State searching for more good ideas
BYLINE: Rudolph Bell dbell@greenvillenews.com
BUSINESS WRITER
Six years ago, John Oliver helped a friend put sod in his yard only to see the grass die later. They replaced the sod, square by square, but the second time, only about half of the grass took hold. The incident got Oliver thinking about a better way to grow grass, and over time, he invented a sod replacement that uses coconut husks combined with grass seed. He's applied for a patent on the product, which he calls Swifturf, and is in the process of launching a new business in Greenville to sell it.
In the past, Oliver has made a living lending his crisp, deep voice to radio and television commercials and said he would never have tried to turn Swifturf into a business if he had not won the New Ideas for a New Carolina contest last year.
The statewide contest recognizes good ideas for new businesses. Oliver was one of six state residents who won $1,000 in the contest last year.
South Carolina residents have until April 15 to submit their ideas for this year's contest. Ideas can be submitted online at www.newcarolina.org/new-ideas.
This year's grand prize winner will receive $3,000 in seed money, as well as entrepreneurship training and business mentoring. Eleven others will also be awarded prizes at the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce's annual ThinkTEC innovation summit on May 7.
Oliver said winning the contest last year provided the affirmation he needed to launch the Swifturf business.
"If I hadn't won that, (Swifturf) would probably be cocktail conversation," he said Monday.
Greenville developer Ron Vergnolle said he invested in the venture after reading about Oliver's contest win in The Greenville News and seeing Swifturf grow grass on sun-baked clay behind his Fairforest Way offices.
Four months after the Swifturf demonstration, the resulting grass was "six inches tall, not a weed in it, green as can be. It had never been watered or dealt with all winter," Vergonolle said. Vergnolle said he and his business partner, Alex Crawford, plan to use Swifturf at all of their developments, including Pla d'Adet, the residential development and performance training center they're planning in northern Greenville County with professional cyclist George Hincapie.
In addition to making radio and television commercials, Oliver works as the announcer at Greenville Drive baseball games. Now he's hoping to make a fortune with Swifturf, which he hopes will storm the nation's $12 billion-a-year lawn turf business.
Oliver said his product works better than sod, costs less, is environmentally friendly and includes an all-natural insecticide that won't harm children or pets.
Swifturf will grow grass on "virtually any surface" within a week, he said. Oliver plans to distribute the product through landscapers at first and later hopes to have it placed on shelves at home-improvement chains such as The Home Depot.
The New Ideas for a New Carolina contest, held for the first time last year, is sponsored by various groups, including the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness and SC Launch!, the public interest arm of the South Carolina Research Authority.
George Fletcher, a Greenville businessman who is executive director of the Competitiveness Council, said last year's contest exceeded expectations.
"Hundreds of great ideas poured in from creative South Carolinians," Fletcher said. "There are so many undeveloped business ideas out there."