Minority Business Gaining in SC

By Mike Switzer

Published March 9, 2017 at 9:28 AM EST

Our next guest’s organization was recently ranked number two in the nation among minority business assistance organizations for the dollar volume of contracts and financing it has helped its clients acquire. More than $70 million dollars, in fact, aided by assistance from the US Department of Commerce.

Mike Switzer interviews Diane Sumpter, president and CEO of DESA, Inc., the company that operates the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Business Center in Columbia, SC.

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South Carolina Business Review business news

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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