Views & Visions

In West Virginia, small businesses are not a segment of our economy—they are the economy .

Across our communities, the overwhelming majority of businesses are small, locally owned, and deeply rooted. They employ our neighbors. They serve our towns. They shape the places we live.

If we want to grow our economy, strengthen our communities, and create lasting opportunities, we must grow our entrepreneurs.

I have been fortunate to be a successful entrepreneur, economic development professional, and small business owner in our state. I have built businesses here. I have seen others do ...

When most people think of entrepreneurship, they think of small businesses and side hustles or startups and spinouts. At the Marshall University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (iCenter), when we think of entrepreneurship, we think of innovation. Innovation not only sparks new ventures—it enables existing businesses to adapt, grow, and scale in an ever-changing world. It is the foundation that allows ideas to evolve into lasting impact.

Our story begins in 2017, when Marshall hosted the Innovating for Impact Design Challenge. Brad D. Smith, then CEO of Intuit and ...

When I was asked to contribute to this edition of Views and Visions, focusing on entrepreneurship, my first thought was I should learn how to spell it. I misspelled it the first couple of times I tried and then had to rely on spellcheck, praise the Lord!

My 27-year journey of being an entrepreneur, if that’s what you want to call it, began in 1999. My recollection of that summer and early fall is that they were similar to many others, relatively nondescript. I had no idea when my company was born that I was becoming an entrepreneur. It was much simpler, much more basic—I needed to make a living ...

In our first-ever Views & Visions video feature, James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur Paul Smith shares how family, food, and a leap of faith shaped his path from chef to entrepreneur—and why building something lasting starts with betting on yourself.

Chef Paul Smith is a James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur based in Charleston, West Virginia. A graduate of West Virginia State University and the Culinary Institute of America, he owns multiple Charleston restaurants, including 1010 Bridge, Paulie’s Fine Italian, and Bad Happy Burritos, where his work ...

In an era defined by rapid technological advancement, government agencies across the country are being challenged to modernize their operations and deliver services more efficiently. In West Virginia, the Secretary of State’s Office has emerged as a leader in this transformation, embracing artificial intelligence (AI) to better serve business owners, entrepreneurs, and citizens. 

At the heart of this innovation is S.O.LO – short for Single Online Location – West Virginia's first AI-powered chatbot developed and put into use by a state government agency.

S.O.LO ...

It wasn’t that long ago when artificial intelligence, or “AI” was something most people only heard about in passing, often in headlines about Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo program defeating one of the world’s best Go players, or IBM’s Watson winning a round of Jeopardy!. Although these early innovations captured the public’s imagination, AI was still thought of as a distant dream. For many people, AI was still an abstract idea, confined to the laboratories of major technology companies and academic institutions, or something they might see in a plotline of a Star Trek

Contrary to fears of job displacement by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation, advanced manufacturing skillsets are in high demand and growing. Nationally, Deloitte reports more than 380,000 open positions; anecdotally, in recent years at the Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center (MAMC), we have experienced the same level of demand from industry in West Virginia. Now, thanks to a study by Marshall University’s Center for Business & Economics Research, we have that demand documented here also. Specifically, 83 Mountain State manufacturers detailed 2,768 ...

As the brand manager at Custard Stand Chili and daughter of founders Dee and Angie Cowger, I’ve seen firsthand how a small-town restaurant in Webster Springs, West Virginia, grew into a national brand. Over the years, we’ve evolved, expanded, and reimagined, but one thing hasn’t changed: our willingness to innovate and improve.

That same drive led us to explore and embrace artificial intelligence (AI), a move that’s helping our small but mighty team work smarter, faster, and more creatively. While AI might seem like the realm of Silicon Valley giants, we’ve discovered ...

The hospitality and tourism sector is fundamentally a people-centric business with customer service and engagement being core elements of its culture. However, ongoing labor shortages, increased labor expenses, and inflation have led to customer difficulties, including longer lines, longer wait times, and inadequate personal service. Therefore, more customers began seeking technology solutions such as self-service kiosks and mobile ordering and payments due to these staffing shortages. As technology and automation solutions are widely adopted among businesses, these ...

In the heart of West Virginia, where the Appalachian Mountains have long symbolized resilience and innovation, a new kind of revolution is taking shape — one powered not by coal or steel, but by artificial intelligence. At Appalachian Logistics Group (ALG), we’ve embraced AI not as a futuristic concept, but as a practical, powerful tool that’s reshaping how we operate every single day.

From optimizing our transportation routes to transforming how we recruit and serve our clients, AI has become woven into the fabric of our business. The results? Improved efficiency, smarter ...

Across industries and state lines, the story of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly unfolding. GenAI systems like ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot are fundamentally changing professional workflows. Lawyers are leveraging GenAI to accelerate drafting, document review and summarization, and written discovery. Educators are generating customized lesson plans. Health care professionals are summarizing patient records and flagging clinical trends. In nearly every sector, GenAI is helping professionals reduce repetitive tasks and focus on work that ...