan

Jeff Smoot, owner of Sahara Dry Basement, LLC, located in Martinsburg, West Virginia, is smiling as he watches his latest television commercial. In the ad, he’s sitting on the couch in the den with his wife, Stephanie. The couple is reading...

Small Business Owner Receives Access to Funds for Start-up and Growth

Jean Hawks has had to overcome a lot of challenges throughout her business career, but it hasn’t affected the outlook she has on life. Hawks, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Fort Hill Child Development Center in Charleston, WV,...

Small Business Owner Receives Continued Support from SBDC, SCORE

Larry Zaccagnini is opening lots of doors for companies in West Virginia. No, he isn’t a doorman at some exotic resort or hotel, but the owner of a small business called Capital Doors located in Fairmont. “We install and service...

SBDC, SCORE Helps Family-owned Small Business with Business Plan and Start-up, Receives 7(a) Loan

D.J.’s Diner located in Fairmont, WV, a family-owned restaurant specializing in classic American style food, is a classic example of how hard work can lead to success. It is also a good illustration of how the road to success is not without...

Small Business Owner Receives Guidance for Government Contracting, Provides Workshops for Youth

Little did Dallas Boyers realize when he opened a feed and farm supply store in the Marion county area in 1952 that it would evolve into one of the largest John Deere dealerships in West Virginia whose products can be found all over the world....

Small Business Owner Receives Recognition for Exemplary Performance

Jon Hammock believes that in order to create a successful high-technology business whose focus is on government contracts, you don’t have to be located within the D.C. beltway. If fact, you don’t even have to leave the state of West...

Woman-owned Business Receives First Federal Contract

Healthcare Management Solutions, LLC, a woman-owned, small disadvantaged firm, signed their first federal contract with the Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The company, based in...

Minority-Owned Business Achieves High Growth with 8(a) Program

Jay Reddy, Chief Executive Officer and founder of ProLogic, Inc., a Fairmont W.Va.-based Information Technology (IT) firm, is determined to make the firm one of the best small businesses in the nation. Judging by the announcement in the...

Veteran-owned Business Receives Access to Start-up Capital

From the ground to the moon, there is no limiting FMW Composite Systems, Inc., a small veteran-owned firm located in Bridgeport, W.Va. Fresh on the heals of the successful delivery of a super lightweight carrier to the National Aeronautical and...

Lender Provides Express Loans for Small Businesses

United Bank, Inc., with offices located throughout West Virginia is one of the newest lenders participating in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s SBAExpress Loan Program, announced Judy K. McCauley, director of the Agency’s West...

Small Business Owner Expands with 504 Loan, Adding Jobs

Cubby’s Child Care Center, a Bridgeport, W.Va. small business has seen its share trials and tribulations the past year. After having their request for having property within the city limits of Bridgeport rezoned for expansion of a new...

Veteran-owned Business Receives Patriot Express Loan, Contracting Opportunities

Jason Kuhn and Evan Kranzley, president and vice president of J&E Technical Services located in Martinsburg, W.Va. faced a dilemma. They needed a business loan to purchase a portable X-ray device for their fledgling business to perform non-...

Service-disabled Veteran Small Business Owner Named 2008 Small Business Person of the Year

There are companies that start up and soon fizzle. There are companies that start up, struggle, and slowly grow. Then, there are companies that start up and seem to take off like a rocket, up to the sky and beyond. Such seems to be the case for...

Native-American Woman-owned HUBZone Small Business Grows with Access to Government Contracts

Judy Sheppard is a lot like the Energizer Bunny. As the president and CEO of Professional Services of America, Inc. (PSA, Inc.), Sheppard is constantly on the go seeking business opportunities for her human resources and human resources...

Small Business Owner Named 2009 Small Business Person of the Year

Joe Lillard relocated to the Berkeley Springs area 35 years ago from the Washington D.C. metro area to try his hand at farming. But it was farming that eventually directed him to homeopathic medicine and entrepreneurship. That journey from country...

Small Business Owner Named 2010 Small Business Exporter of the Year

Scott Hedges and Mike Grady make a powerful team. As president and vice president of Power Sonix Inc., located in Martinsburg, this dynamic duo has designed and manufactured the most effective aircraft loud hailer systems available, gaining them a...

Minority-Owned Business Named 2010 Minority Small Business Champion

As a small business owner since 2001, Diane Lewis measures success in various ways. The president of Action Facilities Management, a site support company based in Morgantown, has grown her business from a 2-person operation to its current level of...

Woman-owned Business Named 2010 Women in Business Champion of the Year

Whether it is spearheading a meeting for a local women’s group, organizing an annual women’s conference, passing along business advice in a networking situation, or setting an example for her two young daughters, Kara Gray loves...

Small Business Owner Named Family-owned Small Business of the Year

When L.J. Hughes came to West Virginia from Indiana, Pa. in 1942 to do an exploratory drilling project he probably never realized he was embarking on an entrepreneurial endeavor that would extend through four generations of the Hughes family. L....

Young Green Business Owner

Although young in terms of age, 27-year-old Jalon “Jay” Petre is anything but when it comes to small business experience. As president of Renick Millworks, LLC, an environmentally friendly company specializing in wood products that...

Service-disabled Veteran Named Small Business Person of the Year

Things have changed over the past 20 years for Craig Hartzell and his company, Azimuth Inc. The Service Disabled Veteran-owned Small Business specializing in engineering, fabrication and engineering services in support of the U.S. Department of...

Lender Helping Small Business Owners Create Jobs through ARC, ARRA

One West Virginia lender has taken the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) charge of “helping to unlock the small business lending market to get capital flowing” very seriously. Main Street Bank, headquartered in Wheeling,...

Service-disabled Veteran Small Business Owner Receives 7(a) Loan for Start-up Capital

In the late 1980’s, Craig Hartzell had a desire to create a company that could successfully compete for- and win- Department of Defense contracts. The U.S. Army Special Forces veteran was aware there were business opportunities with the...

Minority-owned Business Named 2009 Minority Small Business Person of the Year

Kathy Clinton, president and owner of Performance Results Corporation (PRC), headquartered in Morgantown, W.Va., was recognized as West Virginia’s 2009 Minority Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA...

8(a) Certified Business Receives First Government Contract

Allegheny Technology Corporation (ATC), a small woman-owned, disadvantaged company, signed their first federal contract with the NASA IV&V Facility in Fairmont, W.Va. The company, based in Weston, W.Va., is a participant in the U.S. Small...

Woman-owned Business Receives Express Loans, CAPLine Contract Loan

TTi Technologies, Inc., a small woman-owned, technology solutions provider based in Wheeling, W.Va., has partnered with Vista Research, Inc. on a multi-million dollar contract to continue developing and testing low-cost small sensor technology for...