A new chapter in the SoyaWax story...

11 August 2008, Des Moines Iowa - SoyaWax International is one of nine Iowa businesses awarded a Demonstration Fund grant by the Iowa Department of Economic Development. The $150,000 award, the maximum amount available for a single competitive application, was made on the strength of SoyaWax International's proposal to commercialize a new generation of soywax products.

Microenterprise, small business, and hobbyist candle-makers will enjoy lower UPS shipping charges on new orders. We are pleased to announce that our new rate structure with United Parcel Service will provide significant savings for single and multiple-box orders.

SoyaWax Intl. COO Timlynn Babitsky chats with State Rep. Dwayne Alons at the IPRT Legislative Breakfast. Company President and Chief Scientist Mike Richards chats with a legislator in the background.

3 March 2009, Des Moines, Iowa – SoyaWax International was one of six companies invited to attend this year’s annual Legislative Breakfast hosted by Iowa State University’s Institute for Physical Research and Technology (IPRT). About 55 Iowa state representatives and senators came to see firsthand how state funding provided to IPRT programs provides essential assistance for new and developing Iowa businesses and positively impacts the state's economy.

SoyaWax International management accepts New Business Creation award at Entrepreneurial Development Center 5th Anniversary celebration - Left to right: Lee Clancey, of the Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce; Curt Nelson, of the Entrepreneurial Development Center; Timlynn Babitsky, Jim Salmons, and Mike Richards of SoyaWax International.

"The Entrepreneurial Development Center is a unique and valuable business development resource in Iowa." said SoyaWax CTO Jim Salmons, "In over thirty years of my entrepreneurial career, I can enthusiastically say that I have never been involved in a start-up where we had such a breadth and depth of on-demand, high quality mentoring, technical, and strategic assistance. The EDC has been inspirationally effective in helping us to fast-track our business growth."

All members of the SoyaWax International management team - Mike Richards, Timlynn Babitsky, and Jim Salmons - were on hand at the awards ceremony and networking event. Over 170 entrepreneurs, community leaders, vendors and investors were in attendance.

SoyaWax International Inc. is located in, and plays a prominent role in the life of, the New Bohemia arts and entertainment district of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. With Jim Salmons and Timlynn Babitsky joining Mike Richards on the management team and with innovative new products in development, the exciting times ahead and new chapter to be written in our company history were all positive and upbeat. We had no idea, like most other folks and businesses in Cedar Rapids, that a flood of unimaginable proportions would soon change our lives. The Flood of 2008 crested at over 31 feet in Cedar Rapids! That's more than eleven feet higher than the previous worst floods on record in 1851 and 1929.

The proverb says that a picture is worth a thousand words. In this context then, you will find many thousands of unanticipated words expressed in the photo collections we've posted on Flickr. One set of photos tells the story of "SoyaWax Intl and our historic Maytk Bldg BEFORE the Flood of 2008". Two more photo collections tell the tales of "SoyaWax Intl. AFTER the Flood of 2008" and "The Maytk Bldg AFTER the Flood of 2008".

Mike Richards is well-known in Cedar Rapids as an active and energetic leader and participant in many area organizations and initiatives to promote community economic and social development. So it was only natural that the state of Iowa tap Mike for membership on the Economic and Workforce Development Task Force of the Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commission. Each Rebuild Iowa Task Force is charged with developing and setting out a plan for action in a specific issue-area integral to Iowa's rebuilding efforts following the Great Flood of 2008 and other natural disasters that have hit our state this year.

"I am particularly pleased to be named to the Economic and Workforce Development Task Force." Mike Richards said, "Rebuilding lives, businesses, and our neighborhoods after such a monumental disaster as the flood is, at its core, a creative and entrepreneurial effort. My goal will be to contribute new ideas for innovative approaches to local economic and workforce recovery initiatives both here in Cedar Rapids and in Iowa at large."

"In my past work," Mike said, "I've won national awards for welfare-to-work and homeless work programs of my former Candleworks company. In many ways we face similar life-rebuilding challenges in Cedar Rapids and Iowa. These disasters have puts thousands of our families, friends, and neighbors into economic hardship and out of their homes. I want to be sure that our flood recovery efforts at the State level maximize the opportunities for people to find and expand their entrepreneurial self-support spirit. We have an opportunity to create a lot of new microenterprises and small businesses as we get on with the challenges of rebuilding Iowa together."