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Midlands Company Selling Millions of Face Shields

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We’ve uncovered many South Carolina businesses that have pivoted into new products as a result of the pandemic, and sometimes these new products develop into entirely new markets for these companies, as well.  For example, our next guest’s digital manufacturer adapted their business model to accelerate the mass production of personal protective equipment, resulting in their face shield becoming their first product they have ever marketed and sold directly to consumers; with sales now in the millions.

Mike Switzer interviews John Carrington, founder of ZVerse, in Columbia, SC, a company we first interviewed over a year before any of us had ever heard of COVID-19.

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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.