Ten Companies Receive Challenge Grants to Help Reach Important Milestones
Through our partnership with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and Governor Rod Blagojevich's Opportunity Returns Program, CCV provides small, high-growth businesses with matching grants to help them achieve their goals. The following companies have recently received grants because they exhibit strong growth potential.
- Alter Eat Go is a new diet food delivery service that was created to provide healthy, portion controlled and calorie conscious meal options to African Americans and other time deprived professionals in the Chicago metropolitan area. This service saves individuals time and money by performing functions like menu planning, shopping, and cooking on behalf of the client. Alter Eat Go will utilize the Challenge Grant for obtaining accounting services, enhancing its website, soliciting input from a registered dietitian and creating a special weight loss project.
- Carrot Top Distribution, an independently owned wholesale distribution company, carries a wide range of music, specializing in indie rock and pop. Carrot Top’s music is distributed to independent music stores and small, independently owned regional chains across the United States. Carrot Top will be using the Challenge Grant to expand many of its technical capacities including adding software to combine multiple purchase orders and streamlining warehouse activities with barcoding and scanning capabilities.
- Chopin Theatre is a live theater located in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. It is independently owned and operated by the Dyrkacz family, with an average of 500 performing arts events each year. Chopin plans to use the Challenge Grant to design a new website to improve marketing capabilities and enable online ticket purchases.
- Crop to Cup, a coffee supply-chain partner, imports coffee, arranges transport, roasting, packaging and distribution for US-based roasters and brands. The company also manages reinvestments back into the farming community through its non-profit arm – DevelopNET Iganga. Crop to Cup will use the funds from the Challenge Grant to enhance its website which educates consumers on the Crop-to-Cup socially conscious business model.
- Cybernet Systems Management, Inc provides technical as well as project management leadership for large, complex and multi-phased projects. CSMI has a unique capability in identifying and developing engineering programs to achieve improved plant operations and annualized cost savings. CSMI will be using the Challenge Grant to update its marketing materials and website.
- Finesse Cuisine has established a reputation as a premier Chicago based off-premise catering and culinary concept. Their talented and passionate team arranges and executes events for Chicago’s most noted social, corporate and philanthropic clientele. Finesse will be using the Challenge Grant to expand its marketing efforts through website design and collateral marketing materials creation.
- HumanZyme is a leading provider of recombinant human protein reagents to research diagnostic and pharmaceutical industries. Currently, HumanZyme focuses on human cytokines and kinases from human cells. HumanZyme is committed to providing authentic human proteins with superior quality. The Challenge Grant funds will be used to increase HumanZyme’s marketing efforts.
- Liif Tea is a Chicago-based importer, wholesaler and retailer of specialty loose leaf teas and accessories. Liif offers premium products and destination tea events to educate consumers on the many facets of tea including history, origin and presumed health benefits. The Challenge Grant will be used for enhancing Liif’s website, obtaining accounting and legal services and creating other marketing materials.
- Sunrock Cermanics is a manufacturing company that produces ceramic components for a highly specialized and profitable niche in the technical ceramics industry. It currently specializes in high-temperature kiln furniture. Sunrock plans on using the Challenge Grant to completely upgrade its website to make it more indicative of a business-to-business platform, including more technical and commercial functionality.
- Unicous offers a radical transformation of the coupon sector of the consumer promotion industry. Unicous’ products enable manufacturers to deliver product discounts accurately and immediately, at the retailer’s shelf, where up to 70% of consumer purchasing decisions are made. The Challenge Grant will be utilized to enhance the skill level of Unicous’ employees through expert training services aimed at ensuring sales success