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SC Competes Competitively

Preston Grisham
Mike Switzer/SC Public Radio

While still behind the curve in many areas, our state continues to make progress in competing with the rest of the country for high wage jobs, especially in the aerospace and automotive sectors.  With plenty of work still to do, our next guest’s organization stays right in the thick of it.

Mike Switzer interviews Preston Grisham director of TechSC, an initiative of the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness 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.