Written by Stephanie Trotter

Photographed by Cindy Hosea

Business: Growing in Greenville and beyondS

kim the daily business section of the newspaper and odds are the usual companies jump from the page. Greenville has built its reputation as

a Carolina commerce leader upon the backs of BMW, Michelin, Fluor and others. Yet just beyond the media’s eye, the vast majority of us work at low-profile, smaller companies. And while they may not make headlines, they keep our economy running while enriching our lives with innovative products, commendable personal service and a vibrant community image. Here are just a few.

ExportIt’s one thing to sell your wares on Main

Street; it’s quite another to have clients spread

around the world. Such is the situation for Linda McDougald Design | Postcard from Paris Home. While the high-end interior design firm has created gorgeous living spaces from The Cliffs to Kiawah, its services are now in demand from coast to coast and beyond.

“A number of clients have found us from as far away as London and Ontario,” explains Linda McDougald, principal and lead designer. “We are also designing homes for clients from Long Island, N.Y., to Southern California.”

She credits the international reach to her team’s ability to blend a keen eye and professional services with Southern charm.

“I created this firm by hiring individuals who have degrees in interior design,

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TALK Greenville 49

architectural design and art history,” she says. “I surround myself with innately talented and intelligent people.”

Southern Accents and Southern Living magazines have featured the fi rm’s work as several national home magazines court the company.

Rather than rest on past accomplishments, McDougald recently opened a second store at The Shops at Greenridge and is overseeing an e-commerce launch.

“This will continue to increase our national scope,” she says. “It’s very complex and high end. It won’t be as simple as, ‘here’s a product, click and buy it.’ We want it to be an engaging experience for our clients, and that takes a great deal of work.”

To move from Greenville across the globe in a little over a decade is a whirlwind,

but one she relishes.“Twelve years in some ways seems like a

long time, but to become a nationally known fi rm in that short period of time is pretty amazing,” McDougald says.

And she quickly offers advice for others.“Do something you’re passionate about,”

she says. “Find really talented people to work with, people who are as passionate as you, and build a team.”

For more: www.postcardfromparis.com

ImportGreenville has supplied fertile fi elds for

hundreds of outside chains, franchises and shops to expand and grow. One of the newest to move to the area is lululemon athletica, a Vancouver-based apparel company. Managers opened a showroom downtown in August, with hopes of establishing a full-fl edged store in about a year. “The goal of the showroom is to introduce the brand to a new market, support inspiring athletes and instructors, and be in a relationship with the community,” explains Regional Manager Stephanie Hayes.

Founded in 1998, lululemon fi rst set standards in the yoga community with its technical fabrics and functional designs. With a manifesto that includes such power statements as “Breathe Deeply” and “Sweat Once a Day,” the manufacturer was soon

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RIGHT: Lululemon is located on Boggs Street, off

West Camperdown Way, one block back from the

entrance to Falls Park.

BELOW: Linda McDougald, shown, and partner

Meredith Kinsey recently added clients

in Washington D.C., and Newport Beach.

PHOTO BY JOSH NORRIS

50 October 2012

branching out into other sports and opening facilities in North America, Asia and Australia.

The company values the correlation between health and athletics, and aspires to create products that help athletes achieve their goals, while leading balanced, positive lives. That and a mission to “elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness” will make lululemon a popular newcomer on Main Street.

For more: www.lululemon.com

EntrepreneurSometimes a visionary comes along and

sees what no one else can: an empty niche and the perfect way to fill it. Jordan Allen was the typical senior at Coastal Carolina University majoring in finance when he realized there was a better way to teach students how to invest and manage money in various markets by using a virtual computer program.

“There was basically nothing available for instructors to use,” the now 25-year-old explains. “I did some research and put some ideas together and presented them to my professor and he loved it.”

With his parent’s blessing and financial backing, Allen took the next semester off, and the next, and the next. Two years later, StockLinkU Version 1.0 is now up and running.

“It’s a learning-management system that allows professors to evaluate student’s performance in portfolio management and trading simulations,” Allen says. “The program can be manipulated and tailored for freshman business majors up through graduate-level wealth-management students. Everything is real but the money. The students can see the

concepts they’ve learned in class and how to apply them in the real world.”

This past spring, professors across the United States were permitted to test a live beta demonstration as it interfaced with 25 global exchanges. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

“Going into this, I thought a few schools would use it and we’d go from there,” admits the young entrepreneur. “But once they picked up on it, they gave us invaluable information from a teacher’s perspective that allowed us to further enhance the program before launching our first version. Professors from the other side of the country were saying, ‘Go for it.’”

And so he is. As founder and CEO, Allen is guiding a team of five as they solicit North American colleges and universities. Seizing on the social media of his generation, much of the marketing effort has been through Facebook and LinkedIn. “It’s a much more effective way to reach our target market. We can isolate our end user and narrow our communication to focus on finance and business instructors and students. We’ve got hundreds of schools on our list.”

As for the future, growth is inevitable. The next step is to create an application for personal investors who aren’t attending school. After that?

“I could see this lasting 20 to 30 years, or possibly getting picked up, and then I’ll move on to something else,” he says.

Allen has promised mom that “something else” will include finishing his degree — if another profitable idea doesn’t come along first.

For more: www.stocklinku.com �

ABOVE: Jordan Allen on the eve of the worldwide

launch of StockLinkU.

ABOVE RIGHT: Natalie Rossi find herself surrounded by athletes in her job as manager of lululemon.

52 October 2012