VOLUME 25 NUMBER 14 ■ GSABUSINESS.COM
Part of the
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AUGUST 8-SEPTEMBER 4, 2022 ■ $2.25
Hot investment
Furman alumni put their money on the students of their alma mater. Page 5
A solar field at Clemson University doubles as a shady place to park cars. (Photo/Ross Norton)
Flipping the script Student entrepreneur finds success with FlipRings. Page 7
Report: SC solar jobs lag behind Southeastern neighbors
Still spinning
179-year-old company hire new chief operation officer. Page 8
By Molly Hulsey
In Focus
The Cliffs introduces a new neighborhood. Page 23
INSIDE
Leading Off .......................... 2 SC Biz News Briefs ................ 3 C-Suite ................................ 4 In Focus: AEC .....................23 LIST: Architecture Firms .....33 At Work ..............................35 Viewpoint ...........................39
O
gsanews@scbiznews.com
ver the past decade, employment in the nation’s solar sector more than doubled from 2020 to 2021 and grew by 9% in South Carolina. Despite job growth on par with the national average, South Carolina’s solar sector has
neither the existing workforce nor growth rate of its neighbors to the north or south, according to a July 2022 report from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. In 2021, the Palmetto State’s solar industry saw a 9.4% increase, or 291 additional positions, from the 3,086 jobs in 2020. South Carolina’s solar industry is the 24th largest in the country in terms of workforce
size, according to the report. Georgia and Florida continue to be industry leaders in the Southeast with respective 5,314 jobs (19% growth year-over-year) and 11,761 jobs (4.5% growth year-over-year) with the nation’s 14th and second largest solar sectors. See SOLAR, Page 10
Tax evasion alleged at several Upstate stores By Ross Norton
S
rnorton@scbiznews.com
.C. Department of Revenue agents in late July arrested a North Carolina couple and charged them with tax evasion and failure to file a state tax return or pay a tax related to businesses they operated in Spartanburg, Greenville and Anderson counties. Natalia Sokil, 46, of Tryon, N.C., was the
owner and operator of ESF Management, doing business as European Market LLC, in Spartanburg County. The specialty grocery store had multiple locations in other Upstate counties as well. Andrej Sokil, 54, also of Tryon, worked and lived in Spartanburg during the time under investigation, according to a news release from the Revenue Department. In 2017 and 2018, the couple filed joint
Icons and Phenoms
SC Biz News honors business and community leaders for 2022. Page 11
Individual Income Tax returns but failed to include her business income of $2,707,322, the department alleges. The couple owed $19,010 in state taxes for tax years 2017 and 2018. They also failed to file returns for tax years 2019 and 2020, during which an investigation found they had taxable income of $1.4 million, the news release said. They owe See TAX, Page 8