Entrepreneur Tiffany Klingensmith of Wixom is the winner of this year’s U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Michigan district office’s Small Business Person of the Year award.
Klingensmith owns Unconventional Solutions Inc. in Wixom, a small business that specializes in composite repair, protective coatings, paints, and corrosion inhibitors.
She launched her business in September 2002, after a major family crisis. She is a certified repair and protective paint expert with more than 15 years of experience in providing customers with corrosion, erosion, and chemical attack solutions.
In 2012 as the company continued to grow, Klingensmith was able to purchase a building for her headquarters with an SBA 504 loan in Wixom. She also expanded and opened two additional locations, in Ohio and Indiana.
Due to the pandemic, she closed the Indiana location. Currently she has 17 employees that staff the Michigan and Ohio operations. She contributes her time to the Great Lakes Women’s Business Council (WBC) by mentoring to other women business owners.
“To start a business born out of tragedy and nurture and grow it, is an accomplishment; and continue to volunteer an enormous amount of time mentoring women business owners to ensure their success so they can avoid the pitfalls and obstacles you came across during your journey is commitment and is outstanding, and why Tiffany is our Small Business Person of the Year,” says Laketa Henderson Michigan district director of the SBA.
