History

Achieving "Business Excellence" - lasting, sustainable excellence in structure, strategy, and leadership - is difficult. Antoine Smith founded Smith Gruppe, LLC, based upon twelve years of entrepreneurship and the successful building and exiting of three businesses. The goal and the intent were to help small-to-medium-sized businesses avoid and benefit from the mistakes that I made, and that I saw other businesses making every day.

Antoine saw a great need for his team-building and leadership development skills in assisting small businesses in identifying the right structure, defining the right strategy, and developing the right leadership for their business models.

Based upon his operations and process excellence background, rooted and grounded in six sigma, Smith Gruppe, LLC established itself in its initial engagements as a "Trusted" business advisory and consulting firm that could bring simplicity to the methodologies necessary for execution excellence in managing a business. This allowed its clients to integrate business practices customized and designed by Smith Gruppe, LLC, to develop and execute their business and strategic plans.

1992

Smith Gruppe, LLC opens its doors and joins the Metro Atlanta Chamber of commerce and began offering its services to small businesses throughout the Metro Atlanta area.

1993

Smith Gruppe secures its first enterprise wide level contract to restructure an automotive repair shop in Marietta Georgia, that was later able to scale to 14 shops throughout south Georgia.

1996

Smith Gruppe conducted various business development workshops for the members of the Metro Atlanta Chamber for small businesses seeking contract opportunties with the U.S. Olympic Committee for the 1996 Olympics hosted by the City of Atlanta Georgia.

2002

Due to its track record of success Smith Gruppe, LLC began to explore markets outside of the State Of Georgia to pursue contract opportunities throughout the United States.

On this journey to expand its market presence while tracking performance, measuring results, and identifying areas where small businesses needed additional resources, Smith Gruppe, LLC became efficient and effective in stepping up to the lower middle market company level; to adviser larger firms.

Prior to this point, the annual revenue of most of its client engagements was below $5 Million in yearly revenue. As our customer segments and client engagements became more and more diverse, Smith Gruppe, LLC sought and secured the necessary professional credentials and certifications requisite to serve lower middle market business enterprises with annual revenue up to $50 Million.

2003

Antoine Smith, Chairman & CEO of Smith Gruppe, LLC, secures his certification as a Mortgage Banker to operate its subsidiary Saqqara Funding as a residential and commercial loan originator as a conduit lender. Before its exit, the firm grew to a 9-branch "net branch" originator for residential mortgages.

2006

Smith Gruppe, LLC established its presence in Charlotte, North Carolina, and opened its first offices outside of the State of Georgia.

2008

Antoine Smith, Chairman & CEO of Smith Gruppe, LLC, completed his CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) certification through the CCIM Institute for commercial real estate practice.

2012

Antoine Smith, Chairman & CEO of Smith Gruppe, LLC, as part of a Smith Gruppe, LLC non-profit engagement, writes the financial model for the most significant independent award of the BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunity Program), a $62.8 Million grant award for broadband deployment over a 35 county area in the State Of Alabama.

Having been in business now for 30 years and built a highly respected and recognized brand, the journey has been amazing. Realizing atg year 8 after making it through several recesssions and most recently the pandemic of COVID-19, Smith Gruppe, LLC is ever aware of the significant importance of maintaining the trust that our clients have in our ability to deliver value consistently.

What makes Smith Gruppe, LLC distinctive today is the result of a journey that began with the same mindset that we have embodied every step along the way, to "Execute Strategically With Discipline, Drive, Passion, Precision, Fearlessness, Resilience, Relentlessness, and Independence!"

Please note our lates milestones along the way over the last decade.

2013

Smith Gruppe, LLC joins the Charlotte, North Carolina Chamber Of Commerce at the Director Level. Worked with the Charlotte Chamber as a Committe Member in leading its Business Retention Program.

2016

Smith Gruppe, LLC opens its Greensboro, North Carolina office to service the Greensboro, High-Point, Winston-Salem and North Carolina markets. Antoine Smith, Chairman & CEO of Smith Gruppe, LLC, sits as Executive Entrepreneur In Residence at North Carolina A&T State University and joins the university Board Of Advisors to its Entrepreneur And Innovation Center run by the School Of Business Management And Economics.

Smith Gruppe, LLC acquires second majority interest in A-PLUS Community Solutions, Inc. (*www.A-PLUS.net) and extends is advisory and services capacity into the technology sector.

2018

Antoine Smith, Chairman & CEO of Smith Gruppe, LLC, broadens his portfolio of professional certifications and secures his professional certification as a Certified Facilitator of the REAL (Rural Entrepreneurship Active Learning) Programming Model. Mr. Smith also joins as an individual member and registers Smith Gruppe, LLC as a corporate member of the Corporate Finance Institute.

2020

Antoine Smith, Chairman & CEO of Smith Gruppe, LLC, secured Certificates of Completion for the professional designation of PMP (Project Management Professional) as sponsored by PMI (Project Management Institute.) Smith Gruppe, LLC, and Chairman & CEO Antoine Smith accept invitation to join the International Commercial Finance Association.

2023

Smith Gruppe, LLC expands its client network for services five-fold to service increased engagement requests in both non-profit and lower-middle-market company segments. Launches its Business Intelligence (BI.SmithGruppe.com) business units along with a new brand E³CoE (Education - Economic Development - Entrepreneur) to establish Center Of Excellence practices in the Education, Economic Development, and Entrepreneurship sectors.

Smith Gruppe History

Our Humble Beginnings