Get ready to meet 15 of the best small business enterprises in all of Michigan’s Great Southwest as nominated by you, the readers of Moody on the Market, and voted upon by a committee of community leaders who sifted through multiple entries and narrowed the list down to the final Fifteen Under 15. They are the cream of the crop among local small business enterprises with fifteen or fewer employees on the team, with some cool stories to tell.
Like the great line up of 40 Under 40 winners announced earlier this year, the Fifteen Under 15 companies are comprised of people who live, work and play right here alongside of you and me along the shores of Lake Michigan. They all have fascinating stories to tell and many have been and continue to do remarkable things in and for our entire community at large.
Tomorrow morning, Wednesday, September 26, 2018, shortly after our live weather update with WNDU Meteorologist David Harker on 94.9FM, WSJM Radio, we will unveil the fifteen winning companies as determined by the selection process employed by the select outside judges from the nominating committee chaired by Mary Morphey from Kinexus of Benton Harbor. She and her committee of Ryan Cheevers of United Way of Southwest Michigan, Chris Heugel from Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce and Kylie Svorec from United Federal Credit Union (and they let me have one vote, as well) had to narrow the impressive list of nominees down to the formal Fifteen Under 15.
Our thanks to our major sponsors Honor Credit Union, Kinexus and CMG Financial as well as the supporting sponsor roles of King Media, United Way of Southwest Michigan and Edible Arrangements of Benton Harbor for making the campaign not only possible, but a great success that we look forward to replicating each year especially in light of the fact that 80 percent of all small businesses have 10 or fewer employees across America. The small business community routinely risks life savings and put everything on the line to bring products, services, experiences and more to those of us who live, work, play and stay here.
Tomorrow’s list of winners is made up of companies ranging from 6 to 15 employees each, with an average staff size of 11. They come from a wide array of industry sectors including four from the healthcare field, three from the professional ranks, 2 from the not-for-profit sector, four from the hospitality industry, and one each from retail and manufacturing. They come from Berrien, Cass and Van Buren Counties and have some great stories to tell, which you will be able to read in great detail on Moody on the Market. Their stories will go “live” on the website shortly after the on-the-air announcement of each of their selections to the final list of the Fifteen Under 15.
Nominations originally opened on August 1st and closed more than two weeks later on August 17th. Our original plans were to announced the winners a week ago, but in order to sort through the entries, cast the ballots and then prepare everyone’s story properly, we postponed that roll out party to tomorrow.
The winning companies announced tomorrow have been invited to a private cocktail reception where they will receive their recognition trophies for display in each of their businesses for everyone to see.
Just like our inaugural 40 Under 40, this great line up of Fifteen Under 15 of the Best Companies in our midst with 15 or fewer employees show why we refer to the region as Michigan’s Great Southwest. The companies involved are not only doing great things with and for their employees, making them great places to work, they all have a culture and core values that resonate across the region resulting in many people doing great things outside of the workplace for the communities where each reside.
Stay tuned!
