Help Two Former Colorado Leading Edge: NxLeveL™ Graduates Secure Funding to Grow Their Businesses!
After graduating from the Colorado Leading Edge: NxLeveL™ for Entrepreneurs course, two companies, Sushimee and Bead It!, experienced a large amount of growth and success. Now, both businesses have entered the Mission: Small Business competition in hopes of securing additional funding to support the continued growth of their operations- and need your votes to do so!
Sushimee, a candy sushi company started by 10-year-old Miles Louison with the help of his mother, Fall 2011 NxLeveL™ graduate Lynnea, hired a chef and rented a commercial kitchen to expand production. The company’s products are now sold in two candy stores, Sugarlicious and Enstrom Candies, in Cherry Creek North. Miles was also invited by Colorado Representative Max Tyler to testify in support of the bill to increase funding to SBDC’s statewide.
Bead It! co-owners Laurel & Rick Mueller graduated from the NxLeveL for Entrepreneurs course in the spring of 2010. Since then, the company has moved to a new location in the Centennial Promenade Shopping Center (just north of Park Meadows Mall), rebranded and trademarked the name and logo design, began offering more classes and special events, and increased their focus, service and responsiveness to their customers.
Co-sponsored by Chase and Living Social, Mission: Small Business awards individual grants to 12 small businesses, each worth $250,000, to provide entrepreneurs with the resources needed to make a positive impact on their business. Applicants must have been in business at least 2 years and have less than 100 employees, and are required to explain why their business is unique, outline a proposed plan for utilizing the grant to grow, and describe how the business is involved with its community.
Each registered small business must receive at least 250 votes by June 30, 2012 in order to be considered for a grant, and Sushimee and Bead It! need your help! It’s quick and easy to vote- just go to missionsmallbusiness.com, click on the blue “Log-in & Support” button in the bottom right-hand corner, and sign-in using your Facebook log-in information. Once you are logged-in, search for each business by entering their name in the Business Name box and choose Colorado for the state, then hit the “Search” button; the company’s information will pop-up, along with a blue “Vote” button. You can vote for multiple businesses. At the end of the voting period, applicants with 250 votes will have their applications evaluated, and the grant recipients will be chosen.
“At the SBDC, we support the growth of our successful clients. Both Sushimee and Bead It! have graduated from our Colorado Leading Edge 12-week business plan course, worked hard on their businesses and deserve your support through voting,” says Marcia McGilley, South Metro Denver SBDC Executive Director.
Sushimee is also asking for your support on June 26th, when Miles is featured on the Nickelodeon game show Figure It Out! Filmed at the Nickelodeon studios in Hollywood, the show features a panel of four celebrities trying to guess the unique talent or accomplishment of a kid contestant through three rounds of play by asking yes or no questions while being given visual or tactile clues. For every round the panel fails to figure it out, the contestant wins a prize. If, after three rounds, the panel can't figure out the kid's unique skill, the contestant takes home the grand prize. Each game culminates in the reveal of the talent with an in-studio demo. Miles and his product are scheduled to be featured on Figure It Out on Tuesday, June 26th at 5:00pm MST. Check your local listings for channel information, and make sure to visit www.facebook.com/candysushifor any last-minute changes!
To learn more about Sushimee and Bead It!, visit their respective websites at http://sushimee.com/ or http://beaditcolorado.com/store/.
