Blue Handmade, a boutique maker of artisan leather products, won the $25,000 grand prize for FedEx‘s annual Small Business Grant Contest on April 21. The Asheville-based small business will receive the prize money to invest in its growth and upgrade its resources, enabling the small team to expand and take on larger contracts, according to a press release.
The leather crafting team, comprise of just 10 people, hand-cuts, sew and prints custom leather goods such as notebooks, tote bags, guitar straps and more from its warehouse studio in Asheville, North Carolina. Owner Mary Lynn Schroeder started her company in 2008, since expanding her team and grossing more than $500,000 annually.
FedEx also awarded a $10,000 grant to the Philadelphia-based company AnaOno and eight $5,000 grants to Fortified Bicycle (Boston, MA), Guerilla Beekeepers (Santa Ana, CA), Knerd Shop (Castle Rock, CO), Monsters in My Head (Jersey City, NJ), Nested Bean (Hudson, MA), Nowear Extreme Rider (Unadilla, NE), Paleo Treats (San Diego, CA) and Shark Wheel (Lake Forest, CA).
According to the press release, the annual contest from FedEx provides small business across the country with a “significant” opportunity to share their backgrounds and garner nation-wide attention in addition to support from their local communities.
