Arbour Landscaping and Pool Maintenance, Augusta - Jac Arbour
Jac is currently a junior at Bowdoin College , pursuing a degree in Biology. Last year, Jac took out a small loan to start a landscaping and pool maintenance business in Augusta . He saw it through its first season with admirable success. With a LFF grant, Jac will roughly double the capacity of his business, enabling him to hire additional employees and market his business more effectively.
Consumer Energy Research Corporation, Orono - Matthew Rodrigue and William Sulinski
Consumer Energy Research Corporation received a LFF grant to develop, test and patent Heat-Safe 1000, a remote sensing device that will benefit residential home-heating oil customers by providing oil retailers with remote notification of low-oil and low-temperature alarms. This device will enable oil retailers to decrease their cost of delivering oil significantly. William Sulinski is a senior at UMaine majoring in Financial Economics. Matthew Rodrigue is a graduate of UMaine with a degree in Engineering and will be attending Harvard Business School this fall.
Downeast Machine and Fabrication, Gorham - Ezra Berry
Ezra Berry, an East Machias native and Mitchell Scholar, is a graduate of Southern Maine Technical College and currently enrolled in the Integrated Manufacturing Program at Southern Maine Community College. He has purchased land in Gorham on which he will construct a machine and fabrication shop capable of performing small to medium-sized machining jobs for businesses in southern Maine. LFF awarded a grant to Ezra to assist with construction costs and site work for building his machine shop.
Fuel Mp3 Players, Auburn - Ben Fletcher
LFF awarded a grant to Ben Fletcher to expand his business, Fuel Mp3 Players. His current product, the Diesel, is a wireless set of athletic headphones with a built-in Mp3 player. This summer Ben is launching an extensive marketing campaign which will target fitness centers and athletic events across the U.S. Ben has received endorsements from many well-known athletes including Evander Holyfield and Bill Rodgers, a former Olympian and winner of multiple Boston and New York Marathons.
MediCreative, Portland - Rebecca Stockbridge
Rebecca holds a bachelor’s degree in art and entrepreneurial studies from the University of Southern Maine . LFF awarded her a grant to help launch her business, MediCreative, the only web design firm in New England targeted specifically toward medical professionals. Only 12% of doctors in Maine have websites, yet millions of Americans research health topics online. MediCreative will offer web and graphic design services to doctors, dentists and veterinarians throughout Maine and northern New England .
R.E. Consulting, Orono - Rory Eckardt
Rory currently holds a bachelor’s degree from UMaine in Forest Operations Science and is pursing an MBA. He is currently developing his business, R.E. Consulting, at the Target Technology Center in Orono. Rory plans to use his knowledge of the timber industry to enable and assist informed decision making in the forestry and forest product manufacturing industries by offering analytical consulting services and products. The forestry industry in Maine constitutes 6% of Gross State Product and typically relies on heuristics (i.e. rules of thumb) for much of its harvesting and transporting decisions.
Yo Bon, LLC, Orono - Jason Bolton
Yo Bon LLC is a food products company which produces the Yo Bon Blueberry Bite, a fusion of dark chocolate, frozen yogurt and Maine blueberries. This product won national recognition in the 2005 Institute of Food Technologists Student Association Product Development Competition. Yo Bon was formed by Jason Bolton and his teammate, Shari Baxter, two members of the award-winning team. Yo Bon used their LFF grant to purchase production equipment and begin product testing. They also leveraged these funds to obtain a Maine Technology Institute Seed Grant.