Michelin has awarded more than $160,000 to five small businesses in the South Carolina Upstate region through the Michelin Development program.
Michelin Development, a program run by Michelin North America to support the economic growth and development in local communities, has helped to create more than 600 jobs since 2009 in the Upstate alone.
These five new businesses are receiving financial support as well as access to Michelin’s extensive network of professionals and experts in order to start or continue the growth of their operations. Some businesses are receiving another round of funding, following their success with the program initially.
Since 2009, Michelin Development has awarded 66 loans worth more than $3 million to businesses across the 10 counties of the Upstate region in South Carolina.
The five new loan recipients are:
Bee Fruitful — Bee Fruitful provides raw materials such as plant pollens, dust and insect venoms to pharmaceutical companies for the production of allergen immunotherapy products. Bee Fruitful also offers pollination services to small farms and produces and distributes local raw honey to local farmers markets and natural organic grocery stores. The company has plans to become a significant honeybee hive provider for the pollination of agricultural crops in the Southeast United States. The loan from Michelin Development will be used to buy inventory and equipment to grow the business.
In Loving Hands Home Health Care — Ebony Clayborne, owner of In Loving Hands Home Health care has more than 20 years of experience in home healthcare. The company provides services and support to adults of all needs, including new mothers, elderly and people with disability. In Loving Hands Home Health currently services homes and provides care for residents of Greenville County. The loan will be used to purchase equipment and hire trained employees
Palmetto Surface Solutions — Palmetto Surface Solutions provides pavement maintenance services for commercial parking lots. Work is done across the southeast, primarily in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. With an initial loan from Michelin Development in 2013, the company was able to secure 320 projects across three states and hire several part time employees. Since then, the company has tripled in size and will use the new loan to purchase additional equipment to support the company’s growth.
Sparkle City Gymnastics -- Sparkle City Gymnastics will serve children in the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan area. We will teach them basic and advanced gymnastics skills while improving their overall health. The facility will house Olympic gymnastics equipment to foster the proper development of gymnasts from a wide range of physical backgrounds. We will start each student with the core elements of gymnastics, which include basic skills and full body conditioning. Once basic skills are established, more difficult skills will be introduced on an appropriate basis. Creativity in teaching methods will set us apart from our competitors, using both repetition and variation. We believe that a child must have fun and truly enjoy what he or she is doing to learn successfully. Our safety-certified teachers will be trained in such a way that will produce both positive physical and mental effects on the children. The MD Loan is used to buy equipment.
Vision 2 Destiny —Vision 2 Destiny is a transportation company that offers long-haul freight transportation as well as logistics, assembly, sequencing and manufacturing services. Vision 2 Destiny received its first Michelin Development loan in 2011 and with the support was able to grow the business, hire more than 40 new employees and buy more equipment... Vision 2 Destiny is a minority-owned small businesses based in Spartanburg SC. The new Michelin Development loan is used to buy equipment and hire professional drivers.
Michelin Development provides low-interest loans and business expertise to start-ups and small businesses in key regions in which Michelin has operations and facilities. The Upstate of South Carolina is home to Michelin’s North America headquarters and several major tire facilities. Michelin Development programming has supported economically and socially disadvantaged small-business owners here since 2009.
To learn more about Michelin Development programs or apply for a loan, visit www.michelindevelopment.com.