Allegiant Laundry Services Founder Jeremiah Smith of South Haven, Michigan, was honored at the annual Michigan Celebrates Small Business Awards Gala last week. But that’s not the best part of his story.

In 2011, as a naïve 23-year-old entrepreneur, Smith launched a coin laundry service in Hartford. What started out as a venture to maximize wealth through coin laundry service quickly pivoted when a personal concern turned to a business opportunity and tested his abilities during a worldwide pandemic. Sanitization concerns and a chance encounter led Smith to where he is today in his business journey.

While visiting his immunocompromised mother in the hospital in 2012, Jeremiah watched as nurses touched a medical divider curtain, and then his mother. He was right to be concerned because of his mother’s condition. “I asked staff if they knew the last time that curtain was cleaned, and wondered who else might be affected by that spread of bacteria and germs?”, he recalls.

At this encounter, he recognized the opportunity to impact not only his mother’s health, but also the health of the entire medical community. After extensive research, Jeremiah purchased a commercial laundry company and began to provide linen services for medical cubicle curtains. He quickly realized that the cleanliness of medical curtains could keep his community safe and provide opportunities for job creation in the Van Buren County region, and Allegiant Laundry Services was formed.

As the needs of customers changed, Allegiant Laundry Services continued to upgrade and innovate equipment to meet the demand. And those innovations were put to the test in 2020 when there was a shortage of hospital gowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jeremiah looked at the situation as another opportunity. “Due to our innovations, we were able to answer the call to have efficiently cleaned and sanitized linens, and we were able to process over 19,000 isolation gowns, which were provided to many in the healthcare industry, during a critical window of time,” said Jeremiah.

While the past three years have been a challenging landscape for many business owners, Smith currently has plans to expand Allegiant Laundry Services.

Jeremiah Smith has a strong focus on high-quality, efficient, and customer-focused linen services. He provides hands-on, personal linen services to area businesses from large healthcare organizations to small startup hospitality groups. That dedication to detail has paid off in many ways. Most recently, he was recognized as a 2023 Minority-Owned Small Business Awardee by Michigan Celebrates Small Business (MCSB) at their annual awards ceremony.

“I am honored and humbled and this moment is surreal to be named a Minority-Owned Small Business Award Winner,” said Jeremiah. “I owe this honor to God, to the people who believed (and continue to believe) in me, and the incredible staff who all have been a part of our success! I loved growing up in the close-knit community of South Haven and I could never have dreamt of this.”

Awardees in this category were selected based on:

• Demonstrated growth as a small business.
• Embodiment of the American entrepreneurial spirit.
• Strength of the relationship with the SBDC, PTAC, or SmartZone.

“MCSB has always prided itself on its spirit of collaboration and celebration,” said Jennifer Deamud, MCSB Board Chair. “We love seeing our awardees celebrating one another’s success and sharing in this amazing moment is each awardee’s journey. It’s true — success is best when it is shared.”

Click here to listen to an interview with Jeremiah Smith, CEO of Allegiant Laundry Services and winner of the 2023 Minority-Owned Small Business Award from Michigan Celebrates Small Business.

Michigan Celebrates Small Business (MCSB) is a collaboration of trusted statewide founding organizations who offer resources for small businesses. Since 2005, Michigan Celebrates Small Business awards gala has placed a spotlight on how small businesses positively impact our communities and state. The MCSB organization is focused on supporting, promoting, and celebrating small businesses in Michigan.

Kinexus Group is the Managing Partner of the awards gala.