If there is any group of entrepreneurs that is not only hungry for capital but also having a hard time finding some, it’s early-stage start-ups.  If you’re one of these, you won’t want to change your radio dial right now because our next guest is going to tell us about a free, new program her state agency recently launched to help these companies find federal grant money.

If you are a Southern artisan or business with a unique locally made product, you might want to know that a national magazine based in our state goes out of their way to highlight these products each year through their Made in the South awards program.  And the deadline for entry is fast approaching.

Mike Switzer interviews Elizabeth Hutchison, a contributing editor with Garden and Gun magazine in Charleston, SC.

A weekly update of the entrepreneurial activity in South Carolina.

Mike Switzer interviews John Warner is co-founder of Concepts to Companies and founder and CEO of Swampfox, an entrepreneur-centric social media company, based in Greenville, S.C.

Our next guest’s company was recently named by Forbes magazine as one of the 500 best employers in the country.  He says the key to their employee success is the company’s cultural compass that points in all directions.

Mike Switzer interviews David Cote, a vice president and head of human resources at BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina in Columbia.

Located in Spartanburg, the Hub City Co-op is the first grocery co-op in South Carolina. 

At the co-op, they focus on local farmers and vendors, primarily in the upstate. It's important to support local farms and vendors and give them a space to thrive. From hydroponically grown vegetables to hand-made soaps, the Hub City Co-op carries an assortment of local products.

Bratton Riley Credit Mike Switzer/SC Public Radio These days, when you’re visiting a new website, a chat box will often pop up and ask if you need help.  And you may not even be aware that many times these are automated and are known as chatbots.  Our next guest believes that these chatbots can help make your relationship with local government more efficient and so he started a company to prove it.

Doctors, lawyers, and CPAs are considered professional occupations, that is: having a specialized body of knowledge, and having education, experience, and ethical requirements.

Our next guest believes that certified financial planning should also be considered a bona fide “profession” and he’s working hard to make it happen.\

Mike Switzer interviews Rick Van der Noord, a certified financial planner in Greenville, SC.

Americans throw away billions of pounds of food each year, worth billions of dollars and enough to feed millions of people. In fact, according a recent report on food waste by Johns Hopkins University, if we were able to recover all of our wasted food, we could provide a 2,000-calorie diet to 84% of the population.  Our next guest’s university is working with a major South Carolina corporation on an initiative to address this issue.

Imagine being able to store red blood cells as a bottle of powder on a shelf, not needing any refrigeration or for those who need regular transfusions, being able to receive one through a simple injection into the upper arm, like a shot.  Our next guest is a University of South Carolina professor who has been an integral part of this nano blood technology.

The last time we spoke to our next guest, about three months ago, he said he believed that our country’s economy seemed to be waking up from a long period of sleepwalking.  Well, we’re almost to the midpoint of the year and interest rates are rising, construction activity is reported to be declining, the stock market appears to have stalled, so let’s see how he feels now.