39 minute read
Full CEA details
Meet this year’s CEA winners
Who would you invest $100,000 in?
That’s one of the pieces of advice we give our Coastal Entrepreneur Award judges each year when they’re faced with the task of making their picks. Who shows high-growth potential?
Who is making a name for themselves and cutting through the noise? Who, out of these stacks and stacks of nominations, do you see as entrepreneurial? Our panel of outside judges deliberated and picked the 11 category winners in this year’s CEA process. The winning companies represent fields ranging from tech startups to manufacturing to retail. This year, the Business Journal added a category recognizing minority-owned businesses for the judges to consider. The nominations, submitted to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal from company employees, directors, clients and in some cases just outside admirers, represent a cross-section of the region’s business community.
The awards are a joint effort between the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) and the Business Journal to identify and recognize fast-growing organizations and businesses with the potential to make a significant impact on the region.
You can read more about the companies that rose to the top of their categories this year on the following pages.
One of them will be named the 2021 Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year. Keep an eye out on our website (WilmingtonBiz. com) and social media channels for the announcement of this year’s event to name the overall winner.
One thing that hasn’t changed over the years in the awards program is the Stanley Cup of Southeastern North Carolina entrepreneurship – the CEA surfboard.
This year’s Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year adopts the wooden surfboard – custom made by local nonprofit and former category winner Kids Making It – to proudly display at its office for the next year after it’s been passed down from a long line of successful companies that also have earned the title.
So jump in, find out this year’s category winners and send them a note of congrats. Vicky Janowski, editor Greater Wilmington Business Journal vjanowski@WilmingtonBiz.com (910) 343-8600, ext. 208 On Twitter: @vickyjanowski
Janowski
JUDGING THE APPLICANTS
The Coastal Entrepreneur Awards (CEA) is run by the Greater Wilmington Business Journal and the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
CEA’s goal is to shine a spotlight on upand-coming companies, helping them make connections in the community as well as showcase the region’s entrepreneurial activity.
The competition involves two rounds of judging in which the applicants are judged on two criteria: Is the organization entrepreneurial? Of those that are entrepreneurial, which organization is most likely to be financially successful? For nonprofits, the standard is which is likely to have the most impact.
First, all the applications are evaluated by representatives of area business groups and the competition’s sponsors to determine the category winners. During the second round of evaluations with more detailed information, the judges select the Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year. The judges were:
MICHAEL BARRON, Quality Chemical Laboratories LLC CHAKEMA CLINTON-QUINTANA, Live Oak Bank JERRY COLEMAN, CFCC’s Small Business Center DIANE DURANCE, UNCW CIE DANA FISHER, North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce JUSTIN HUMPHRIES, The Humphries Law Firm RANDALL JOHNSON, N.C. Biotechnology Center Southeastern office HARRY KIOKO, Canapi Ventures CLAY MCLEAN, Live Oak Bank HEATHER MCWHORTER, SBTDC TAMMY PROCTOR, Pender County Government SARA RALEIGH, SCORE Cape Fear APRIL SCOTT, Brunswick Community College’s Small Business Center JC SMITH, Live Oak Bank ARWYN SMITH, Burgaw Area Chamber of Commerce JEFFREY STITES, Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce JASON WHEELER, Pathfinder Wealth Consulting ADRIAN WILSON, CloudWyze
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Meeting needs in Pender County
BY CECE NUNN
Sandy Harris didn’t plan on becoming the volunteer executive director of Pender County Christian Services.
But Harris, whose husband is a minister, started volunteering at PCCS about 23 years ago after an accident sidelined her from her career as a medical office manager.
“I was called to this. This is not a job,” she said. “This is a mission. … when you’re called by the Lord, you don’t tell him what you’re going to do or not do. He tells you what you’re going to do. My heart is to help people in need.”
PCCS is a multi-faceted nonprofit organization catering to people in need in Pender County. In addition to providing food, clothing and furniture, it also serves as a referral agency and a disaster response organization; prepares individuals for a working environment; offers case management for those in need; operates the local Emergency Food Assistance Program, a federal program; and often helps supplement families in need with their electric bills, prescriptions and rent, said Barbara Hardin, PCCS Board of Directors chair and media representative.
“PCCS also works with area churches to provide backpacks for school-age children that are at risk of going hungry on weekends. PCCS is a partner with the Pender Long Term Recovery Group and is working diligently on the Unmet Needs Committee to identify those that are in need of assistance,” Hardin said. “Great strides were made in 2020 to provide more nutritional supplements to the elderly and cancer patients in need. Ensure and Glucerna are provided to these clients, as well as incontinence supplies.”
Hardin said in 2020, PCCS served more than 23,000 families and 53,444 individuals with food and clothing.
“PCCS has actually seen a major upward trend in the past several years for the need to assist with food and supplemental needs,” Hardin said. “In addition to those who lost their homes and businesses, many have lost their jobs or have had their hours cut.”
Because of the increase in need and the growth of PCCS, the agency has already filled a 2018 addition at its current facility at 210 W. Fremont St. in Burgaw.
As a result, Harris is in the process of a capital campaign and the search for property to hold a 20,000-squarefoot structure.
When it comes to funding sources, Harris said one of her favorite phrases is “unity through community.”
“We have a tight-knit community here of businesses, churches and individuals that support Pender County Christian Services and have for many years,” she said.
She said the agency also gets grants from foundations and donations from individuals outside Pender County. Harris said PCCS also has relationships with other nonprofit organizations to help meet the need for services.
In the end, Harris said she is “privileged and honored to serve the citizens of Pender County. It has helped me grow tremendously with my relationships and partnerships and I’ve met a lot of fine people. The joy of what I do is getting to tell my story and getting to let people know what we do.”
NONPROFIT | PENDER COUNTY CHRISTIAN SERVICES
SANDY HARRIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | YEAR FOUNDED: 1982 | EMPLOYEES: 3
PHOTO BY ARIS HARDING
Gym app does some of the lifting
BY TERESA MCLAMB
While it sounds like a simple idea, it’s one that isn’t widely available: go to the gym on your schedule any time of day or night when it works for your life.
But it is at the heart of Hybrid Athlete Foundation’s app, which allows that convenience for the athlete and security for the facility owner.
President and founder Albert Steed explained that the app came from years of working in software development while actively engaging in various athletic pursuits.
Steed, who earned a management information systems degree at UNCW, worked in tech support, IT development, clinical IT development and then computer information.
While in his last position, he founded a small gym, and six months later a software company, True IP Solutions.
When the gym Steed and his friends belonged to was sold, he and his wife started a gym in 1,200 square feet.
“We thought maybe 20 people would come; 50 showed up,” he said.
They expanded to 4,000 square feet and ran the business for almost three years before selling it.
It was there they implemented a keycard access control system. Interest from other gym owners intrigued him, so work began on the app.
“Everything is tailored for the gym owners. That’s the biggest driver,” Steed said.
Through the app, the owner can verify that the member signs a waiver, agrees to the club rules, is up to date on dues, etc. Owners can know in real time who is in the facility. Wilmington clients include CrossFit Carolina Beach, CrossFit Wilmington, FitMo Fitness and Training and Essential CrossFit.
“From an insurance perspective, when you use a keycard, you have to have phones and a lanyard. [The insurance company] doesn’t know if you have a functioning phone. With our app, they know you have a cell phone. Insurance agencies love that because they know there’s a phone nearby to make a call if they get hurt. We have an endorsement from one of the largest fitness insurers in our country,” Steed said.
They worked together to produce a best practice guide for 24/7 access gyms to be safe and compliant, he said.
Since startup, the company has expanded into almost 250 gyms in eight English-speaking countries including Canada and Australia, Steed said. The technology is built such that it can work anywhere in the world with a bit of customization for the local language.
It is designed to integrate with the top six gym management systems, which allows owners to use both systems for more complete control of their businesses. The design allows Steed’s system to be a value-added partner rather than a competitor, he said.
Steed said, “The fun thing about Hybrid is that it was started in Wilmington. I’m a UNCW grad; two of the other partners, brothers Matt and Paul Murray, are UNCW grads. The other partner, Phillip Tabor, is in Raleigh and handles the sales side.”
INTERNET-RELATED | HYBRID ATHLETE FOUNDATION
ALBERT STEED, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER | YEAR FOUNDED: 2016 | EMPLOYEES: 4
PHOTO BY ARIS HARDING
An inclusive space for startups
BY JENNY CALLISON
Envisioned by husband-andwife team Girard and Tracey Newkirk, Genesis Block provides business development services that support small business owners, entrepreneurs and early-stage startups. Its mission is to build an entrepreneur class in Wilmington that is inclusive of everyone, while having a special focus on ventures led by minorities and women.
“The company has a vision to become the anchor organization for minority- and women-owned business services and economic development in Southeastern North Carolina,” Girard Newkirk said. “Genesis Block combines coworking, meeting and event spaces with educational programs and technology to create dynamic service offerings for small business owners.”
Three “Cs” form the basis for Genesis Block’s culture. The company emphasizes “community” connections to engage its clients with their environment and enhance the community as a whole. It promotes “collaboration” over competition as a way to strengthen the entire entrepreneur class. And it aims to foster an environment that encourages “creativity.”
Since its founding, Genesis Block has gained a number of tenants and clients, as well as funding. For example, in December, Genesis Block received $50,000 as one of eight recipients in the state of an N.C. Black Entrepreneurship Council ECOSYSTEM grant. Early this year, New Hanover County officials agreed to award the company $25,000 in economic development funds.
Even during a year-plus of COVID-19 restrictions, the company has formed partnerships to represent and advocate for the interests of small businesses in the area. Those partners include ResilNC, Cape Fear Collective, NC IDEA, CastleBranch and New Hanover County. It also collaborated with Cucalorus and University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on this year’s 10x10 Challenge, a pairing of startups and filmmakers to produce short promotional videos.
In January, Genesis Block launched the area’s first Minority Accelerator and has seen it blossom in the first quarter. Nearly 90 firms applied to be part of it.
Genesis Block now has 47 community members, 38 companies in its business community and 15 sponsorship partners. Black-owned businesses compose 68% of its clients and tenants, while women-owned businesses represent 71%. Genesis Block has offered 23 small business workshops in the first quarter, with more than 350 people attending. The Newkirks also launched the Genesis List, a directory of area Black-owned businesses.
Girard Newkirk himself is an entrepreneur. His tech venture, KWHCoin, seeks to combine renewable energy and blockchain technology to provide off-the-grid energy to customers all over the world. In 2019, KWHCoin was a Coastal Entrepreneur Award winner in the Emerging Company category.
Tracey Newkirk is a business consultant and co-founder of the African American Business Council, which is allied with the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES | GENESIS BLOCK | GIRARD NEWKIRK, CEO
& TRACEY NEWKIRK, PRESIDENT | YEAR FOUNDED: 2019 | EMPLOYEES: 3
PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER
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Topsail Steamer continues to gather steam
BY JENNY CALLISON
Inspired by her experiences of summer seafood cookouts on the Jersey Shore when she was growing up, Danielle Mahon decided to share the experience of a low country boil with folks in coastal North Carolina.
Soon after she and her family moved to the state, she developed her signature offering – seasoned, readyto-cook seafood in a metal pot – and opened a location in Topsail Island in 2017. Since then she has opened a store in Wrightsville Beach as well as two in her native New Jersey: one in Ocean City and one in Long Island Beach.
Topsail Steamer’s seafood comes from local sources whenever possible, according to Mahon.
“Any ingredient that is available in the local market, we will source there,” she said. “In North Carolina, we get local shrimp, oysters and clams. In New Jersey, we can get local scallops, clams and oysters. ”
Customers can choose from a variety of ingredients and seasonings for their boil, order online or by phone and arrange a time to pick up their order. The business model made for an easy transition once COVID hit.
Even before then, Mahon had begun exploring ways to ship their product, having experienced the impact Hurricane Florence had in 2018. The company, she said, secured a resilience recovery loan from Thread Capital after the hurricane.
“It allowed us to prepare for the next catastrophe that would negatively impact our business. How would we ship our product to customers who could not get to us? We were thinking ‘natural disaster.’”
After studying options for 18 months, in January 2020 Topsail Steamer applied to Goldbelly, a national food delivery service, and was accepted by the company. Through Goldbelly, Topsail Steamer now ships its pots to all 50 states.
“The timing was pretty serendipitous; we wound up getting completely ready [to offer shipping] at the beginning of March 2020. With the pandemic, we saw demand rise at all four of our locations and across the country,” she said.
That demand is driving plans to open stores in Sea Isle City, New Jersey, and Bethany Beach, Delaware, this summer. Mahon said her team continues to look at more markets in North Carolina and farther south along the Atlantic coast.
“We knew we were successful from our first couple of stores and saw substantial growth during the pandemic,” she said. “More people were seeking us out over the past year because of circumstances – restaurants were closed and people were staying home. But now we see lots of celebrations and gifting and vacations. The local beach towns are completely booked right now: We’re seeing that in North Carolina and New Jersey, so we’re looking ahead at our busiest season.”
Danielle Mahon’s son Jimmy Mahon in the company’s CEA nomination credits his mother for setting the entrepreneurial pace, and adventurous spirit, of the enterprise.
“Danielle’s energy,” he wrote, “drives our Steam Team to bring the coastal experience to our customers every day, which means we treat people like family, connect our work to our community – and have fun!”
RETAIL & HOSPITALITY | TOPSAIL STEAMER
DANIELLE MAHON, FOUNDER | YEAR FOUNDED: 2017 | EMPLOYEES: 25
PHOTO BY TERAH WILSON
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SeaTox sees an ocean of potential
BY SCOTT NUNN
Covering nearly three quarters of Earth’s surface, the ocean is one of the planet’s most valuable natural resources. Although it’s already the primary food source for 3.5 billion people, scientists believe the ocean could supply six times more food than it does today. And that bounty goes beyond food. Pharmaceutical companies increasingly are looking to the oceans for the development of new drugs.
Whether as a vital source of food or a new, life-saving drug, the ocean has the potential to “improve global health and well-being,” a goal that drives Wilmington’s SeaTox Research Inc., a small company with an oceansize vision.
Based at UNCW’s CREST Research Park, in Myrtle Grove along the Intracoastal Waterway, SeaTox focuses on two main areas – drug discovery and development of natural products into new bioactives, and developing faster, easier-to-use testing for toxins that can contaminate commercial seafood.
The firm, founded in 2013 by wifeand-husband biologists Jennifer and Sam McCall, also provides contract research services.
“We really want to take technologies and take them to where they can be of benefit to mankind,” Sam McCall said recently.
As part of its consulting work, SeaTox also helps other researchers who want to turn a discovery or idea into a usable product or service. That includes practical issues such as grant writing, finding investors and navigating the complex world of regulation and intellectual property protection.
It’s an important and familiar service in Wilmington’s entrepreneur world but, in this case, it’s catered specifically to marine-science products and services.
“There are a lot of really, really bright people that have amazing ideas, particularly here in Wilmington,” Sam McCall said. “Scientists are amazing experts on their technology. They know everything about it. They’ve spent years developing it. They’ve spent years studying everything surrounding it, but they may not necessarily know how to commercialize it.
“We partner with people and we look at these ideas and say, all right, if we can drive this small amount of data that will make this idea more attractive, because then maybe you can get a grant, and if we take this grant and build up a larger portfolio of data, then maybe you can get an investor. And once you’ve gotten that investor, maybe you can build out the portfolio.”
Like most entrepreneurs, the McCalls are developing products and services that fill needs in the marketplace.
SeaTox’s research so far has resulted in three commercial – albeit highly specialized – products: three types of test kits that can easily and quickly identify toxins in certain marine life. The primary customers are agencies that manage marine fisheries.
“There are lots of off-ramps and on-ramps along the way to true commercialization,” Sam McCall said. “And to have that vision, in addition to having the scientific vision, it really helps to put those two pieces together to be successful.”
BIOTECHNOLOGY | SEATOX RESEARCH INC.
JENNIFER AND SAM MCALL, FOUNDERS | YEAR FOUNDED: 2013 | EMPLOYEES: 3
PHOTO BY ARIS HARDING
Adding AI to sales forecasts
BY JOHANNA CANO
When it comes to running a business, one important aspect is sales forecasting, which can help owners and leaders predict their revenue to plan for employee pay, operating expenses, buying more inventory and attracting investors.
Accurately forecasting sales, however, is easier said than done, according to Phil Everhart, who founded SmartFox Technologies as a solution to this issue.
“In 2019, a study from a notable company called Inside Sales Lab was performed on 270,912 closed-won opportunities making up over $18.1 billion in closed sales revenue from many companies involved,” Everhart said. “Sales forecasts were wrong 72% of the time outside of 90 days of closure and 47% of the time within 90 days of closure.”
The reason why forecasts are usually inaccurate is that sales representatives often log in subjective forecasts based on emotion rather than objective data points, including previous data such as accomplishments and milestones, Everhart said.
Having previous experience in the field as a sales manager, Everhart knew many of the pain points in sales forecasting, and as a response, created the SmartFox Technologies application SmartFox Prime, a business forecast management system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) with the goal of making predictions more accurate.
The application is available within Salesforce, a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) company, under a software-as-a-service model where users can pay per month.
“The SmartFox Prime further provides specific functionality such as SmartFox Prime’s algorithms and calculations, which define the way the application makes recommendations and forecasts suggestions for sales representatives to utilize,” Everhart said.
Being on the Salesforce platform gives SmartFox the opportunity to grow alongside the growing CRM.
In addition, technologies like AI are being used more by businesses.
“Artificial intelligence in business is now one of the biggest topics in the business world especially due to the effects of COVID-19,” Everhart said. “Based on research performed by Salesforce, AI is the top growth area for sales teams – its adoption is forecasted to grow 139% over the next three years.”
In a previous interview, Everhart, who currently works with five advisers, said he hopes to hire a development team and sales representatives. The company also has the goal of having at least 500 users by the end of 2021.
Another growth strategy for the startup has been to establish a public relations effort, including working with PR firm AuthorityTech, to grow awareness of the use of AI in businesses as well as its product.
“We’re writing monthly articles for Salesforce, talking about behavior science and forecasting using AI,” Everhart said. “We wrote one recently and they put us on the front page of their ecosystem. So that’s how we’re getting the word out on how our product can fix these issues.”
EMERGING COMPANY | SMARTFOX TECHNOLOGIES
PHIL EVERHART, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT | YEAR FOUNDED: 2019 | EMPLOYEES: 1
PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER
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Restaurant owners cook up big plans
BY JESSICA MAURER
It’s been said that the road to success is always under construction, and the saying rings true for the McDuffie family.
James and Myra McDuffie opened MeMa’s Chick’n’ & Ribs in Burgaw in 2017, serving up classic Southern cuisine and smoked meats prepared from family recipes passed down from James’ mother, Mary, also known as MeMa.
The restaurant and catering service quickly gained a loyal following locally, and thanks to billboards on Interstate-40, has become a stopping point for many travelers from out of town. There is a world map on the wall at MeMa’s where people from every state and continent have pinned where they are from.
Myra and James often share with visitors historic maps of Burgaw and Moores Creek National Battlefield to encourage them to stay a while.
Just two years after opening, the McDuffies purchased land along N.C. 53 in Pender County, with the intent of creating a multi-million-dollar shopping center that would house MeMa’s new location as well as additional retail outlets. Plans for the new location include three event spaces, an outdoor dining area, a commissary kitchen and manufacturing facility for the company’s signature barbecue sauce and a retail store featuring MeMa’s and other locally made products.
But following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank that had approved the McDuffies’ loan withdrew $800,000 in funding, dealing a devastating blow to the couple on top of the revenue losses they had already experienced as a result of the pandemic.
The McDuffies launched a GoFundMe campaign last summer to raise money for their efforts, and despite bringing in nearly $200,000 by November, they were still far short of where they needed to be to move forward.
Thanks to a referral from the Small Business and Technology Development Center at UNCW, the McDuffies reached out to Genesis Block, a Wilmington-based nonprofit that provides business development services for minority-owned businesses (see page 11). Now through a partnership with Genesis Block, Folla Capital and Hipp Architecture & Development, they are back on track to meet their goals through a new crowdfunding campaign.
While the details of the investment plan are still being finalized, Myra McDuffie said she expects those details to be released to the public within the next 30 days. Anyone interested in supporting the project will be able to contribute with a set return on their investment.
“Essentially the community will be buying shares of the business,” Myra McDuffie said. “We want the community to help us build this for the community so that we can all stand back and see what we’ve brought to Burgaw.”
Once the funding campaign goes live, there will be a 45-day window for investments.
“Our current lease has been extended through May 2022, so we need to be in our new building by then,” Myra McDuffie said. “The new building is going to take nine months to build so time really is of the essence.”
MEMA’S CHICK’N’ & RIBS | MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESS
MYRA MCDUFFIE, CO-OWNER| YEAR FOUNDED: 2017 | EMPLOYEES: 5
PHOTO BY ERIN COSTA
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Vantaca fills HOA industry need
BY SCOTT NUNN
Wilmington’s best-known startup and another upand-comer have similar beginnings: Both were created after established companies needed better industry-specific software systems.
Not satisfied with what was available on the market, both Live Oak Bank’s Chip Mahan and Community Association Management Services’ (CAMS) David Sweyer set out to develop their own systems.
As they brought in software developers, both realized their products could be valuable to others. Sweyer faced the same dilemma at CAMS, which manages communities for homeowners associations.
“The HOA industry did not have a software solution that met the needs for our company, so we decided to develop our own,” Sweyer told the Greater Wilmington Business Journal in 2019.
He brought in David Gunn and Will Warner to help develop the software, and the team quickly realized there was a similar need industrywide.
“We made several peer companies aware we were developing our solution, and they expressed interest in purchasing [it],” Sweyer said.
Vantaca was launched in 2017 and its platform is now used by 130 organizations, including management companies and HOAs representing 2 million individual homes.
Members of Vantaca’s early “skunkworks” team all had worked in the HOA industry.
“The folks who were saying ‘these are the requirements for the system’ were all people who had worked in the industry,” said Ben Currin, Vantaca’s CEO. “Those were, you know, the director of accounting from CAMS, the chief operating officer at CAMS, a few other folks who really had their hands all the way in the industry.”
Currin believes that close connections to the industry it serves, as well as the company’s ability to meet specific needs of clients, are a vital part of its success. (It’s grown to 100 employees and expects to add up to 40 more by the end of the year.)
Currin, a Wilmington native and former Naval officer, said entrepreneurs can make the mistake of putting the cart before the horse.
“I think there are a lot of technology companies out there who have a really interesting solution … and they’re looking for a problem to solve,” Currin said. “We saw a problem that was very real and built a solution to very specifically address that problem.”
At its core, Currin said, Vantaca’s platform is a product that can handle relatively complex accounting tasks and also serve as a customer relationship tool. When asked about the possibility of retooling the software for other industries, Currin didn’t dismiss the idea. He quickly noted, however, that plenty of opportunity remains in the HOA industry.
He also wants to ensure Vantaca never becomes complacent, failing to evolve with the needs of its customers.
“We’re just kind of scratching the surface of the addressable market for the industry,” Currin said. “And we’d really like to keep dialing in the solution for our industry.”
TECHNOLOGY | VANTACA
BEN CURRIN, CEO| YEAR FOUNDED: 2017 | EMPLOYEES: 100
PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER
Company rolls into communications
BY CHRISTINA HALEY O’NEAL
Nathanael Conway, CEO of Wilmington-based Blue Roll LLC, is working on branching out his production company into the communications world.
Conway has jumped on board with a nonprofit organization that will help gear his move for the next phase of Blue Roll.
Conway in 2018 started Blue Roll, a business that creates video for branding, marketing and awareness, providing local Black-owned businesses with marketing content. The company has grown since, working with larger local organizations and nonprofits.
Blue Roll has been creating visual, audio and text content for social media and does social media consulting for organizations.
Now he aims to not only take Blue Roll into communications but also work on projects outside of the Wilmington area.
“We’re moving from local and just deliverables to macro, almost nationwide, but with a high-level comms strategy,” Conway said.
Blue Roll continues with a number of local projects, including work with several Black-owned barbershops and the Northside Food Co-op project, which aims to bring a grocery store to Wilmington’s Northside neighborhood.
Earlier this year, Conway was hired as an employee with Washington, D.C.-based ProInspire, a nonprofit organization.
His work with ProInspire focuses on racial equity and leadership development, facilitating conversations and initiatives with social impact leaders across organizations, he said.
Conway is leading those efforts with organizations such as The Kresge Foundation, LIFT Inc., WestEd, Fund the People and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Conway directly supports the nonprofit by assessing, directing and implementing company communications to facilitate discussions in diversity, inclusion and equity, he said.
He is also designing and creating digital content about how other organizations and philanthropic entities can get involved and “break through social media noise,” he said.
While Conway is working with ProInspire, he plans to maintain his outside business with Blue Roll.
Locally, Blue Roll has had a chance to test out some of this development in the communications space with organizations such as the YWCA Lower Cape Fear and New Hanover Regional Medical Center, he said.
With the YWCA, Blue Roll helped with digital and social media consulting and created video content. For NHRMC, Blue Roll created video, graphics and pictures and conducted social media and advertising consulting.
“A lot of people who do communications deliver on strategy and not on deliverables … so, moving into communication strategies and the overall high-level idea with an extreme expertise of those deliverables, that’s where we’re getting involved,” Conway said. “I foresee Blue Roll pivoting into communications strategy and continuing to specialize in video production.”
FILM| BLUE ROLL LLC
NATHANAEL CONWAY, CEO | YEAR FOUNDED: 2018 | EMPLOYEES: 3
PHOTO BY ARIS HARDING
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Tech firm tackles opioid crisis
BY JOHANNA CANO
Before the COVID-19 pandemic dominated health care headlines, the opioid epidemic had been, and still is, at the center of concerns for many communities in the U.S.
One Wilmington startup is leading efforts in the region to help treat the disease by using data and technology to assist Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) rehab centers.
OpiAID is a life science company building a digital platform that takes data from wearables and electronic medical records to provide personalized plans and improve the outcomes for those in treatment for addiction.
The startup’s solution is delivered through a cloud-based, software-asa-service (SaaS) product that, according to its website, improves “clinical outcomes and client retention as we gather and analyze the data used as the basis of the SaaS product that will scale to serve the entire MAT focused market.”
The company was launched in 2018 by CEO David Reeser and Stan Trofimchuk (though Trofimchuck is no longer involved in day-to-day operations) and has grown since, now having 13 employees.
Last year, the startup received a $276,000 federal grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as $55,000 from the NIH Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program.
In February, the company received $74,500 in a state grant from the One North Carolina Small Business Program, aimed at helping small companies develop new and innovative technologies.
Reeser said these grants helped the company with research and the development of a commercialization strategy for the product, as well as with job creation.
Currently, OpiAID is looking toward a software launch in June and is working on research with Coastal Horizons Center, a local addiction treatment facility.
“We are actively executing NIH-funded research today at Coastal Horizons,” Reeser said. “We are pre-revenue at the moment, outside of the $406,000 we have raised through non-dilutive grants.”
When starting the company in 2018, the startup’s founders wanted to apply technology to see how they can help solve a pressing community problem. “We thought to ourselves, ‘How can we use technology, specifically artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in a way that wasn’t scary and in fact improve the human condition?’” Reeser said in a 2019 interview. “The desire to start the company was wanting to help our neighbors or anyone struggling with opioid abuse.”
This year and in 2022, Reeser hopes to continue advancing the company toward more research and grants.
“I plan to have a successful pilot so that we can publish our results in early fall of this year. We will have an additional 10 clinics online before the end of 2021,” Reeser said. “OpiAID will also apply for a Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative (or NIH HEAL Initiative) this summer and a Phase II of the NIH Small Business Innovation Research program by January 2022. Our non-dilutive grants funds will be around $3 million over the next 12 months.”
HEALTH CARE | OPIAID
DAVID REESER, CEO | YEAR FOUNDED: 2018 | EMPLOYEES: 13
PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER
Company expands diabetes products
BY CHRISTINA HALEY O’NEAL
Pamela Heyward has dedicated an entire company to developing treatment solutions for those suffering from diabetes.
Incorporated in 2016, her business, SOS Life Sciences Corp., is working on wider distribution of its two current products while also pursuing a new product.
Heyward, a mother of four children, her two oldest with Type 1 diabetes, launched the company based on a need to bring better solutions to market for treating the condition.
“I watched [my children] suffer from terrifying low-blood sugar episodes, like near death, and they would turn to using candy because they didn’t like glucose tabs,” she said. “Definitely, necessity is the mother of invention, and I just decided that I was going to spend many years developing the perfected form of glucose and delivery to raise blood sugars quickly without spiking.”
Heyward has already developed two Glucose SOS products – one for people and one for pets – that are currently on the market.
Advocate Glucose SOS is a fast-absorbing, 100% natural, pure glucose powder offering people rapid blood glucose recovery, according to Heyward.
The product is in most major retail stores in the United States, including Harris Teeter. Next, Heyward has her sights set on bringing her product into Walgreens, a move she anticipates late this year.
The glucose powders are distributed internationally in the United Kingdom and Australia, Heyward said, adding that the company is also looking into distribution in Canada and the Middle East.
For the pet version of the diabetic treatment product line, Heyward said SOS Life Sciences is currently in the process of rebranding.
Glucose SOS for pets has been distributed at veterinarian offices and through Chewy.com. Heyward also aims to get the product into PetSmart and Walmart in the future.
The Glucose SOS powder is manufactured in Brevard, North Carolina, while the pet version of the product is manufactured in New Jersey. SOS has contracted with these manufacturers to produce the products.
Heyward has also developed a glucose tablet melt, which is being readied for manufacture and distribution, she said.
“I wanted to keep going … I also wanted to cannibalize the tablet market,” Heyward said. “I’ve actually signed a license agreement with the largest distributor of glucose tablets in the world.”
Heyward developed thu concept more than two years ago and is now working on getting the product lined up for the United States market.
Manufacturing for the tablet could begin this spring at a facility in Illinois, she said.
“This third [product] is really more proprietary. It has never been manufactured. And the manufacturer had to buy additional equipment just to ensure that they could manufacture it, and they did,” Heyward said. “So, there’s a lot of skin in the game and a lot of belief from two big powerhouses that this product is going to go viral.”
PAMELA HEYWARD, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT | YEAR FOUNDED: 2016 | EMPLOYEES: 1
PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER
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CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WINNERS
As part of the Coastal Entrepreneur Awards program, area chambers of commerce also share their top business and organization picks. BRUNSWICK COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: The Shallotte-based chamber chose Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation (ATMC), a nonprofit cooperative that provides phone, high-speed internet, cable TV, business communications and security services. “ATMC is a company focused on diversity of the region. Internet is vital to the daily operation of schools, industry and private sector initiatives driving business to our region. ATMC has made their nonprofit mission inclusiveness through technologies and a leader in the future of our region.” BURGAW AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: “Brown Dog Coffee has been a staple of the community for quite some time now. Established in 2004, Brown Dog Coffee Company is located in the Historic District of Downtown Burgaw. They are an independent coffeehouse that roasts the coffees they serve. Offering a traditional coffeehouse experience to people who appreciate quality coffee and espresso, Brown Dog also has an online menu and offers takeout with quality baked goods as well. … It is a place for people from all walks of life to connect, relax and revive.” GREATER TOPSAIL AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: “Anne Bilderback of Fractured Prune spent most of her life in nursing … but when she moved to Surf City, she forged a new path. In March of 2016, Anne opened up a franchise location of Fractured Prune Doughnuts to run with her husband and two of her children. Now in her sixth season, Fractured Prune is a staple for vacationers and locals alike. While she never saw herself as being an entrepreneur, she is taking on her next entrepreneurial challenge by opening up Sunrise Bagel Co. next to Fractured Prune this summer.” NORTH BRUNSWICK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: “Waste Partners LLC is a locally-owned dumpster rental company in Leland, founded in early 2017. The husband-and-wife team saw potential in a rapidly growing area where a need for good customer service would be appreciated. Sam is also a U.S. Army veteran. He was deployed multiple times to combat zones during his career. From roofing shingles to yard debris, they can haul off any material allowable by law. They remove leftover furniture and debris from a rental house or a foreclosure prior to your new tenant moving in. If you are interested in a garage cleanup, they will come by and take whatever you are looking to get rid of. … Waste Partners has a vision to bring local, reliable and honest waste removal service to the area.” SOUTHPORT-OAK ISLAND AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: “The Southport-Oak Island Chamber of Commerce awarded its 2019/2020 Small Business of the Year to Island Spas and Pools. Island Spas and Pools is a full-service hot tub and swim spa sales center and offers maintenance services for pools, swim spas and hot tubs. They serve commercial and residential customers throughout the Carolina Coast. Island Spas and Pools LLC demonstrates what it means to give credit to their team and customers for helping them grow their business by almost 500%. … They make a point of showing their appreciation to their team by providing extensive training, providing barbecue dinners to the team and their families and sponsoring charitable events.” WILMINGTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: “Cape Fear Solar Systems is currently ranked as the No. 1 installer in Southeastern North Carolina by Solar Power World. Established in 2007, the company has designed and installed nearly 2,500 solar systems to date. Cape Fear Solar’s pride is in its team, providing the highest quality of craftsmanship, products and material. Additionally, customers receive unlimited postinstallation support. Cape Fear Solar offers turnkey energy systems such as photovoltaic (solar electric) panels, home batteries and electric vehicle charging stations for residential and commercial customers. Brands installed by Cape Fear Solar include LG, SunPower, Tesla, Generac, EnPhase, ChargePoint and more.”
