Through our blogs, we spend a lot of time talking about how to improve your small business, the benefits of LIGHTS, and how we can help you develop a business or idea, but I bet you’d like to see some proof of success. Look no further!The remainder of this blog will be used to demonstrate success through a review of our captured metrics for this quarter (January-March) and our cumulative metrics.Since its inception in 2016, the LIGHTS Network (central staff and partners) have assisted 199 startup businesses and new product lines for those fitting the product-based profile. This quarter (January-March) alone, companies who’ve received assistance managed revenues exceeding $1.8 million with total wages (annualized) of over $1.8 million!

The table below demonstrates successes across a range of metrics:

Sales Revenue

This quarter companies had a combined total of $1,856,001 and an average of $116,625 in Sales Revenue.

We’ve provided additional details on metrics below, though, for the sake of confidentiality, company names have been changed.

Private Investment Companies managed a total of $38,023 in Private Investment this quarter.

Grants Awarded

Companies received $268,451 in non-LIGHTS federal and local grants.

Jobs Created There were 19 jobs created this quarter!

Annualized Wages

Companies had $1,831,419 in annualized wages.

We hope that seeing these metrics inspires you the way they inspire us. As we look to the future of LIGHTS and the Appalachian Region, we strive to expand our network and services to assist more entrepreneurial individuals and companies, to strengthen the workforce, and to foster hope and innovation in this region we love!

About Us

About LIGHTS: The LIGHTS Regional Innovation Network catalyzes the creation of companies to create high-wage jobs and attract greater private investment in the coal-impacted and opioid-impacted regions of Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky, uniquely matching the complex problems and opportunities facing our corporations, communities, and individuals to a network of strategically-placed Innovation Gateways. From this, new marketable products grow from these challenges through our work with locally partnered Innovation Gateways’ business incubators and makerspaces, across a tri-state 28-county area.