South Carolina Business Review

A new business resource for veterans and their families

By Mike Switzer

Published October 9, 2025 at 6:30 AM EDT

Ways To Subscribe

Provided

Moniek James, an ambassador for the Institute for Veterans and Military Families in Charleston, SC

For those entrepreneurs who are connected in some way to the military, there are a myriad of resources available to help them succeed in the new ventures. We featured these many times on our show, and now, we’ve learned of a new one. Mike Switzer interviews Moniek James, an ambassador for the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) in Charleston, SC, host of the upcoming MilVet Business Summit on Oct. 16th.

MilVet Business Summit, coming up on Oct. 16, 2025.

Tags

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.

See stories by Mike Switzer