For Jermont Reece, the pandemic was not an opportunity to slow down, but to start up.

Owner of Kzoo Boxing, Reece took the leap and built his own business after the startup he was working for closed. After getting the space he needed in July of 2020, he was ready to take the next steps forward.

Located on 4104 South Sprinkle Road near Comstock, Kzoo Boxing provides 1-on-1 training sessions or small group sessions Monday through Friday for people at all levels of experience.

“You can start from ground zero or be a pro,” Reece said. “You can be a beginner, we have pros here, or people with an MMA background. It’s an open space.”

“I enjoy fighting and teaching people how to fight, how to just be more well-rounded people,” he added. “I feel like you have to have a certain outlet to deal with things in a healthy manner. I think boxing is a good outlet for people, and I enjoy seeing that because I know it worked for me.”

As a Western Michigan University graduate with a degree in Entrepreneurship and six years of boxing experience, Reece uses any information he can find to help build his business.

“A lot of it was just doing a lot of personal research and just, you know, using the internet,” Reece said. “I do have experience with a startup. I had support from the owner of that space and just asking around.”

One of the resources Reece discovered was United Way’s of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region’s Kalamazoo Micro-Enterprise Grants program, a partnership with the City of Kalamazoo with support from Foundation For Excellence.

“My mother told me about it,” he said. “I was like, ‘Alright, well, I’m going to go ahead and sign up for it,’ and the application was really easy, super simple to do. No reason not to do it.”

Reece, who planned to use the grant dollars for payroll and new gym equipment, said his experience with the KMEG program inspired him to seek out additional resources.

“It just it takes a lot of digging,” he said. “Like once I got this grant, ‘Oh, well, that was easy. I’ll look for a few more.’ I just gotta make the calls. So there’s support out there you, you just gotta look for it.”

To learn more about Kzoo Boxing, visit them on Facebook.