FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 11, 2003

Vanceboro Apparel, Metropolitan on NPR

Shirley Williams and Ross Steckley Discuss difficulties and possibilities

Vanceboro- Shirley Williams and Metropolitan Business Development Center have a strong relationship. After working in the textile industry since she was nineteen, she had the unique opportunity to purchase the company she was working for—a company about to go out of business. Metropolitan secured the funding to make it a reality. In recent weeks, Ms. Williams’ story has started to get the attention it deserves. In a segment with All Things Considered from National Public Radio, Ms. Williams shares her experience. An excerpt from the program follows, courtesy of National Public Radio. For the full text, please visit www.npr.org.

***

Ms. Leda HARTMAN: The company Williams started out with moved to Mexico.  The next one went to Honduras.  After that, she worked as the manager at Dutton Manufacturing in downtown Vanceboro making good on orders for pajamas, robes and hospital gowns.  In the spring of 2001, it looked like Dutton would be closing, too, but instead of moving south the owner offered to sell the plant to Williams.

Ms. Shirley WILLIAMS:  So when he asked me about buying the company, it was kind of like a challenge.  I'm like, `I don't know.'  And then when he let me know that if I didn't he would shut it down, then I knew I had to make a move of some sort to keep us in business.

HARTMAN:  Williams' 25 co-workers decided to stick with her, and so did most of the company's previous customers.  But the real problem she had was coming up with $20,000 to buy out the owner.  When she went looking for a small-business loan, the bank rejected her.  She had no equity, no track record of ownership, and she was in a business with uncertain prospects… Then Williams found the Metropolitan Business Development Center in the nearby town of Washington…Metropolitan's economic developer, Ross Steckley, says encouraging small-business growth is the most promising way for a little community like Vanceboro to cope with job loss, and Shirley Williams was worth taking a chance on.

Mr. ROSS STECKLEY (Metropolitan Business Development Center):  Shirley was an individual that demonstrated a proven capacity of staying power. She had indicated to us her expertise and her willingness to take a hard road ahead that might be a long, hard road with not a lot of return but a lot of satisfaction from making it happen.

HARTMAN:  In October 2001, with a loan from Metropolitan, Shirley Williams became the owner of Vanceboro Apparel.  It hasn't been a cakewalk. She keeps her overhead low by doing the accounting and administration herself.  She has learned to juggle the bills, leaving money for fixed costs like rent and lights.  She staggers the work shifts.  Sometimes the women at Vanceboro Apparel work a short week--say, 24 hours.  But they take home some kind of paycheck every week.  Williams has even cut her own pay when she had to.  But the one thing she won't sacrifice is quality.

Ms. WILLIAMS:  It has to be made right in order for it to sell.

***

In the brief time since the airing of the program, Metropolitan has received several telephone calls.   One came from a business owner in Windsor, Ontario, who had a particular interest in companies dedicated to keeping jobs in North America.