Success stories

Minneapolis Jeweler Got Its Start and Has Grown with Help from the SBA

Jen Bellefleur and Kelsey Lee-Karol, co-owners of New Gild Jewelers in Minneapolis, Minn., met as jewelers working in the industry for others. Restless, they dreamt of opening their own business, one...

Persistence and Assistance Pay Off for All Washed Up

Persistence has a way of paying off, especially when persistence is paired with assistance. Shantae Holmes, owner of All Washed Up Laundry Services, knows this first-hand and has experienced that pay...

SBA Partner and Minnesota Rural Community Rallies Around Immigrant Business Owner

Ruby Tungseth-Dowden, originally from the Philippines, grew up in the restaurant business. With a bachelor’s degree in accounting and while working in the health care industry, she began her small...

SBA Programs Help Compass Occasions Use Pandemic “Downtime” to Add Tech and Grow

When Kayla Zuidema and Valerie Mackenthun opened Hutchinson, Minn. based Compass Occasions in 2014, it was with a goal of eventually adding an event space of their own. They never could have imagined...

Rural Baby Business Gets Big Boost Using Multiple SBA Programs to Grow

Little Falls, a small rural town in central Minnesota on the Mississippi River, may not seem the most obvious place for “Minnesota’s one-stop baby shop,” but that’s how Adelle Starin describes her...

Adding Creativity to the Trades with Help from the SBA and Partners

When Tobias Flood and Mark Eiden met in college in 2014, where they were studying machine tooling technology, the pair quickly decided to start a business together. Luckily for them, the college...

SBA Resource Partner Helps Wood Artists Build Bigger Dreams

“Big dreamers” is how Anna and Nathanael Bailey describe themselves. The Baileys are wood artists and co-owners of Bailey Builds. Using SBA programs and services, the Entrepreneur Fund stepped in to...

SBA Microlender Helps the Clay Coyote Reinvent Itself

Clay Coyote is a gallery and pottery studio located in the heartland of Minnesota. In addition to a gallery space that showcases artists from across the country, it is also home to a small business...