By Jessica O. Swink
Editor, Small Business Insight
Photo by Paul Chin, Jr.
From paper clips to battleships, Vanwin Coatings can paint and coat items of any size.
Walk into the office of Vanwin Coatings in Chesapeake and you will see photos of the many items that have been coated by the company, ranging from the gates of the White House, a mock-up Apollo spacecraft for NASA, handrails for family resorts in Williamsburg and many Navy and Coast Guard Ships.
While Whitham may not meet very many women in her industry, she still believes in the value that great leaders can bring to the workplace, regardless of sex.
“You have to rely on the vision of the company, and put great people around you,” Whitham explains. “I invest in those people, because they can only advance as much as you allow them to. I really want to grow my employees.”
As president of the Southeastern Virginia chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, or NAWBO, Whitham has had the opportunity to share her story with other women groups, including the Girl Scouts.
“I’ve been asked back five or six times,” Whitham says. While presenting her business as one that most would consider non-traditional for a woman, the young girls are often captivated by her story of a once 14-year CPA turned business owner, and how it was worth the risk. She also mentions to the Girl Scouts that owning a business can mean working outside of what may be expected.
“You can also wear steel-toed boots and work hard every day,” Whitham says.
Despite the difficult economy, Vanwin Coatings has experience a substantial increase in business in 2010 over 2009. The company has grown from 25 to 40 employees in 2010, which Whitham attributes to their quality of work and its value in the coatings industry.
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