The Tennessee Small Business Development Center, hosted at Pellissippi State, presents the Rising Star Award annually to a client who shows significant potential for success and impact in their local community or field with the 2024 recipient, Smoky Mountain Rod & Customs, being chosen from a number of potential candidates.
“Smoky Mountain Rod & Customs has proven its tenacity and has such an exciting future ahead of it,” said Tennessee Small Business Center Director Gregg Bostick. “We are grateful to have played a part in their story, and look forward to continuing our relationship as they expand.”
Smoky Mountain Rod & Customs owners Blasia and Robert Perry launched the business in 2020, having always shared a love for custom cars. Since then, the company has grown to employ more than a dozen people and garnered praise for its custom sheet metal fabrication, 3D design, assembly, wiring, exhaust systems and custom chassis design.
Read the full article on the company and the prestigious award here.
The Small Business Development Center aims to help clients start, grow and sustain their businesses. The center worked with 420 individual clients in 2024 and has already serviced dozens of clients in the new year.
The center in Knoxville also assisted and facilitated access to $24 million in capital for its clients in 2024.
In addition to providing support for funding and training for burgeoning companies, the development center collaborates closely with the state of Tennessee to cultivate startups through economic programs like Invest TN, said Patricia Weaver, vice president of external affairs at Pellissippi State.
(Additional information and quote from February PSCC article.)
Pellissippi State Community College is a public community college based in Knox and Blount counties in Tennessee and operated by the Tennessee Board of Regents. The college operates four campuses: Hardin Valley, Blount County, Strawberry Plains and Magnolia Avenue.
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