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Last Wednesday, Kiah Hochstetler from Goodworks Evergreen joined us as speaker for the weekly meeting. Kiah introduced us to his company and explained that it was started in 2018 by founder Mary Stranaham. The mission of the company is to help small businesses succeed. The goal of the organization is to keep businesses growing and to continue long after the owners retire and transition to the community. The company focuses on businesses within the manufacturing, distribution, and services-related industries. Currently, they own a number of business in the timber industry. Their mission is to keep the business alive and well, while maintaining its community mindset during and after ownership transition. This approach is markedly different from the usual business exit strategy of finding a strategic buyer, either a competitor or a financial firm, planning to slash costs and quickly flip the company. Both of these options often involve lost jobs and stripped assets. If a business is not transitioned, the business owner is often forced to close up shop, which results in the loss of jobs and the creation of an adverse downstream impact on those individuals and organizations who provided support and services to the business, as well as the customers who had relied on the business. According to Kiah, Goodworks Evergreen currently supports businesses that have five or more employees. They are always looking for businesses whose owner wants to retire, but also wants to keep jobs in the community. Currently the company pays about $3.4 million in wages to support the 47 jobs that were saved through their buyouts. The company’s work has made an estimated $20 million impact. If Rotarians know of a business owner who wants to transition out of business ownership to retire or move elsewhere, Kiah invites you to contact him. |
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