Full Circle Blog » Entrepreneurship

SBA’s 2010 Michigan Small Business Award Winners Are Announced

Carrie Hensel — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:36:10 +0000

Carrie Hensel and Debra Power, Co-Founders and Co-Presidents of the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw have received the Small Business Administration’s prestigious award for Michigan’s Women in Business Champions. The Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw is a nonprofit women’s business organization, which develops and hosts educational and networking events for women business leaders. In its two year history, WXW has helped women find jobs, create connections, generate referrals and make friends. WXW is run by volunteers and its success would not be possible without the ideas and efforts of hundreds of women in Southeast Michigan.

The U.S. Small Business Administration awards will be presented on April 29, 2010 during the sixth annual Michigan Celebrates Small Business awards event at The Lansing Center. Keynote speaker, Governor Jennifer Granholm, will recognize the critical impact small businesses will have on the future of Michigan’s economy. View a full list of all the winners.

Wanted – Opinionated Women Business Leaders

Carrie Hensel — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:10:44 +0000

In celebration of WXW’s yearly forum (May 15) and because WXW women tend to be so gol’ darn lippy and self-assertive, Concentrate asked five WXW participants to “talk about women in business, the opportunities and challenges of doing that in Michigan, what you’d like to see improved, where things are going, etc.

We’re #42! Fortune Small Business says Ann Arbor is a great place to live and start a company.

Carrie Hensel — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:20:13 +0000

Congratulations Ann Arbor! Our city ranked #42 on the list of the “100 Best Places to Live and Launch” in a survey by Fortune Small Business. Towns across the country were evaluated based on business friendliness and lifestyle offerings, and Ann Arbor was cited as a good location for entrepreneurs to consider when starting and/or growing a company.

Why is Ann Arbor such a great place to start a company? Fortune Small Business says we have a strong high-tech industry. We’re also eco-minded people with a vibrant arts scene, award-winning restaurants, easy access to Northern Michigan’s freshwater lakes, and highly ranked college sports teams.

I would add that we also have a supportive and inclusive business community. We started Inner Circle Media in Ann Arbor nearly seven years ago, and had it not been for the relationships we’ve built in this town, we would not have made it past a year or two in business. Our success can be credited to our strong ties with other tech companies, marketing firms, groups at the University, and our heavy involvement with organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, Ann Arbor SPARK, the New Enterprise Forum, and the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw.

If you’re competitive by nature and wondering how we stack up against other Midwest towns, Ann Arbor scored higher than Madison, WI (#46), Brookfield, WI (#72), Zionsville, IN (#57), Colombus, IN (#74), and Pittsburg, PA (#60). The only Midwest city to rank higher than Ann Arbor was Naperville, IL – which is just outside Chicago and ranked at #29.

Chicks Rule! Women-Owned Businesses Collaborate

admin — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:47:06 +0000

Good things come to those who talk. ICM was founded by two women who have grown our business by talking to EVERYONE. As Carrie mentioned in a previous post, we truly believe in good business karma, and often our business benefits from networking and collaborating. Women are notoriously good at talking, so when Marisa Smith’s company The Whole Brain Group was looking to move out of her home office and into downtown Ann Arbor in 2006, Carrie suggested she come check out our new space, as we had an area that was ready to be developed. Within a week, Marisa took the leap and started working on a plan to move into the new space. A year later, Whole Brain has grown from 3 to 6 employees.

Besides the shared space, Whole Brain and ICM have collaborated on a variety of business issues: we share the same fantastic bookkeeper and we developed a website for their product AccrediStation. Both of our companies develop web-based applications and sell web-based products. Both of our companies work with universities, we share a great telephone system company, and we have swapped IKEA ideas for our office equipment and furniture. Our lawyer gave us a good explanation of how to protect our reusable work product, (i.e., code we developed that we want to use across multiple projects), so we shared the ideas with Marisa so she could intelligently talk to her lawyer about it.

Marisa even loaned me maternity clothes when I was pregnant with my son–now that is true collaboration!

Carrie Hensel Featured as Michigan Innovator

admin — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:15:27 +0000

Carrie Hensel, one of ICM’s fearless leaders, was recently profiled on the Michigan Innovators blog, discussing ICM’s future expansion goals and content management system. Carrie is one of many leaders discussing their business and their role in the evolving Michigan economy.

Bud Gibson, one of the founders of the blog and a teacher at the College of Business at Eastern Michigan University, has been busily adding profiles of Michigan entrepreneurs and business folks to a “highly visible repository of stories that showcase the modern, innovative spirit lurking in the Michigan economy.”