Nonprofits Can Be Entrepreneurs, Too

By Mike Switzer

Published August 1, 2018 at 5:27 AM EDT

As our population continues to age, the members of this aging population are more and more demanding to finish living out their lives at home rather than in an institution. Two years ago, our next guest’s nonprofit organization noticed this trend and decided to respond with an entrepreneurial venture.

Mike Switzer interviews Tomas Mendez is with BeWell@Home, a program of the Lutheran Homes of South Carolina.

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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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