Mississippi Small Business of Year Award
Our mission is happy clients and a healthy river environment, not the bottom line
Lower Mississippi River Dispatch No. 935 "Voice of the Lower Mississippi River" Memphis, TN ~ Wilson, AR ~ Clarksdale, MS ~ Vicksburg, MS Quapaw Canoe Company ~ Celebrating 25 Years of Service ~ ~Winner of the SBA 2024 Small Business of the Year Award~
Great News from the SBA: Two weeks ago I was shocked to receive a personal phone call from Janita Stewart, our District Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration, sharing some great news: Quapaw Canoe Company has been chosen as the Mississippi Small Business of Year! We are in great company: check out the list of winners from all 50 states plus US territories Guam and Puerto Rico. I was very surprised! We have long been pushing a boulder up a mountain. I am humbled, and honored. I know the state of Mississippi overflows with hundreds of thousands of hard-working business leaders and their staff, creating a vital engine for the economy. I’m not taking this lightly. I look forward to working with Ms. Stewart and her staff in promoting the great state of Mississippi, and the attraction of its communities as nurseries (or new locations) for the small business. There are 32 million small businesses in the US. More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business. Small businesses also create about two-thirds of annual new U.S. jobs.
About Quapaw Canoe Company We are worker the bees of our queen Mississippi. We are at our happiest in running river adventures, leading youth trips, documenting wildlife, protecting wetlands, building canoes, and everything else we do in service of our queen, the mighty Mississippi herself. The Quapaw Canoe Company is celebrating 25 years of expert guiding & outfitting in the wild places of the Lower Mississippi River with youth groups, canoe carving, voyageur canoe construction, church groups, families, marriage parties, funerals (spreading ashes), team-building, full moon trips, artist retreats, weekly newsletter, Mark River cast-iron campfire cooking, bird watching, animal tracking, long distance expeditions, cleanups, yoga retreats, conservation, 1Mississippi River Citizen Program, documentation, exploration, and much, much more. Custom Guiding: call us, email us. We’ll put it all together! One stop. Arrive with carry on luggage. We are dedicated to sharing and protecting the Wild Places on the Big River through human-powered craft. Quapaw Canoe Company provides guiding & outfitting on the biggest river in North America, the mighty Mississippi River. Home base is Clarksdale, MS, with outpost locations in Memphis and Vicksburg. Quapaw Canoe Company seeks to achieve balance, diversity, democracy for its clients, its staff and the river. Paddling the big canoe exercises balance and democracy. We all work together for the benefit of the whole. QCC seeks diverse staffing and inclusion. When necessary we donate trips or volunteered to help achieve equal access for all with low-income schools and youth groups, and anyone else.
While we do not export product or services, we do actively export the best qualities and characteristics of the American Deep South, including compassion, generosity, soulfullness, spiritual love of life, culture, community, family, nature, and sincere interest in every person for who they are. I have been publishing a newsletter since 1999, the Lower Mississippi River Dispatch, which now reaches out to 7,000+ readers worldwide (You are reading issue No 935). From the beginning QCC has grown slowly and steadily. QCC started in 1998 with one aluminum 2-person canoe. One year later, we added six aluminum canoes and our first giant voyageur style canoe (29-feet long, 10 passengers). Ten years later we were paddling the river with four voyageur canoes and a flotilla of smaller ones. We quickly outgrew our original basement location. In 2014 we expanded into 18,000-square foot building (concrete & brick factory on the banks of the Sunflower River downtown Clarksdale). 2016 opened an outpost location in Vicksburg (Layne Logue), and 2022 Memphis (Matthew Burdine). Currently partnering with Wilson, AR, to open a location there in 2024. We go wherever the water goes. Like the Mighty Mississippi herself, we have grown horizontally not vertically. We are a mission-driven business. Our goals are exceptional service and safety. We intentionally plow profits back into the company to build strong foundation, and over the decades have grown slowly, thoughtfully, purposefully and organically. Our objectives are to create a strong system of operations, foster an excellent staff work culture, and build solid infrastructure with efficient shuttle vehicles, high quality paddles, life jackets, and camping supplies. Our mission is happy clients and healthy river-environment; not the bottom line. Pandemic years 2020-2021 set us back with a severe downturn in clients and trips. We tightened our belts, reduced staff, and focused on new avenues of cash generation through low-contact activity such as canoe construction. PPP helped us survive, but just barely. 2022 saw a partial return to normalcy. Unfortunately I was forced to make more loans to survive. It was a painful learning experience. We implemented new systems of hygiene and efficiency. Personally I suffered family tragedy during this time period. My health spiraled downward. I became crippled by a childhood injury returned to haunt me. But now the light is shining — in 2024!
Spring 2024 Fundraiser: the SBA Small Business Award allows us to move forward into the next quarter century with a broader vision, and a more sustainable game plan. You can help us celebrate this recognition, and join us in bringing our dreams to life: Love a Mighty Quapaw: Donate Here!
Congratulations, John. This is awesome news for you and all the River guides!!!!! I’m looking forward to another trip soon.
All the best, Andrea Walker
Fantastic
You should all be proud of this remarkable recognition of merit
Keep up the flow
Neil Johnson