Every day, the heroes of the Lowcountry give tirelessly of themselves while giving back to all those in our community. Now the Don Ryan Center for Innovation, with a grant from the South Carolina Department of Commerce Office of Innovation, has created a program to help provide our region’s heroes with the tailored resources, skills and support to help them become successful entrepreneurs.
The new program, the DRCI HEROES Initiative, is open to all military, veterans, police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel throughout the Lowcountry and is a groundbreaking new way to help our valued heroes transition to business ownership. The HEROES Initiative formally kicks off in May and already has two innovators in the program.
With many of our region’s heroes having strong technical training and a deep understanding of technology, but many not having been exposed to the concepts of being a business owner or taking their ideas into the marketplace, the DRCI HEROES Initiative will provide the mentorship, guidance, space and business-building tools to help the Lowcountry’s heroes become independent entrepreneurs and take their business ideas to the next level. Not only was the program designed to greatly help the many heroes in our community (with many police, firefighters, and EMTs working as shift workers, which allows time for entrepreneurial ventures), but it was created to help launch and grow new businesses of all sizes and further grow our Lowcountry economy.
“The Don Ryan Center for Innovation has a long history of providing the community with entrepreneurial support and has the experience, connections and resources to help our region’s heroes succeed in business,” said Mike Levine, CEO of the DRCI. “We are looking forward to making this program a reality through this important grant and the support of the South Carolina Department of Commerce and are excited to provide our Lowcountry heroes with the help they may need in starting and growing a business.”
Two Lowcountry residents who can already attest to the value of the DRCI’s efforts to help heroes become successful entrepreneurs are Kevin Ryan, a mentor at the Don Ryan Center for Innovation and former Army commander, and Matt Gulick, a retired Marine. As the co-founder and CEO of the Savannah-based Service Brewing Company (one of the sponsors of the DRCI HEROES Initiative) Ryan’s mentorship was critical in the launch, and success, of Gulick’s business invention: Pourzilla. Pourzilla is a cap that seals in freshness on any woven reinforced cloth and plastic packaging in its current iteration. After the early stages of product development under the guidance of local mentors and another veterans’ organization helping veterans transition to civilian life, he was led to the Don Ryan Center for Innovation in Bluffton—and Kevin Ryan—for additional guidance and mentorship through every stage of the entrepreneurial process.
Working closely with Ryan, as well as with other DRCI mentors, Gulick has taken his initial idea to the next level—and beyond—and has been able to present Pourzilla to interested corporations on a national scale. In the next five years, Gulick hopes to see Pourzilla in the marketplace with the pet market as a beachhead—with Pourzilla’s “easy to attach/easy to pour/easy to reuse” product benefits for pet food including sealing in freshness, preserving nutritional value and preventing spoilage. Gulick, along with his mentorship team at the DRCI, is also continuing to make further product innovations, currently working on designing a new version of Pourzilla for paper products as well.
Kevin Ryan’s work with Matt Gulick in launching and growing Pourzilla is just the first example of how the DRCI’s new initiative to help heroes can help our military, veterans, police, firefighters, and EMTs become entrepreneurs … with many more “success stories” now on the horizon, thanks to this new entrepreneurial program tailored specifically for our heroes.
“The HEROES initiative is a great way for us to give back to those who have given so much to our community for so long,” said Brad Barnett, DRCI HEROES program director and retired Air Force Lt. Col. “We’re looking forward to welcoming our heroes to the Don Ryan Center for Innovation and providing them with the resources that we know can help them not only launch and grow a business but can change their lives through business ownership.”
For additional information about the Don Ryan Center for Innovation and the DRCI’s Heroes Initiative, including how to join the program, become a mentor, or make a donation, visit donryancenter.com.
