Five Lansing companies are being recognized on April 30 as among 50 small businesses to watch in Michigan. They deal with things like blue hippo tangs, hot wires, nirobium and binary compatability, so grab your wikipedia and meet the honorees.
These are the companies that helped to propel Michigan’s economy in 2008, says Carol Lopucki, state director of the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center, which is granting the awards at the Lansing Center. The event is called "Michigan Celebrates Small Business," and honors privately held companies headquartered in Michigan with 6 to 99 employees generating $750,000 to $50 million in annual revenue.
It is A & M Aquatics, 16260 National Pkwy., located west of the airport, that sells the blue hippo tangs, which are bright blue Indo Pacific fish ranging in size from one to five inches. A & M also sells live corals and live rocks to independent pet stores. In Lansing nearly 20 years, the company outfitted the Smithsonian Institutes National Museum of Natural History's new Ocean Hall Indo Pacific Coral Reef Aquarium exhibit.
Capital Steel, located on Lansing’s airport property, distributes hot roll and cold finished steel bar and wire products. It opened in 2001 and has since added an office and warehouse in Cleveland, and warehouses in five other cities.
Niowave, at 1012 N. Walnut St., is located in a former school building. Its founder, Terry Grimm, landed three $1 million contracts last year, the last one with the U. S. Office of Naval Research to build a superconducting radio frequency electron gun. Niowave specializes in superconducting particle accelerators and their components, including nirobium, one of the elements in the periodic table. The company doubled its staff in 2008 and has just hired its first chief financial officer.
Dewpoint, headquartered in Lansing for 12 years, is an information technology integrator. Andrew Kotarba, its president, is a member of the National IT Advisory Council. The company also has offices in Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Illinois.
NuWave Technology Partners, although headquartered in Kalamazoo, houses half its work force in the Lansing area, says Chad Paalman, principal consultant. The company launched a new division called NuWave Medical Solutions last year, which focuses on electronic medical records and medical space, and opened a new office in Fort Meyers, FL. NeWave has also won endorsement by the Small Business Association of Michigan.
Source: Carol Lopucki, Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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