Women in Business Archives

America’s SBDC Blog

A “Forbes 100 Best Websites for Entrepreneurs”

Safie Specialty Foods: How Michigan SBDC Helped a Family Business Expand Operations & Exports

July 8, 2026

Meet Mary Safie, president and owner of Safie Specialty Foods Company, Inc., a true go-getter and excellent entrepreneur who’s turning a family legacy into a modern manufacturing powerhouse.

More than just a job, this business is a century-long tradition of Michigan agriculture and pickled perfection. Located in Chesterfield Township, Macomb County, Safie Specialty Foods has expanded from a home-based startup—in the very house Mary’s grandfather began his business during the Great Depression—to a thriving enterprise, focusing on clean, natural, hand-packed specialty pickled vegetables while working with and giving back to the community. Her tenacious spirit and visionary leadership have been the driving forces behind the company’s incredible growth.

As the business grew, Mary and her dedicated team knew they needed strategic support. She relies on the exceptional talents of Chuck Drogosch, who runs Operations, and the incredible efforts of the Human Resources team, including Theresa M. Pavone and Sandra Collias. Their collective expertise and commitment are vital to the company’s success and expansion.

Seeking direction, Mary and her team turned to the Macomb County Planning and Economic Development team, who connected them with the Michigan SBDC and Business Growth Consultant Julie Oldham.

Julie began with a comprehensive assessment, helping Safie’s establish a stronger foundation and answer critical questions about growth, mission, and how the SBDC could help them achieve their goals. Julie’s extensive background in food & beverage, export and strategic analysis was instrumental in several key areas:

Financial Analysis: Securing crucial information to conduct a financial analysis to obtain a loan.
Export & International Growth: Assisting with export knowledge, connecting the company with the export community, and helping with foreign labeling compliance and landed costs analysis.
Market Expansion: Strategizing on gaining new accounts both domestically and internationally.
Digital Presence: Enhancing the company’s online visibility with domestic and international Search Engine Optimization (SEO) reporting.

The Safie’s partnership with Julie and the Michigan SBDC has been a game-changer. The result? A significant increase in revenue and staff expansion. Mary purchased necessary equipment, added an entire shift, and successfully branched into a new territory: food service (institutional sales). This division, primarily focused on peppers—an item Mary’s family was the largest U.S. producer of decades ago—is now a major area of growth, with a new dedicated production line being installed.

Julie shared that she has had the wonderful pleasure of being able to work with such a dedicated and talented group of people, including Mary, Chuck, Theresa and Sandra.

Mary extended her deepest gratitude to the Michigan SBDC, stating they were “instrumental in our foundation” and helped Safie’s “to grow and to achieve the success we have had.”

UGA SBDC Strategic Coaching Fuels Growth for LaGrange Home Care Franchise

July 1, 2026

When Tammy Strickland’s father—once a top executive of a global manufacturing firm—developed Alzheimer’s, she struggled to find the in-home care he required.

So, she called in her sister, Debbie Thomason, with an idea: open their own home care franchise focused on compassion, quality and trust. When it came time to build the business behind that mission, they turned to the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (UGA SBDC) for guidance in creating their business systems.

Demand for the services offered by Acti-Kare Responsive In-Home Care in LaGrange grew quickly. So did revenue, staffing, and the need for strong systems to sustain that growth.

Strickland has crafted a simple elevator pitch for the company she owns and operates in with her sister.

“I make it simple,” she said. “We take care of people.”

However, the business of providing personal non-medical home care is extraordinarily complex. Once their franchise was licensed, the sisters contacted the UGA SBDC to help put the right operational foundation in place.

Strickland brought marketing and sales experience, but she knew they needed broader business expertise.

“Corporations do trainings, but we didn’t have that. That’s what the UGA SBDC became. They trained us, showing us what we can do and how we can do it better,” she said.

Phil Wise, area director of the UGA SBDC in Columbus, and consultant Thomas Credle began by helping Strickland set up the company’s QuickBooks.

“Tammy had a rudimentary understanding of accounting, so we worked with her to make sure she was properly interacting with QuickBooks,” Wise said. “Then we showed her how to restructure and realign financial statements to better support managerial and strategic decisions.”

Together, they built a budget process that allowed the sisters to measure actual performance against their expectations.

We operate a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week business with a large staff. Our work with the UGA SBDC on our staffing system helped us to develop and manage a plan and to scale faster with support staff.

Tammy Strickland, Founder of Acti-Kare Responsive In-Home Care Tweet

Credle and Wise showed Strickland and Thomason how to use Acti-Kare’s organizational structure to elevate the responsibilities of their primary managers to strengthen organizational dynamics. Now the managers—rather than the owners—run weekly KPI meetings.

“By reallocating their time and duties, Strickland and Thomason were able to do more work on their business than in the business, fulfilling their roles as owners,” Wise said.

The results have been remarkable. Their Acti-Kare franchise, which serves an area from Peachtree City to LaGrange, has almost tripled in revenue. Employees have grown from 32 to nearly 80. The company was awarded a 2025 Certificate of Excellence from State of Georgia Compliance and named “2025 Best in Georgia” by the Georgia Business Journal and “2025 Best of Troup County in Home Health” by the LaGrange Daily News.

“Tammy and Debbie have excelled at being able to ramp up and grow exponentially while maintaining customer care and a high-quality outcome,” Wise said.

The sisters continue to work closely with the UGA SBDC to enhance their organizational dynamics, create new Key Performance Indicators, update their budget, and explore expansion opportunities into additional Georgia markets.

“Phil, Thomas and the UGA SBDC have been a real game changer for us. I didn’t need someone to teach me to be a sales and marketing expert, but I needed someone to teach me how to build a business and put things in place. Some days, it’s felt like having my dad available. They offer that level of business savvy.

Tammy Strickland, Founder of Acti-Kare Responsive In-Home Care Tweet

Zo’s Mini Donuts Finds the Recipe for Growth with Michigan SBDC

May 27, 2026

For sisters Zoey and Lydia Heyn, the mission of Zo’s Mini Donuts is simple and sweet: bring hot and fresh donuts to the community. What started in 2023 as a single food truck in Sawyer has blossomed into a thriving business with three mobile food trucks and a plan to double that number in the next year. This extraordinary growth, however, presented a new set of challenges for the young entrepreneurs.

The duo was confident in their family recipe and their ability to sell delicious donuts, but they needed guidance on the business aspects of how to grow their company. As they hired more employees, Zoey and Lydia found themselves needing a deeper understanding of financial management and human resources – which is exactly where the Michigan Small Business Development Center came in.

“We applied to our Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber HYPE pitch competition and we actually won,” said Zoe. “When we won, we were given a list of all these resources that we had access to that we didn’t know about.” One of those resources was the Michigan SBDC, which connected them with Southwest Region Senior Business Consultant Wendy Spreenberg.

“What we really needed was things that we couldn’t find on a Google search,” Lydia explained. “We needed contacts for suppliers, we needed contacts for packaging.” Wendy worked with the pair on their financial management, helping them understand cash flow and how to get the most out of their wholesale suppliers. She also provided them with invaluable knowledge and contacts for the behind-the-scenes operations of their business, which made their busy summers run more smoothly.

“Lydia and Zo were tremendously skilled already,” Wendy said. “What I brought to the table was helping them understand a little bit more about their finances.”

With Wendy’s guidance, Zo’s Mini Donuts has been able to win additional competitions, expand its fleet of food trucks, and grow its team to 15 part-time, seasonal employees, with plans for more. The Heyns’ vision is to make Zo’s Mini Donuts a tradition in Southwest Michigan and eventually expand to college campuses and even retail.

“It was just so helpful to have someone to turn to when we hit a wall or we didn’t know what to do next.”

Zoey Heyn, Co-Owner of Zo's Mini Donuts Tweet

The Michigan SBDC is proud to support ambitious young entrepreneurs like the Heyn sisters. Their energy and drive are a perfect example of how a great idea, combined with the right resources, can lead to incredible growth.

“The best thing about working with the Michigan SBDC is working with the clients,” Wendy said. “They have unique stories and unique business approaches. Specifically for Zo’s, they brought the energy, the enthusiasm, the will and the desire – as well as the ambition to get their business not just started, but grown to the next level. I love working with them.”

DeLong’s Gizzard Equipment Expands Export Markets with UGA SBDC Support and Training

May 20, 2026

DeLong’s Gizzard Equipment, a specialty poultry equipment parts manufacturer, has carved out a niche in an industry dominated by one-stop poultry machine shops. When owner Mary DeLong Murray set her sights on expanding her company’s export business five years ago, she turned to the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (UGA SBDC) for expert advice and training. Today, international sales account for 20% of the firm’s annual revenues.

The Macon-based company provides a full array of poultry processing machinery — offering replacement peeler rollers and parts to rebuild old machines or repair and enhance newly manufactured machines. Its roots stretch back more than 50 years to Murray’s grandfather, Horace DeLong, who originally founded the business in Gainesville as a maintenance service for poultry processing plants before expanding into parts and equipment.

Under the leadership of Murray’s mother, former CEO Pat DeLong, the company contacted Dimitris Kloussiadis at the UGA SBDC’s International Trade Center in the mid-1990s, launching a long-standing partnership that continues to support DeLong’s global growth.

“Pat was invited to attend a trade show in London,” Kloussiadis said. “So, we met, and I helped her identify the top poultry-processing equipment distributors in the United Kingdom. Together, we worked out methods to negotiate pricing and international logistics, and they started exporting.”

Kloussiadis soon identified additional world markets, and Pat DeLong pursued those opportunities aggressively. Within a year, DeLong’s was selling in parts of South America and Canada.

The partnership continued, and by 2021 the Georgia Department of Economic Development honored DeLong’s Gizzard Equipment with a GLOBE Award in recognition of its success in expanding into new markets. Around that same time Murray, who had been with the company since 1997, stepped into her leadership role and began guiding the business into its next phase of growth.

“The SBDC has done several things to help us grow in this area. Dimitris helped us do a detailed worldwide market analysis and provided us with a list on who’s importing most of the products we sell. Then he connected us with the right people. We don’t have to travel anywhere. Dimitris feeds us this information so we can get in touch with the customer.”

Mary DeLong Murray, CEO of Delong's Gizzard Equipment Tweet

Kloussiadis recommended that Murray’s company focus on Colombia and Mexico, the top two markets in Central and South America for poultry processing equipment. He then connected Murray to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Gold Key Service, which provides matches with up to five potential partners in another country. He briefed her on Colombian business and culture before she traveled to meet potential distributors.

“Mary was pleased with all the assistance provided for her preparation and the effectiveness of her first overseas business trip,” he said. “She came back with about four good distributor leads, and we’re working now on following up with companies in Colombia and next, Mexico.”

Murray participated in the UGA SBDC’s ExportGA program in 2021 and found it so helpful she returned with her staff in 2024. Led by the UGA SBDC International Trade Center in partnership with the UGA Terry College of Business, ExportGA is an intensive, four-session course designed to prepare businesses for exporting. Terry College students engage directly with business owners to provide targeted research to support their specific industries.

“ExportGA is hands-on,” Kloussiadis said. “Georgia companies learn how to set their international pricing, work through foreign trade regulations, manage international payment methods and develop an international marketing plan they can readily execute by the completion of the program.”

Murray has used her ExportGA training to introduce new staff to these skills until they, too, can participate in the program.

Exports now stand at 20% of DeLong’s total business, and Murray believes they make a significant contribution to the company’s success.

“Every time we do something to increase our exports, we see at least a one percent increase in sales,” she said. “However, we’re only a small part of what goes into a poultry plant. Many want to buy from a one-stop shop. We specialize, but we got that business. That one percent in a new market makes a difference.”

Murray and Kloussiadis meet every quarter to further explore ways she can maximize the export potential of DeLong’s.

“The more you get into international business, the more you realize the world is smaller than you think it is,” Murray said. “The UGA SBDC gives us the feedback and exposure we need to expand and learn about our product and what it looks like in the international community.”

Lively Little Ones Fulfilling Childcare Need in Fayette County with West Virginia SBDC Assistance

April 29, 2026

When Amber Comer decided to expand her home-based childcare business into a full-fledged Early Learning Center, she knew she wanted to offer more than just daycare. She envisioned a place where children could grow and thrive in a supportive, hands-on educational environment. That vision became Lively Little Ones in Fayetteville.

“We try to, not just provide care, but a higher quality of care,” Comer says. “We want to make sure that we are following a curriculum and lesson plans, and teaching your children so that they can have a strong educational foundation and be prepared for when they start school.”

Comer’s journey in childcare began years earlier. After working in daycare centers as a teenager, she transitioned into entrepreneurship following the birth of her son. She spent four years as a home childcare provider before opening Lively Little Ones in September 2025 on Franklin Heights Road in Fayetteville, serving children ages 6 weeks to 12 years. The center offers infant care, preschool, and toddler programs, as well as before- and after-school care and services during school breaks.

Beyond daily care, Comer and her team are committed to building community connections through monthly events and activities.

“We try at least once a month to do something fun and free for the community,” Comer says. “All of our teachers are very involved, and a lot of them are moms themselves. They want what’s best for the kiddos and want to help give back and offer a place where everyone can feel welcome.”

Small Business Support & Collaboration

Expanding from a home daycare to a full Early Learning Center was no small feat. Comer credits Melissa Colagrosso, director of A Place to Grow Children’s Center in nearby Oak Hill and leader of the regional childcare cooperative, Together We Grow, as a valuable industry resource and for connecting her with Shannon Mitchell, a business coach with the West Virginia Small Business Development Center (WV SBDC).

“Amber has a true entrepreneurial spirit and is so motivated to move through a process, get things done, and do it the right way,” Mitchell describes.

From the earliest planning stages, the WV SBDC worked closely with the entrepreneur to provide one-on-one business coaching, technical assistance, and strategic guidance. This included:

Development of a comprehensive business plan
Startup cost analysis
Cash flow projections
Operational planning tailored specifically to the regulatory and staffing realities of childcare in West Virginia
Assembling a complete loan package
Direct referrals to financing partners to help move the project forward

“We helped her navigate through the process of funding and permits and just getting open, which is a huge hurdle for any entrepreneur to overcome,” Mitchell says. “Now it’s transitioned into managing a business, and I hope to continue supporting Amber in that way.”

“Both Shannon and Melissa have been very helpful; they’ve answered any questions I’ve had,” Comer describes. “I have been able to call them crying when I’m stressed or anxious about something, and they’re always reassuring and let me know that I’m still making steps in the right direction. Opening your own business is not easy, and there are a lot of unknowns, but when you have people like that by your side, it sure helps a lot.”

A Community Need

Lively Little Ones is currently the only childcare center located in Fayetteville. After the local Head Start relocated to Oak Hill, Comer saw an opportunity to help meet a growing demand for childcare services in a community where working families and employers have long faced limited options.

“We are helping to fill the gap,” Comer explains. “The community has been very welcoming, and I’m very glad to be here.”

As the business continues to grow, Comer remains focused on expanding enrollment and enhancing programming.

“We are about a third of the way enrolled right now,” she shares. “With summer coming, we can get some really cool programs and activities up and running, and we are excited to welcome new students.”

A Broader Impact

As Comer’s business coach, Mitchell is proud of the WV SBDC’s role in turning a community need into a sustainable success story.

Beyond the individual business success, Lively Little Ones represents a meaningful step forward in addressing one of the region’s most persistent economic development barriers: access to reliable, affordable childcare.

“There is such a need for childcare businesses like Lively Little Ones,” Mitchell says. “We cannot grow our workforce and provide jobs for families in need without businesses like hers. They’re essential to the growth of West Virginia.”

Are you looking for help in starting or growing your business? The WV SBDC assists entrepreneurs and small business owners at every stage of the business lifecycle. Learn more on their website.

12 3