NIGHT & DAY: It’s a busy week!
Richard Retyi says, forget Mother's Day, there are monster robots and famous authors to meet. FilterD's guest editor grabs you by the shoulders and points you toward the best of the best in this week's events.
Ann Arbor Companies, Global Markets
It's less about world conquest and more about smart business. Ann Arbor firms are reaching out into the global marketplace and finding great success. Some even call the Mitten home but do little to no business here.
The Land Of Small Giants
Sometimes bigger isn't better. In Ann Arbor the "small giant" movement is catching on. Their philosophy? Profit is good but the bottom line should not be the be-all, end-all of your company's existence.
Enmark Systems looks to hire in Ann Arbor
When the economy went south, Enmark Systems found a way to swim against the recessionary tide and keep its business afloat.The Ann Arbor-based software firm is still holding stead at about 30 people and expects to hire another person or two within the next few weeks. The 26-year-old company has managed to do that by selling its software as a way for businesses to save money in tough times."Our work has not diminished," says John Bilek, president of Enmark Systems. "It's stabilized as the company grows. We have definitely seen an uptick in the last year or two."Enmark Systems develops new software products for metal service center distributors, finding a way to combine the new economy with Michigan's more established companies. It is moving toward a software-as-a-service model for its product, allowing it to move more toward supporting its system instead of focusing on installing it."Our growth looks solid around that platform," Bilek says.Source: John Bilek, president of Enmark SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke
Arbor Teas goes green, expands staff to 6 people
Ann Arbor residents Aubrey and Jeremy Lopatin wanted to start a business to go with their day jobs a little more than six years ago. Today they have a sustainable, web-based start-up that revolves around tea called Arbor Teas."We initially wanted to open a café but we didn't have the capital for that," says Aubrey Lopatin. "So we looked at what other options were out there. We both love tea and food. It was a natural match."The Ann Arbor-based firm sells different sorts of exotic teas from its website around the world. Today about 85-90 percent of the company's customers are from outside of Michigan. It has allowed Aubrey Lopatin to make this her full-time profession (Jeremy is still an analyst with Pure Visibility) and now have a staff of four people and an intern. It hopes to hire again in the near future.One of its latest innovations is coming out with a sustainable packing that is compostable. That means users can take the tea bags, leaves and packing and put it in their compost pile in their own backyard. That goes with its ethos of delivering organic, free-trade teas in the most sustainable way possible."That's our niche and our way to move forward," Lopatin says.Source: Aubrey Lopatin, co-owner of Arbor TeasWriter: Jon Zemke
Dexter’s ReCellular grows into new markets and cultivates new customers
The last year or two have not been kind to General Motors, but the same can't be said for the GM of the cell phone recycling world - ReCellular.The Dexter-based firm is still recycling millions upon millions of cell phones, refurbishing them for a second life and keeping their toxic chemical innards out of landfills and water tables. The company recycled in excess of 5 million cell phones last year and looks to exceed that number again this year."We created this industry and we have remained on top," says Mike Newman, vice president of marketing for ReCellular. "Even though a vast majority of cell phones that are retired are left in someone's drawer and forgotten. We're trying to get them to recycle them."It is accomplishing that by reaching out directly to customers to recycle their phones. Before ReCellular relied on other businesses to collect them through donation drives. This year it has premiered SecureTradeIn.com, which offers cash for old cell phones.ReCellular refurbishes many of those phones and then sells them on the open market. Sometimes they end up in North American markets and sometimes they end up in other markets in the Third World."We're selling more phones then we have ever sold before," Newman says.That has forced the company to reconfigure its Dexter manufacturing space to accommodate at least one year of growth. Today the company employs several hundred people at its Dexter facilities. It has held its employee count steady over the last year and expects to next year, too, as the company focuses on creating efficiency and maximizing profits.Source: Mike Newman, vice president of marketing for ReCellularWriter: Jon Zemke
A2Fiber initiative moves forward, selects video winner
Just because the Google Fiber application is in doesn't mean the A2Fiber team can go home. The combination of officials from the city of Ann Arbor and University of Michigan are still working on both the public stage and behind the scenes to make it to the next round of selection process."We'd like to have an ongoing public conversation," says Tom Crawford, CFO for the city of Ann Arbor and the project manager for A2Fiber. "We're still very excited about this."The latest part of that public conversation is the recent announcement of the A2Fiber's YouTube contest winner. Jeff Hayner won a 32 Gig Apple iPad for producing a 1:42 short film staring Lego characters extolling the virtues of what Google's Fiber community project could do for Ann Arbor and what Ann Arbor can do for it. Watch the video here.Google plans to build and test ultra-high speed broadband networks in a small number of communities across the country. These lines will stream data at 1 gigabit per second, about 100 times faster than most Americans get through their current cable and DSL providers.A number of communities across Metro Detroit followed Ann Arbor's lead and made an application, including Royal Oak, Birmingham, Rochester and Detroit, among others. Ann Arbor's application included a large public rally, a Facebook fan page and the YouTube contest. Local officials are still brainstorming ways to keep its momentum going this spring, summer and until Google makes an announcement about the contest.Local officials are also working behind the scenes to streamline the city's bureaucracy to fit the Google Fiber project. That includes everything from reforming the city's permit process, right-of-way and other city policies that could potentially impact the project."It's just the inner workings of government and the permit process we're going through," Crawford says.Source: Tom Crawford, CFO for the city of Ann Arbor and the project manager for A2FiberWriter: Jon Zemke
RiskMetrics adds jobs in Ann Arbor during acquisition
RiskMetrics Group continues to hire people for its Ann Arbor office even though the New York-based firm is in the midst of being acquired.MSCI is acquiring RiskMetrics for $1.55 billion in a cash-and-stock deal. That corporate event hasn't stopped the RiskMetrics from hiring in Ann Arbor. It has hired two new people since we checked in last spring, growing its staff to 20 people and one intern. It expects to hire another person and bring on up to another four interns later this year. Any growth beyond that is unclear at this point."It is currently unclear what the effect, if any, of this will be for the Ann Arbor office," Paul Schmitter, manager of the Ann Arbor office for RiskMetrics, wrote in an email.RiskMetrics creates software that determines and tests financial risk. Often this means it runs simulations on investment portfolios. The Ann Arbor office creates much of that software. RiskMetrics, which employs 1,200 people around the world, opened its Ann Arbor office a decade ago with six people. It has since moved into new office space on North Main Street, signing a six-year lease with local developer Peter Allen for about half the space in his Limestone building overlooking Argo Pond.Source: Paul Schmitter, manager of the Ann Arbor office for RiskMetricsWriter: Jon Zemke
Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw wins SBA champion award
Women's Exchange of Washtenaw is making room on its shelf for a new award and room in its ranks for a new chapter or two.The U.S. Small Business Administration will present the non-profit's co-founders, Carrie Hensel and Debra Power, with the "U.S. Small Business Administration’s Michigan Women in Business Champion of the Year for 2010" award later this week. That will come as the duo make preparations to grow the organization across the state in the near future."We think we have found something very unique and special and we want to share it," Power says.Women's Exchange of Washtenaw was founded two years ago as a place for businesswomen to network and create new business opportunities, generate referrals and find work. It now has a database of 800 women who partake in the organization. Women's Exchange of Washtenaw is not a membership organization, which allows participants the freedom to pay as they go.Hensel and Powers have enjoyed quite a bit of success with this model, creating an open and engaging environment for entrepreneurs without a Y chromosome. They expect to try and spread this model into the Lansing market later this year.Women's Exchange of Washtenaw will host the Women's Exchange of Washtenaw Forum 10 on May 21 at Kensington Court, 610 Hilton Blvd in Ann Arbor. The all-day event will feature regional speakers, workshops, breakout sessions and networking activities to engage the business community and work through the common issues women business leaders face in their efforts to grow and improve their companies. The event costs $75 before May 1 and $95 after. For information, click here.Source: Debra Power, co-founder of Women's Exchange of WashtenawWriter: Jon Zemke
Q&A: How to get into U-M’s Ross School of Business
Getting into University of Michigan's Ross School of Business is one of the most sought after tickets in the nation. Here is some inside information on how to score one, thaks the U.S. News & World Report.Excerpt:We posed questions to admissions officials at the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor Stephen M. Ross School of Business regarding the application process, what they look for in applicants and what sets their school apart. These are their responses:1. What can applicants do to set themselves apart from their peers? They really don't need to do much to set themselves apart other than tell their unique stories—through their résumés, their essays, their interviews, and their recommendation letters. No two applicants, even if they live and work in the same place, will have the same stories to tell. Differentiation shouldn't be a goal; telling one's own story well should.2. What do you look for in the application essays? What do the essays tell you about a candidate?We look for several things in the essays: Do they have clear and compelling reasons for wanting to get an M.B.A. now? Do they have a clear sense of their goals and why they've set those goals? Can they communicate well?The essays tell us whether an applicant has taken the time to think about where they've been, what they hope to achieve and why. Essays tell us whether an applicant understands what an M.B.A. is about, whether our program is a good fit for them, and whether they'll be a good fit for our program.Read the rest of the story here.
