Microgrant awards to be announced at Friday's Resilience Celebration
We are happy to announce the nominations of our 2021 Small Business Week Microgrants
The following wonderful owners were nominated by our Greenhouse team and a distinguished panel of community and business leaders made the difficult decisions of choosing the winners in each category.
The three categories are: Start. Grow. Thrive. and each award totals $1,000
Start | Pre-ventures to 2 years in existence, has utilized various Greenhouse startup tools and services
Grow | Enterprise has been in business for 2+ years, may have been able to hire employees and expand their market presence
Thrive | Enterprise is a great example of resiliency, has been able to make important pivots to continue in business. They have been able to prioritize relationships, recovery and reframing.
Award winners will be announced at our Celebration on Friday, September 17th at 3:00pm in front of the Greenhouse.
GROW Nominations
CONGRATULATIONS to all of the following entrepreneurs who have invested their time and committment to successfully grow their businesses in St. Petersburg.
Hurst Consulting Group
Owner: Latifa Jackson
Nomination from Greenhouse Navigator:
“Latifa has been engaged with the Greenhouse since 2010 – – building her business capacity and academic credentials, while developing her business to its current “growth” stage. Latifa epitomizes what we envision as the portrait of The Greenhouse Client. She has participated in numerous resources and services to develop her business, and has also applied those tools and skills to the development of other entrepreneurs. These keen project management skills were on full display during her recent coordination of the Branding House Program – – full circle.
Greenhouse SCORE Mentor Shawne has recommended Latifa for recognition of “Growth” stage honors, and I wholeheartedly support this recommendation. Shawne shares that, “Latifa started Hurst Consulting in late 2016 after a career in Corporate America and re-engaged with Greenhouse mentoring services after a year of working extremely hard with less revenue year over year. During the course of mentoring ‚ pricing strategies were revised and growth enablers were implemented with contractors and interns to grow her business.”
Pete’s General
Owners: Steven and Sara Peterman &
Erica Gonzalez, Co-founder
Nomination from Greenhouse Navigator:
“Pete’s General reached out to Greenhouse Navigators in early 2020 to discuss pivoting strategic operations to accommodate their customers’ needs. They made the decision to expand and open a 2nd location in the Grand Central District. Despite the hardship of weathering the Covid-19 pandemic for most of its second year, the business has managed to stay creative and grow, maintaining its special reputation as a community hub and expanding its menu to include more baked goods and a selection of homemade cakes and pies.”
Florida Pure Sea Salt
Owner: Maureen Cacioppo
Nomination from Greenhouse Navigator:
“Maureen at Florida Pure Sea Salt has been HUSLTING this year. Despite losing 75% of their sales in the 4th quarter of 2020 and still fighting to get their sales back up, FPS launched a new initiative with local and national non-profits. She is donating 20 % to that charity for each specialty salt sold. Each month she plans to highlight a new charity. Florida Pure Salt is expanding their distributing reach and has recently expanded their products in Whole Foods statewide.
Maureen has been a major supporter of 1 Million Cups – St. Pete, where she has connected, collaborated and provided support for other inspiring local entrepreneurs whenever she has a free moment on Wednesday mornings!”
Right Turn Realty
Owner: Tahisia Scantling
Nomination from Greenhouse Navigator:
“Tahisia is a perfect example of a entrepreneur who understands the need for assistance and has explored community resources to help her business grow. Tahisia has been in the realty business for a few years and was a business coach with the C.A.T.C.H entrepreneur program when she decided to use for herself the resources she was referring to others. She has taken workshops and participated in special programs such as the the Branding House Project, the internship program with Eckerd College in connection with the Greenhouse. She also has a SCORE mentor who provides guidance on marketing and branding her business. Her realty business is now booming and she continually has listings that she is marketing through various social media platforms.
RTR recently received a contract with a local government entity with the ultimate goal of entering the commercial realty space. Tahisia is a huge advocate for the Greenhouse and its service and shares related successes with her network. “
Bright Ice
Owners: Steve Garrahan & Kurt Drake
Nomination from Greenhouse Navigator:
“Steve and Kurt opened Bright Ice at the beginning of 2020. We celebrated their ribbon cutting on Feb 7th, 2020. They did not let their business slow down, making quick pivots for pick up and take out.
Despite the slow down in retail they saw exponential growth and made the decision to open 2 more locations during 2021. They are reporting gang buster sales- who doesn’t love delicious ice cream. Their product is hand crafted and hand packed. Their sheer resilience and willingness to grow has been fun to watch. They believe starting the business in St. Pete gave them a true advantage.”