Tree Huggers is an environmentally responsible business, dedicated to educating customers in leading environmentally sustainable lives. Owners Angela and Dan Topp, opened their first store in Holland two years ago and a second store on Wealthy Street in Grand Rapids in 2011. Tree Huggers seeks to break down what can be an intimidating process of living and consuming more sustainably into more manageable steps.
Earth has become an interconnected environment bridged by nature and by a human desire to connect. Being unique in a seemingly saturated system becomes a difficult quest, as nuances in every industry, ideology and even ecology make individual uniqueness a rare trait. With this in mind, how does an entrepreneurial ecosystem harness a competitive advantage in an increasingly flat world?
The word “culture” can be traced back to the Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero who used the term cultura animi–the cultivation of the soul–as an agricultural metaphor for spiritual development and enrichment. Although “culture” now has many meanings, Cicero’s original use still resonates with us at the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.
You can find the latest entrepreneurial scoop right here on NEUGrandRapids.com. Come Monday May 7th, our latest edition of NEU will hit the shelves. Read about the best new businesses in Grand Rapids, and where things are headed in 2012 for new ventures. We will release articles periodically over the course of the next few weeks. Stop back on Monday!
In the Senate version, crowds looking to fund new business ideas will have to do so through approved portals, many of which have been been gearing up to funnel cash into new companies once this law is fully passed. Companies can receive up to $1 million in funding from the crowd, with the amount each person can give being capped based on their income. The limits range between $2,000 and $10,000 dollars.
Some staff at CEI took a visit over to MoDiv, a retail incubator in Downtown Grand Rapids, to take photos for our upcoming semi-annual issue of NEU. Check out the gallery on Facebook (facebook.com/gvsu.cei)
. . . Looking for an internship?
Reenie Rose Reenie Rose is a unique business in the wedding industry that is working its way into becoming a regular part of wedding planning. Artist/business owner, Loreen, creates paintings of bridal bouquets as a memorable gift to a couple’s wedding day. Reenie Rose is in need of someone with enthusiasm for this business idea and an eagerness to see it grow. Knowledge of Reenie Rose is still growing, so there is a lot of room to expand and benefit an intern’s portfolio/resume.
For many software entrepreneurs, growing their company quickly and selling it to the highest bidder is the end goal of all their long days and sleepless nights. It may sound easy, but upon successfully exiting his company after growing it for nearly eight years, and going through two rounds of funding in the process, Jason Pliml needed one thing: a break. “You can only put in so many 80-hour weeks before it catches up to you,” Jason said.
