Four Michigan Companies Receive $200,000 From Ann Arbor SPARKs Microloan

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ – Four Michigan companies received a combined total of $200,000 from the Michigan Microloan Fund Program, administered by Ann Arbor SPARK. Allinnova, Procuit, Solarflex, and The Whole Brain Group will use the funding to commercialize their products. The Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, the Ann Arbor Local Development Financing Authority and Washtenaw County support the Michigan Microloan Fund Program. [Read more...]

To complement the recent development of the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce’s A2Chamber iPhone App, Whole Brain Group, TorranceLearning, and the Chamber partnered to develop a fantastic interactive demo!

The demo, powered by TorranceLearning’s eClickMap technology, allows you to view the features of the app, learn about the benefits of advertising member-2-member discounts, and find out how to sign up to get your business listed in the app.

“We asked TorranceLearning to work with us to develop the demo because the app won’t be officially available in the iTunes store until mid-November,” states Marisa Smith, President of the Whole Brain Group. “We knew that the team at TorranceLearning could create an eClickMap that would provide people with the information they need to get signed up to list their discount in the app, and understand the benefit the listing would provide to their business.   The demo is a great visual way to explain the power of the app to people – much more powerful than a longwinded written description!!  And once the app is launched, we plan to update the demo as new features are added with each release.”

About the A2Chamber iPhone App
The app is designed to provide details about member-2-member discounts offered between members of the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce, along with other directory details about business location, phone, url, and email. The new mobile format allows the Chamber to push new discounts to the iPhone every week, which is a plus for local businesses who want to offer fresh discount offers.

Learn more about the A2Chamber iPhone App in this AnnArbor.Com article.

Today at the LA2M marketing event there was an exclusive local announcement dove-tailing into the event’s topics of iPhone applications. The Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce announced the planned release of an iPhone application to boost visibility of businesses.

Nathan with AnnArbor.com attended the event view his write-up on the announcement of the A2 Chamber iPhone application: http://tinyurl.com/a2chamber-iphoneapp

Attendees of the event viewed a demo of the new A2 Chamber member-to-member discount iPhone application. If you missed seeing the iphone application up close – you may still see the iPhone visual tour and get your business included:

http://www.annarborchamber.org/benefits/save_money/m2m_discounts.html

Get listed via the m2m form link asap to be included in the launch of the application November ‘09, before the retail season hits.

Questions or comments on m2m form, contact Megan or Jennifer at the A2 Chamber 734-214-0106

Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce Announces Visioning Committee Members
Tuesday, September 2, 2009

The Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce has formed a Visioning Committee to formulate a series of recommendations to the Board of Directors. The Visioning Committee members were announced today. The mission of the committee will be to create a framework for the future direction of the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce. This includes developing a series of recommendations for the Chamber Board of Directors on the framework as the organization strives to create a vibrant organization for our current and potential members. The committee is also charged with identifying opportunities to increase the relevancy and effectiveness of the organization.

The Co-Chairs of the Committee are John Petz, Director, Government & Community Relations, Domino’s Farms Corporation; and Debra Power, President, Power Marketing and Research.

Additional committee members include: Newcombe Clark, Bluestone Realty Advisors; Paul Ganz, DTE Energy; Linda Girard, Pure Visibility; Jim Kosteva, University of Michigan, Bill Milliken, Milliken Realty Company; Tim Neiman, Dynamic Edge; and Marisa Smith, The Whole Brain Group.

The committee has a tightly structured timeline that includes three meetings in the month of September, 2009. The committee will then make recommendations to the Board of Directors for consideration. A timeline will then be developed for a search for the next head of the Chamber.

The Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce is a 1,200-member community non-profit organization that actively facilitates, educates, and advocates on behalf of its members through our services and programs. Chamber member offerings include numerous networking opportunities and events, educational seminars, leadership development, member-to-member discounts and access to health insurance.

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Read the August 3, 2009 article in Ann Arbor.com here.