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Small Business Financial Aid in SC

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Not long after the pandemic started forcing businesses to shut down, Congress came to the rescue with financial aid programs, including grants and low-interest loans.  To what degree have our state’s small companies been able to take advantage of this assistance?

Mike Switzer interviews Savannah Wilburn, a lender relations specialist & public information officer for the South Carolina District Office of the U.S. 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.