By Art Nicholas | South Haven Beacon
The Courier-Leader • Paw Paw Flashes • South Haven Beacon — Thursday, April 9, 2026
There’s a quiet revolution happening for small businesses in South Haven and Van Buren County — and the numbers in the South Haven Regional Business Hub’s newly released 2025 Impact Report make the case compellingly.
Since its founding in 2023, the hub has supported 89 businesses, with 82 currently active. Those businesses together account for 328 jobs created or retained, $28.7 million in small business revenue, $14.76 million in annual payroll, and $56,000 in grants awarded to clients. The organization has achieved a 254 percent growth rate in businesses served and — most strikingly — a 92 percent business retention rate, nearly double the national average of around 50 percent.
“Businesses rarely fail for lack of ideas,” writes Executive Director Elizabeth Bernhard in the report. “They fail when entrepreneurs lack the knowledge, skills, and strategic guidance needed to execute effectively.” Bernhard joined the hub in July 2025 — becoming its first-ever full-time employee — after years as a strategic partner while leading the Manufacturing Growth Alliance. A Southwest Michigan native and South Haven resident since 2019, she was recruited by board chair and founder Debi Howe when Howe was ready to step back from day-to-day operations.
“When this opportunity came up, it was just the right place and the right time,” Bernhard said. “It’s been very refreshing to work in my community with the partners I know best.”
Community is at the heart of the hub’s model — and one of South Haven’s most distinctive assets is the depth of talented, engaged retirees who want to give back. In 2025, volunteers contributed 2,762 hours of direct support to hub clients. Volunteer mentors are paired with business owners based on expertise and industry, while a separate pool of subject matter experts — CPAs, bookkeepers, marketing professionals — steps in for specific technical needs. The hub’s board of directors and mentor roster reads like a who’s who of regional business expertise, from retired banking and manufacturing executives to AI strategists and succession planning specialists.
It’s a model born of a real and often invisible problem Bernhard hears from entrepreneurs constantly. “I once had an entrepreneur say to me, ‘Elizabeth, I can’t talk to my team about my fears because I’ll freak them out. I can’t talk to my wife because she’s sick of hearing about the business. And my therapist is great, but she doesn’t know business,’” she recalled. “Every entrepreneur, regardless of industry, size, or location, has that fundamental need to be in community with peers.”
The 2025 Impact Report profiles two compelling local success stories. Max Gleiss launched Max Transportation and Car Service after completing the hub’s Startup Series, attending every session and building the licensing, insurance, and market positioning foundation for his business. In just one year, his company logged more than 50,000 miles and became a go-to transportation provider for South Haven events including the Icebreaker Festival, winery tours, weddings, and corporate contracts. “The Business Hub’s knowledge, guidance, and support made a real difference in helping my business reach where it is today,” Gleiss said.
Lisa Miller of Forever Clean Soap Works — a handcrafted, non-toxic soap and personal care business based in St. Joseph — completed the 2025 Growth Series and used her hub grant, funded by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, to overhaul her website and launch professional email marketing. She is now training her first apprentice and expanding into new markets. Her advice to fellow entrepreneurs: “Being too cautious and conservative can be a detriment to your business. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith in order to advance.”
In 2025, the hub served 69 entrepreneurs through the Startup Series and seven growth-stage businesses through the intensive 26-week Growth Series. A new offering, the Strong Leader Series, launched in December with 16 South Haven area business leaders — and achieved a perfect record: every participant met their primary goal for attending, and 100 percent said they would recommend it to others. The series returns in October 2026.
The hub also completed a Succession Planning Series, addressing a critical and often overlooked need: baby boomer business owners approaching retirement without a transition plan. A final free session is scheduled for April 22 at Lake Michigan College in South Haven.
For 2026, the hub is also launching the Founders Circle — an invitation-only alumni network for Growth Series graduates — while beginning work toward a Lakeshore Capital Consortium: a network of financial institutions designed to help small businesses navigate funding from credit repair to alternative lending. That initiative is slated for 2027.
The hub’s 2025 finances reflect a lean, mission-focused operation: $174,075 in total revenue against $154,697 in expenses, with a net surplus of $19,378. Sixty-three percent of expenses went directly into programming. The hub is working to diversify beyond its current grant-heavy revenue mix (75 percent of 2025 revenue came from state grants) through individual giving — nearly $37,000 was raised from donors last year, a record, with a goal to triple that in 2026 through a campaign called Friends of the Hub.
However, the end of 2025 brought a serious challenge: more than $100,000 in Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity grant funding was placed at risk due to state budget cuts. The hub worked with local legislators to advocate for restoration of those funds — a reminder of how dependent small business support infrastructure can be on state priorities.
For South Haven and Van Buren County entrepreneurs, the message is simple: you don’t have to go it alone. Growth Series applications are open now through May 13 6PM; the cohort begins June 10, and The Pitch — the hub’s flagship public showcase — is set for December 2 at Lake Michigan College. To learn more, visit southhavenregionalbusinesshub.org or contact Elizabeth Bernhard at elizabeth@southhavenregionalbusinesshub.org or 269-720-1699.