MaineWorks, Margo Walsh
Since first meeting SCORE mentors in 2011, MaineWorks has expanded throughout Maine and saw revenue of $1.5 million in 2014. “We are now incorporated in Tennessee and plan to expand to Connecticut and Colorado,” Walsh says. MaineWorks was recognized with the 2015 SCORE Awards Outstanding Job-Creator Award.
Temporary employment agency, MaineWorks, launched when Margo Walsh, a volunteer at a local jail, was inspired by a presentation about hiring felons. Her company specializes in industrial construction placements and works with people facing barriers to employment like substance abuse recovery and reentry from prison.
Along with providing meaningful work opportunities and fair wages, MaineWorks also provides social services to the employees it places. “We seek to dignify the experience of temp labor,” says Walsh, who has a background in recruiting. By providing social support along with paid positions, MaineWorks, a certified B-corporation, turns “tax burdens into taxpayers.”
“My SCORE advisors helped me lay out the plan and the order of priority” for launching MaineWorks, Walsh recalls. “They helped me to identify the specific resources that I needed and connected me to individuals who supported that need.”
“CEOs do not have direct peers within their organization. My staff look to me as their leader,” Walsh says. “When I have questions about strategy or the future of the business, I need to talk to someone who understands my business and that in order to lead I need to consider all of the options before making a decision.”
With more than 20 years experience as a SCORE mentor, I have developed a significant body of...
