Success stories

Success stories

  • Smiling business owners and friends in peanut butter manufacturing facility

    Travelling All Over The World

    A tale of two moms spreading nutritious and delicious bNutty goodness around the globe and how the U.S. Small Business Administration helped Once upon a time Carol Podolak and Joy Thompkins’ kids...

  • A man stands behind podium while speaking at an event

    Empowering Solutions

    Situation: Professional Management Enterprises, Inc. (PME) CEO Haskell D. Portee founded his Indianapolis-based company in 2006 after retiring from the U.S. Army. PME is a Minority Business Enterprise...

  • The Wilburns pose in front of their storefront

    A clear path forward

    Situation: Donte Wilburn grew up in Lafayette, Indiana where he and his family fought racism and poverty as the only Black family in his neighborhood. In his youth Wilburn did illegal things to...

  • Dr. Klein Ileleji dries harvested produce with his invention that is solar powered

    Everything is better sunny side up

    Situation: Dr. Klein Ileleji grew up in Nigeria where he saw first-hand the impact food insecurity has on developing communities where electricity is scarce. Through a research project at Purdue...

  • Camacho Janitorial President Jesse Camacho

    SBA Provides Clean Patch for Growth & Expansion

    Situation Jesse Camacho came to the U.S from Puerto Rico with his family in 1968. They settled in the South Bronx. His family had an entrepreneurial spirit…his dad had a grocery store in PR, and when...

  • Image of owner Rahila Robinson

    Building memories for today, tomorrow and beyond

    Rahila Robinson took over her family's marble memorial products company in 2008. Robinson & Sons Enterprises of America Inc. was known throughout the funeral services industry in the United States for...

  • Image of owner Sherri Davis

    How Customers, Contacts and Caring Can Build a Paragon Force

    In the early 2000s, Sherri Davis owned a small restaurant just off Crane Naval Station in Bloomfield, Indiana. It was a popular place, so she knew everyone on and off base and what they did for a...