Entrepreneurship :
Featured Stories
Amy Kuras
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Most people view multi-screen cineplexes as joyless movie warehouses with only one goal: To get you in and out with as much popcorn grease on your fingers as possible. Local movie chain Emagine is trying to remake the muliplex image by offering its audiences unexpected amenities and local outreach.
Jon Zemke
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The buzz word for today is: Diversification. Actually, it's been the buzz word for a long time. But saying and doing are two different things. Elizabeth Ardisana of ASG Renaissance thinks it's never too late for a good idea, and she's helping the auto supplier industry get with the program.
Terry Parris Jr.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Fifty percent of the start-ups in Silicon Valley were founded by foreign-born entrepreneurs. Though it's the third rail for most political and community leaders, a new view of immigration may be exactly what Michigan needs to reinvent its economy.
Tanya Muzumdar
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Summer break is a plus for students' bodies but a minus for their minds, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. Enter Donna Lasinski, an Ann Arbor entrepreneur and the brains behind ThinkStretch, a summer learning program for public and private elementary school students.
Jon Zemke
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Dilapidated eyesore or historic keystone to downtown redevelopment? It's an argument that's repeated over and over in Metro Detroit communities. Lincoln Park's Mellus Newspapers building is only the latest flashpoint. Jon Zemke gives you the lay of the land and gets some insight from downtowns that have fought this fight and won.
Walter Wasacz
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Phones are ringing off the hook. ABC and NPR want the scoop. Artists the world over want in. The hubbub is over what Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert are doing to a few property purchases that totaled roughly $5,000 (including a house for 100 bucks). But you can't put a price tag on their ideas or the potential impact on their corner of Detroit.
Chris Handyside
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Oh, Sam Raimi what have you wrought? Metro Detroit sure does love its grindhouse. From DIY horror studios to cult movie distributors, there's a whole other side to SE Michigan's film industry. Leave the Oscars to the tax incentive tourists. We've got another batch of blood and guts to mix up.
Jordan Miller
Thursday, October 23, 2008
When opportunity rang Aaron Beals answered. The West Bloomfield 26 year-old realized that not only is there power in numbers, phone numbers specifically, there's money in what those numbers can spell. Thus was born Ring Ring, the place where companies go for their vanity phone number. It's a pity M-e-t-r-o-m-o-d-e has too many letters.
Amy Kuras
Thursday, October 16, 2008
It was love at first swallow. When law student Moti Goldring and undergrad pal Jared Rapp discovered that French premium vodka Dragon Bleu wasn't distributed in the U.S. they did what any good entreprenuer would do: decided to sell it themselves. So, what does it take to launch a high-end liquor import business in Michigan? Metromode's Amy Kuras finds out.
Tanya Muzumdar
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Videos, Internet marketing, fine art and Kwame's mug: 323 East in Royal Oak has become one-stop shopping for creative inspiration. Home to the Ohm Creative Group, this storefront firm and art gallery is an ambitious (and successful!) merger of innovative business and unbridled expression.
Ryan Allen
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Someday Ferndale will erect a statue to Chris Johnston. Or better yet, replace the police officer in Woodward Avenue's Crow's Nest with his likeness. Entrepreneur, bar owner, restaurateur, rocker and driving force behind downtown's resurgence, only one question remains: When does he sleep?
Chris McCarus
Thursday, September 25, 2008
NY Times Columnist Thomas Friedman popped up in Ypsilanti last week to chat about his new book and talk about alternative energy, green innovation and how Michigan could reinvigorate its economy. Michigan Now's Chris McCarus had a front row seat.
Melinda Clynes
Thursday, July 17, 2008
From its LEED construction to its geothermal heating to its all local, all organic menu, Mike Plesz is a man with a mission: to turn a historic building in downtown Rochester into the greenest brewpub in Michigan. Drinking beer never felt so responsible.
Jon Zemke
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Everything old is new again. And profitable. Historic preservation is more than just a longing for the old ways. It can be an economic driver for those SE Michigan communities that know how to leverage what they've got with where they're going.
Amy Kuras
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Ramsey Sweis was 2.0 before the term was invented. Leaving his engineering job at General Motors behind while the Internet was still in its infancy, he jumped head-first into the wireless world and never looked back. Now, his web-optimization firm Aqaba Technologies is connecting SE Michigan to the rest of the world.