Storm-Damaged Roofs Lead to Business Opportunity for SC Woman

By Mike Switzer

Published February 14, 2018 at 5:12 AM EST

2017 was the costliest year for extreme weather and climate disasters in American history. Which means there was a lot of money spent on home repairs, probably the highest amount going to roofs. To our next guest, who had experience in this area serving as insurance commissioner for the states of South Carolina and Texas and running insurance companies in Louisiana and South Carolina, this presented a business opportunity.

Mike Switzer interviews Eleanor Kitzman, co-founder of MyStrongHome in Columbia, SC.

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Mike Switzer

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.

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