Adrian Coulter

Outstanding Entrepreneurship

His story told by his nominating agency – MEDA

Adrian Coulter’s enthusiasm and optimism around his life and fulfilling his dream of his own business is contagious. When Adrian founded his online shoe store, XLFeet.com, that caters to people with extra large feet, he was meeting a need in the marketplace that he had encountered since his shoe size exceeded his age at 16.

In order to add top of the line dress shoes to his products, he was required to place an order for a dozen pairs with Florsheim and pay in advance to open the account. He just couldn’t swing it. He knew that carrying this shoe would open new avenues of business for him. MEDA recognized that the $1,000 MicroGrant would be just the catalyst he needed to get the business moving forward and submitted an application on Adrian’s behalf. What a difference this made! It allowed Adrian’s entrepreneurial spirit to grow, while at the same time enabling the company’s annual gross sales to rocket into six figure territory. In addition to its monetary benefit, the impact of this grant can never truly be measured.

This MicroGrant improved XLfeet’s image and credibility by giving it a more robust selection fitting of a successful footwear retailer. Almost more beneficial than the benefit to the customers was how it improved XLfeet’s ability to more easily open with the additional 12 brands which were added over the last year. XLfeet went from being an online only retailer with just four brands to a Brick and Mortar and Online Store with more than a dozen brands in just one year. Relying on support from his savings and his family up until now, Adrian will get his first paycheck from his own business this summer. As he says, “People with ideas are all too common, and especially in the midst of one of the worst recessions of modern history.

In times like this, it’s comforting and empowering to have an organization like MEDA who helped to make resources like the $1,000 MicroGrant available to a minority such as myself with no access to credit. I now work full time for myself, and own the company which will grow with the investment of my talents and determination. The pride I take in running XLfeet is priceless, and I am not sure I would’ve been afforded this opportunity had it not been for MEDA and the MicroGrant.” Check out www.XLfeet.com !