FORT MADISON – After close to a quarter century of fixing people’s cars, a Fort Madison woman has been given the 2023 Deb Dalziel Entrepreneur of the Year award.
The award is Iowa’s Small Business Development Center’s award honoring the top entrepreneur in the state.
Nannette Griffin, owner of Griffin Muffler and Brake, was honored Tuesday in Des Moines by the state and she got to spend about 30 minutes with Gov. Kim Reynolds talking about small business in the state.
Griffin is the third Fort Madison woman to win the award. Martha Wolf and Sue Saunders won the award jointly for the Ivy Bake Shoppe in 1999, the first year the awards were handed out.
In 2008, Sally Nichols of Burlington won the award for Burlington in Bloom. In 2018, Doreen Roy of Burlington won for her business Wholesome Basket.
This award honors a woman entrepreneur who has significantly changed or improved her life and the lives of others. The award is presented in memory of Deb Dalziel, a devoted small business advocate who was director of the Small Business Development Center at Southeastern Community College. Deb passed away from cancer in 1999 at the age of 44.
Griffin has been working on vehicles since 1997 when she and husband Clark opened up a garage at their home doing repairs. Her grandfather was an automechanic and she's been around the work since she was a child.
In 2002, Griffin made an offer on a garage at their current location at 535 Avenue G in Fort Madison. But Griffin said she had to dig for funding resources and create a business plan to get the package put together to open the business.
She started reaching out to local economic development officials, including Janine Clover at SCC.
“I contacted our local chamber back then, I think it was Steve Seager running it then, and he told me to get ahold of Janine Clover at SCC, so that’s when it began with Janine.”
She was able to take advantage of the Iowa Economic Development’s Targeted Small Business low-interest loans and Fort Madison’s revolving loan fund.
They finally opened up in 2003 and then four years later in 2007 the service center burned down. The Griffin's rebuilt the business following the fire, but took 10 months to get reopened.
Nannette and Clark have been at that location for the past 20 years.
Clover put in the nomination for Nannette and, after research, Griffin discovered that Wolf and Saunders were the first-ever winners of the award.
“So we’re bringing it back to Fort Madison."
Griffin received a large placard and an award designed by Heavy Metal Renaissance of Woodbine. The large Griffin Logo is attached to a metal circle and perched on a water pump out of a vehicle.
After Clover put in the nomination, Griffin said she forgot about it until Clark reminded her by asking if she had heard anything, which she hadn’t. But she was scheduled to be a speaker at the DreamBuilders program across the street at SCC’s Fort Madison center.
“I told him, No, I hadn’t heard anything. And then that night at the DreamBuilder’s presentation (Clover) couldn’t keep it a secret any longer,” Griffin said.
She attended a reception at the Capitol in Des Moines and then had proclamations read in the House and Senate and then got to meet with the Governor in her office.
“She met with us for about a half hour, which I thought was really great.”
Griffin credited Clover and her relationship with the college for sparking her career.
“I think it’s the relationship I’ve formed with the college and Janene. Even through Covid, PPP, and anything they could help us with to stay in business I utilized that. I’ve talked at their entrepreneur classes and DreamBuilders and just tell the story about what it takes,” she said.
“When I look back at the progression, 11 years ago I hired a business coach and I know now that in the beginning I wasn’t the best I could’ve been, but I’ve always looked at learning more and being better.”
She also said small business owners need tenacity, a desire to learn, and must be committed.
The customer experience has always been important to Nannette and she has taken many steps to give her customers the best service possible. Griffin Muffler and Brake has become AskPatty certified, a female friendly certified shop and she is a Tech-Net professional.
In 2019, Nannette founded the Southeast Iowa Chapter of Midwest Auto Care Alliance. It had been a goal of hers to have a chapter in the southeast region because it was a three-hour drive to the closest one in Des Moines.
She is leading change in the industry by uniting fellow automotive repair shops to participate and work together.
Nannette also graduated with an Accredited Masters in Automotive Management (AMAM) with Automotive Management Institute (AMi). Those holding this professional designation have extensive training and education in managing and leading a successful service repair operation.
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