COLUMBUS, Ga. — For people who serve in the United States military, retirement can come in their 40s or 50s, often years before many folks are ready to stop working. Retiring after 30 years of service in the U.S. Army as a sergeant first class, Annie Mazyck discovered her second act in the logistics company she founded in 2015.
“One of my primary responsibilities at that time, was in operation mobilization, security, and logistics. I retired in 2008, in my 50s. I wasn’t ready to stop working. I thought, what can I do with those military skills I have? I had a lot of skills in transportation,” she said. “So, I decided to try logistics and transportation. That’s how I decided to build a company.”
What she built is AnnaChris Freight Brokers, a logistics company out of Columbus, Georgia, that transports freight of all kinds, particularly oversized and heavy equipment.
Mazyck may have known the logistics industry from her time in the military, but she didn’t know the ins and outs of winning government contracts for her company. That’s where the Georgia Tech APEX Accelerator comes in. The GT APEX Accelerator helps Georgia-based businesses to identify, compete for, and win government contracts. The regional counselors offer everything from information on government databases to help responding to solicitations. “The first thing I do after I hear from a company is I do my research,” said Bridget Bennett, the GT APEX Accelerator procurement counselor in the Albany, Georgia region, who works with AnnaChris. “I find out what the company does, so that when I make that first call, I can find out where they’re at and where they’re trying to go.”
It’s the first step in building a relationship with a new client and getting them on the path toward success. Bennett offers her clients one-on-one counseling, training classes, and access to and help navigating the complexities of government — federal, state, and local — contracting.
“Most importantly, I figure out which approach to use with new clients because everybody’s different,” Bennett said. “Everybody needs to be mentored in a different way.”
She and Mazyck have worked together since 2015.
“Bridget was helpful in navigating government databases, filling out requests for proposals, and recommending classes to accelerate my business,” Mazyck said.
Bennett also worked with Mazyck to get her Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) certification, a designation of the Department of Transportation designed to remedy ongoing and past discrimination in federal contracting.
The relationship works. AnnaChris has won more than $3 million in government contracts to date. One contract is with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). AnnaChris serves as a cotton sample hauler, picking up cotton from 60 locations across South Georgia to be classified by the USDA. “AnnaChris is the first black-owned business to win this contract in Georgia,” Mazyck said. “Bridgett was instrumental in helping AnnaChris obtain this contract.”
Mazyck’s work with USDA has led to her nomination by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Cotton and Tobacco Program as a 2024 Women-Owned Small Business of the Year.
“Annie’s strength lies in her willingness to do the work,” Bennett says about the success of AnnaChris. “She reads the solicitation, asks questions, seeks guidance, and networks with other businesses and professional organizations.”
She also continues to work with APEX Accelerator, where procurement counselors aren’t just one-and-done resources. They develop ongoing relationships with clients that extend far beyond helping them procure their first government contract.
In 2023, GT APEX Accelerator worked with 1,265 clients. Of those, 244 clients won 4,530 awards; $1.5 billion in federal contracts were awarded to clients.
“Each solicitation has a specific scope of work, so each proposal is tailored,” Bennett said. “We guide our clients step by step, because there’s always something new going on with the government.”
Mazyck agrees that the ongoing relationship aspect is important to her. “I’ve already reached out to Bridget today because I have a solicitation on my desk as we speak. It’s always good to be able to collaborate on something like this.”
Bennett also hosts events to try to match procurement departments and companies, and to give new business owners the chance to hear “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” from companies that have worked with the government. Attending these events is a way to learn if a business is a good fit for doing business with the government. To be considered as a client, a business must have a Georgia address and be properly licensed; have a desire to pursue government opportunities; have an email address that is monitored daily; submit a client application; and complete and return quarterly activity reports.
“I love what I do,” Bennett said. “My clients or people that I talk to, they pick up on that because I used to be a client. I understand how it feels to be on that end.”
Would Mazyck recommend the GT APEX Accelerator to other business owners? “Absolutely. I recommend it a lot. When people ask me how I got started, that is one of the things I tell them, to seek out the local Apex Accelerator office. It’s very important. It’s no cost.”