Innovative Columbus company recognized by Georgia governor

A Columbus business that manufactures and markets school supplies, employing high school students to do it, is among two dozen businesses recognized recently by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.

Innovative Supplies Worldwide, founded last July by former U.S. Army sergeant and human resources specialist Nneka Brown-Massey, was honored during the Georgia Launching Opportunities By Exporting (GLOBE) Awards. The recognition goes to those businesses that entered an international market in the past year.

“My company employees high school students and aims to provide work experience and training,” Brown-Massey says on her company’s website. “Innovative Supplies provides one step towards helping students learn good working skills. Some of the skills they learn are filling orders, team work, social media marketing and customer relations.”

Dubbed “Go Global,” this is the fourth year for the awards, which spotlights businesses and allows them to network with representatives from several countries, including Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, Europe, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The top markets among this year’s honorees include Australia, Japan, Latin America and the United Kingdom, the state said. The 24 award recipients — 75 percent small businesses — are from 15 Georgia counties. Combined, they expanded into 129 new markets in 2016.

“The Go Global event highlights innovative businesses and the enormous impact trade has on Georgia’s economy, while providing industry leaders an opportunity to network and strengthen relationships with international partners,” Deal said in a statement. “These businesses contribute heavily to Georgia’s success in exports and significantly bolster the state’s economy by reaching new markets. In 2016, total trade between Georgia and the world exceeded $121.7 billion and exports exceeded $35.5 billion.”

Here is the complete list of GLOBE Award recipients this year:

▪ AMK9 — West Point

▪ American Panel Corp. — Alpharetta

▪ Aventure Aviation — Peachtree City

▪ Bell Plantation — Tifton

▪ CentricsIT — Norcross

▪ Crider Foods — Stillmore

▪ Ecolink — Tucker

▪ GF Health Products — Atlanta

▪ Global Atlanta — Atlanta

▪ Heat Technologies — Atlanta

▪ Hydro Dynamics — Rome

▪ Innovative Supplies Worldwide — Columbus

▪ Interactive Communications International — Atlanta

▪ MuniRem Environmental — Duluth

▪ One World — Tucker

▪ OptiLedge — Newnan

▪ PolyCase Ammunition — Savannah

▪ Quantum Aviation Solutions — Athens

▪ Richland Rum — Richland

▪ SASCO Chemical Group — Albany

▪ Savannah Bee Company — Savannah

▪ The Seydel Companies — Pendergrass

▪ Vayando — Atlanta

▪ Zcorum — Alpharetta

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Innovative Columbus company recognized by Georgia governor."