Clemson Entrepreneurs Recognized at SBA Awards Ceremony

May 4, 2009

CLEMSON, SC – April 30, 2009 – Two Clemson entrepreneurs were the top winners in the Spiro Institute’s 10th annual South Carolina Collegiate Entrepreneurship Award program. They were recognized this week at the annual U.S. SBA Small Business Awards Ceremony in Columbia.

The winning company, Homewaters Clothing, received the $2,000 first-place prize. The company was founded in Charleston in 2008 by a team of three students: Jason Fowler from Clemson and Ross Appel and Theo Jourdan from the University of South Carolina.

Homewaters Clothing supports the sport of fishing by generating money for game fish conservation. They do this through the production and sale of polo shirts.

Homewaters’ polo shirts match the quality of shirts found in high-end men’s stores, but instead of a horse or alligator, fishing enthusiasts can wear their favorite fish on their chests. Marlin, redfish and dolphin polos are available with more fish planned for the future. Homewaters sends proceeds from every sale to groups on the front lines of conservation. Each fish is matched with a conservation group specifically working for that fish.

First runner-up and recipient of a $1,000 prize was Remedy Films, a company co-founded in 2007 by Clemson student Jamie Graff and friend Chase Andrews, from Flowery Branch, Ga.

Remedy Films specializes in high-definition video productions, with the capability and expertise to produce anything from a short promotional video to a six-camera live-switched event. Remedy Films’ principal areas of production are corporate Web site videos, event videography, promotional videos, wedding videography and extreme sports films. The company can film any event or reproduce corporate video with the latest in high-definition camera equipment, top-of-the-line Macintosh computers and editing software, and national mobility.

The Spiro Institute’s South Carolina Collegiate Entrepreneurship Award recognizes student business owners from colleges and universities throughout the state who own and operate businesses while attending college on a full-time basis.