Cost of Growth: Asheville businesses' successes highlighted on INC 5000 list

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — An economics professor says North Carolina's economy has been growing faster than that of the U.S. for several years. Every county in North Carolina isn't experiencing the same growth, but some local companies are growing so much they landed on a list --the INC 5000 list -- of the country's fastest growing private companies.

"Most of growth has come out of the clinical setting in acute care hospitals," said Avadim Technologies CEO Steve Woody.

The life sciences company, which makes all of its products in Swannanoa, reported almost $11 million in revenue in 2017 and 900 percent growth over the last three years.

"Our company is really different. We're really boosting your immuno-competency so that you can fend off, you're the first line of defense against infection, and we want to support that," Woody said.

Asheville-based Avadim landed at No. 562 on the INC 5000 list, which makes it the fastest growing private company in our region.

"We're excited. We think that we'll be on it again next year, because we're having incredible growth this year," Woody said.

Security Camera Warehouse landed on at No. 1,376 on the list. It reported more than $7 million in revenue in 2017 and 343 percent growth over three years.

"The No. 1 reason that people come to us is our support," company president Matthew Nederlanden said. "To be featured in that sort of thing is just mind blowing and incredible to have that opportunity."

The Asheville company takes customer service very seriously.

"Kind of becomes something of a company ethos about taking care of the customer and making sure that they are getting a good deal at a fair price with incredibly knowledgeable people who are looking out for their best interest," Nederlanden said.

Asheville's Blueprint Summer Programs landed on the list at No. 1,384 -- reporting almost $3 million in revenue in 2017 and 342 percent growth over three years.

"It was an honor," CEO Michael Dodson said. "Blueprint's been growing, and we're proud of that."

The company offers academic summer programs for high school students on six college campuses. The company started in 2007, preparing kids for the transition to the independence of being a college student.

"We don't really prepare high school students that well for that, and Blueprint's missions is to prepare high school students better for that," Dodson said.

The majority of the North Carolina companies on the list are from outside the mountains.

"The economy, in general, in the state is doing really well," said Dr. Angela Dills, an economics professor at Western Carolina University.

Dills said Charlotte's metro area has been outperforming most of the state, but Asheville has also been doing well.

"It has been some of the strongest in the state in terms of percentage growth," Dills said about the city's GDP.

In 2017, the Asheville metro area produced about $20 million worth of products, which ranked 124th in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.