WEST WARWICK – Gail Ahlers, a designer and owner of the Pawtucket firm Ahlers Designs, has won the 2008 Digital Growth Grant Contest for her success as a female entrepreneur.
Ahlers started her business, Ahlers Designs, in 1989. Today she designs and manufactures a wide array of retail products and corporate gifts, from vitamin cases to clip magnets. The products are sold in stores and online.
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Over the years, Ahlers’ company has expanded from a 400-square-foot basement studio to a 2,000-square-foot design and manufacturing studio in Pawtucket’s Hope Artiste Village. She currently has four employees.
The Digital Growth Grant Contest was organized and managed by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), and co-sponsored by Cox Business Services and the lifestyle company Ladies Who Launch. It was launched in October, to coincide with National Business Women’s Week.
“I am so pleased to be selected for the Digital Growth Grant in Rhode Island,” Ahlers said in a news release. “It’s so meaningful for a company like Cox to reach out and invest in small businesses like mine as we try to take our companies to the next level. It’s an investment in my company and the companies I support as an American designer and manufacturer.”
Ahlers and the other contestants were judged based on an essay they submitted sharing their views about the opportunities, challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship.
The contest’s organizers said entries were received from women in a variety of industries, including catering, property management, educational consultants, computer services and marketing.
Ahlers will receive a free bundle of telephone, Internet and video services from Cox Business for 12 months. She also will be given free admission to any one- or two-hour course of her choice from the R.I. Small Business Development Center and a free membership for one year to the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce.
In announcing Ahlers’ selection, the contest organizers said her company has “dire needs” in upgrading its telecommunications services. “I’m looking forward to getting faster Internet and more reliable telephone service that will truly help our business grow,” Ahlers said.
Ahlers and her business were the subject of a Providence Business News “Main Street” profile on Aug. 24, 2007. (READ MORE)
For more information about Ahlers Designs, or to place an online order, visit www.AhlersGifts.com.
