Two R.I. small businesses among winners of The American Small Business Championship

PROVIDENCE – Two Rhode Island businesses, D&E Concrete Solutions LLC and Prisere LLC, were among 102 winners of The American Small Business Championship sponsored by Score and Sam’s Club.
Score, which mentors small businesses, said winners will receive expert training, resources and networking opportunities.
D&E Concrete Solutions, based in South Kingstown, is a concrete and masonry restoration and waterproofing business. In its application, Emma Migneault, co-managing partner, said winning the $1,000 gift card to Sam’s Club would allow them to buy office supplies and software, and update their electronics. Money saved would then be used for additional training and seminars, as well as to join the chamber of commerce, she wrote.
Migneault started the business two years ago with her father, Dennis – the other co-managing partner – hence the “D&E” in the company name. She said they have already benefited from having a Score mentor for the last two years.
“We would not be where we are today without the help of our business mentor,” she wrote.
“Trying to make a small business succeed when your time is split between learning the aspects of business and doing the work your business is based on is difficult to say the least!” she wrote.
Prisere LLC, which specializes in small-business disaster resilience, is headed by Donna Childs, who wrote that she would use the $1,000 award to invest in better organizational systems, including a desktop scanner and digital filing system. She said Score mentoring would help her refine her business model.
She wrote about her experience living and working in a federal disaster area – lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001.
“In working with other small businesses impacted by disasters, I am sacrificing, in some sense, the ability to put my own disaster experience behind me, as aspects of other business disaster experiences resonate with me, often in deeply painful ways,” she wrote.
Winners from 48 states were chosen based on written, video and photo entries that detailed the sacrifices each made to achieve small business success. Winners were then determined by online voting and judges who are small business experts.
Sam’s Club provided a $700,000 grant, which is allowing the winners to receive a $1,000 Sam’s Club gift card, an all-expense paid trip to one of five Score training events, Score mentoring for one year and promotion throughout the year to showcase each champion’s story.
The 102 American Small Business Champions will attend business training events in five cities across the country: Phoenix; Austin, Texas; Jacksonville, Fla.; Chicago and Rochester, N.Y., from March through July 2015. One full day of each training event also will be open to the public, and local small business owners are encouraged to attend to gain access to valuable small business training, networking and resources.

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