By Donna CorneliusYou’ve got a great salad dressing/pickle/strawberry jam recipe. It’s so good, in fact, that your friends are always saying you need to sell the stuff. There’s just one problem: You’ve got no clue how to get your delicious food from the stove to the store shelves. Enter Bamawise, a Birmingham company that specializes in helping small food vendors make … [Read more...]
A Fair Trade
By Emily WilliamsAfrica awaits, and it isn't as far away as you might think. In fact, it’s just over in downtown Homewood.That’s where Scott and Jamie Laslo established a storefront for their fair-trade brand Kanzi, which means "hidden treasures" in Swahili. The store embodies the next phase of their work with East Africa. It is a for-profit venture that provides … [Read more...]
Partner in Climb: High Point Gym Coming to U.S. 280
By Lee Davis When serious rock climbers are pursuing their passion, they normally need to find the proper venue and hope the weather cooperates. Soon, they’ll only have to go to Inverness and the weather won’t be a factor. That’s because a High Point Climbing Gym franchise at 4766 U.S. 280 will hold its official grand opening in December. The gigantic indoor facility will … [Read more...]
Raising Alabama: Canfield Builds State’s Commerce on Three Pillars
By Lee DavisA phone call from the governor’s office was the last thing in the world Greg Canfield was expecting on Independence Day weekend of 2011. After a successful career in business and on the Vestavia Hills City Council, Canfield had settled in at his position as the chairman of the Commerce and Small Business Committee in the Alabama House of Representatives. … [Read more...]
Local Author’s New Children’s Book Celebrates Strange, Scary Species
By Emily Williams From the office of Charles Ghigna’s “treehouse,” a 1927 English Tudor in Homewood, the poet and author has pumped out more than 100 children’s books, and on Oct. 1 he will celebrate the release of a book he calls his “biggest and baddest.” Backed by Time Inc.’s Animal Planet and Discovery, Ghigna has written “Strange, Unusual, Gross and Cool Animals,” a … [Read more...]