USC Grad Wins eBay Young Entrepreneur Award

By Mike Switzer

Published May 22, 2019 at 5:33 AM EDT

Most of us know that there are deals to be found in clothing consignment shops, but how many of us want to take the time to go through rack after rack of shirts, pants, jackets, etc. That’s why our next guest decided take a stab at starting a business that did that curating for you. And she has done it so well that she won eBay’s 2018 Young Entrepreneur award.

Mike Switzer interviews Hawa Lukulay, founder of Messie’s Closet in West 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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