Makeup, tattoos, piercings and vape cartridges: 3 Galesburg businesses seek startup grants

Permanent makeup, traditional tattoos and piercing, and vaporizer cartridges.

Three new proposed businesses featuring these products are seeking grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 under the Women/Minority Startup Assistance Program offered by the City of Galesburg in partnership with the Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development.

The City Council will consider grants for the three businesses on first reading at Monday’s City Council meeting.

Here is a summary of the three business proposals:

MOD Esthetics

MOD Esthetics, LLC will be located at 64 S Prairie St, Suite 7. The business will offer permanent makeup, also known as cosmetic tattooing. It is a technique which employs tattoos as a means of producing designs that resemble makeup, such as eye-lining and other permanent enhancing colors to the skin of the face, lips and eyelids. Permanent makeup is a growing industry, where clients’ facial features are tattooed in semi-permanent pigment (not tattoo ink).

Owner Sarah Howerter is planning in the future to add additional services targeted towards breast cancer survivors. MOD Esthetics is seeking startup funds to assist with purchasing equipment and other necessities for the business

The KCAP Review Committee has recommended the approval of a $5,000 Startup Assistance grant. The Acting City Manager/Director of Community Development concurs with this recommendation.

Get Sum Ink

Get Sum Ink LLC will be located at 430 N. Henderson St, Suite A and will offer tattoos as the primary service and piercings on a limited basis. In addition, any tattoo created by the owner will be placed on print-on-demand websites like Etsy and Printify to be sold as designs that can be placed on other items as well, such as shirts, coffee cups and hats to name a few.

Owner George Hamblen is requesting startup funds to help with equipment and other items needed by the business.

The KCAP Review Committee has recommended the approval of a $5,000 Startup Assistance grant. The Acting City Manager/Director of Community Development concurs with this recommendation.

Greenlords Pharms

Greenlords Pharms LLC will be located at 1367 Monmouth Blvd. and will begin processing organic hemp CBD oil into vaporizer cartridges. The owner is already a licensed hemp grower and has identified a retail sales channel for these products in Florida via a partnership with a chain of CDB stores.

Initially, the business will purchase wholesale CBD oil, but eventually the business could supply itself with its own hemp. Long-term, Demarkius will utilize the revenues generated by CBD processing to support Greenlords main business aim: aquaponics agriculture.

Greenlords Pharms is a new venture recently launched by Demarkius Medley Sr. and his son Demarkius Medley Jr.

The KCAP Review Committee has recommended the approval of a $10,000 Startup Assistance grant. The Acting City Manager/Director of Community Development concurs with this recommendation.

How the program works

According to KCAP President Ken Springer, the City’s new startup programs have generated a great deal of interest since launching in the Spring of 2022. He estimated KCAP has received between 1-3 new inquiries per week for these programs since their launch.

So far, 13 businesses have successfully obtained funding from the new City of Galesburg programs. Those are:

“The City’s programs provide a small amount of startup capital, but are not designed to be the sole source of a startup’s funds,” Springer said. “The businesses that have utilized these new tools have been able to get up and running with a better financial foundation because of the City’s programs.”

City funds are flexible and can be used for basically any legitimate business expense.  Grantees must submit receipts to the City for reimbursement. They use City funds to purchase inventory, for marketing, buying equipment, etc.

KCAP tends to bring the applications forward in batches of two or three at a time. Springer said there is an intermediate step before applications go to City Council that involves a review by a team of local commercial lenders and small business owners.

“That volunteer committee puts in a lot of hours reviewing business plans and financials,” he said. “I am super grateful to our review committee for their work. The City’s Community Development Department, Finance Department and Clerk’s office also put a lot of work in behind the scenes to create and execute grant agreements and to disburse and track funds.”

Springer notes the Small Business Development Center at Western Illinois University also helps applicants with the creation of business plans and other financial documents at zero cost.

The programs were created to run for three years – 2022, 2023 and 2024. The City budgeted $250,000 per year for the four new programs combined. This includes the two startup programs, the Southside Occupancy program and the new Urban Ag Pilot Program. KCAP manages the first three of those programs, and the City manages the Urban Ag Pilot program.

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