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SBA Helping SC Small Businesses Succeed

Elliot Cooper
Mike Switzer/SC Public Radio

There’s a major small business support organization with offices all across the country, including here in our state, who help entrepreneurs with capital, counseling, landing government contracts, and disaster assistance.  The latter of which, companies in our state have needed two years in a row now.

Mike Switzer interviews Elliott Cooper, South Carolina district director for the US Small Business Administration in Columbia, SC.

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After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.