South Carolina Small Business Development Centers

Mompreneur cooks up culinary courses for young people
Starts business with socially responsible goals

Jan Pinnington used to be a harried mother wrapped up in the nonstop demands of raising a family. Often, family meals were pre-packaged or from a drive-thru. One day, Pinnington had the realization that her 11-year old daughter couldn’t cook. The girl had never even learned to crack an egg!

Jan suddenly understood that not only she had denied her daughter basic cooking skills, but also the special gift of time spent together. Jan invited her daughter and several of her school friends to learn how to prepare healthy meals and snacks.

Her work with these kids was so successful that Pinnington wondered if there was a way to turn her idea into a money-making venture from her home in Irmo, South Carolina. She felt sure she could train other stay-at-home moms to do what she had done. Pinnington started Healthy Hands Cooking, a training course where mothers can supplement their family’s income while helping kids learn about nutrition and cooking.

She even had a slogan, “Healthy Habits for Kids, Income for You.” What she didn’t have was a business plan for her dreams of expansion. Pinnington sought assistance from the Columbia Area Small Business Development Center in November of 2011 where she bounced ideas off business consultant Bob Pettit.

“She needed to write her instructor’s manual and the student’s manual,” Pettit said. “Then she n

News Archive

South Carolina SBDC welcomes
technology commercialization specialist

Innovative thinkers have a new friend at the South Carolina Small Business Development Centers. People and companies with original ideas and pioneering products can benefit from the SC SBDC’s new technology commercialization services headed by business consultant Chad Hardaway.

“We are delighted to have Chad join our network,” said SC SBDC State Director Michele Abraham. “Often companies come to us with a ground-breaking project or product, but they have no idea how to move forward. Chad’s vast experience in technology commercialization can help take an idea and turn it into a viable business.”

In addition to being the SC SBDC’s technology commercialization specialist, Hardaway is the Associate Director of Innovation for the Faber Entrepreneurship Center at USC’s Darla Moore School of Business. As an MBA, a chemical engineer and a lawyer, Hardaway has more than a decade of experience in intellectual property and technology development, strategy and management from both a top-tier research university and a corporate perspective.

Hardaway knows how to form partnerships, find capital, research opportunities, explore new markets and move products into production and finally into the hands of consumers. He can assist in technology startup creation, license generation, patents and intellectual property issues and early stage funding for startups. He is adept at navigating the grant proposals and awards of the federal government’s Small Business