By SHERRI KOLADE
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Ron Cimino has a bright idea.
As the president and CEO of LightBridge LED, 25121 Ford Rd., a commercial LED lighting and funding company, the lifelong Dearborn resident said he wants to fix commercial businesses that have old lights and a limited budget and supply them with newer, light-emitting diode lights, better known as LED lights, and make the payment possible with a loan from the company.
“Customers don’t have money these days,” Cimino said. “So I figured out what was missing- and
the missing component was funding.”
LightBridge LED opened in April with a 10-member staff and Cimino said the company already has plans to contract with a few businesses in Dearborn, Allen Park, Melvindale and Riverview.
Cimino did not release the names of the businesses because of customer- privacy reasons.
Cimino said normally when he pitches his business idea to companies their general reaction is to ask when Cimino and his team can install the lights, but sometimes red tape gets in the way.
Cimino said he spoke with several Detroit officials, Gov. Rick Snyder’s office and at a Go Green! Initiative meeting and most cities and companies like the idea but don’t immediately act on it.
“The city of Detroit is going dark and we have the ability to do the project and fund it for them,” Cimino said. “Everybody who I present to loves the idea but because of past circumstances, everybody is very leery about rushing it through… they are not doing me any favors, they are doing their citizens favors.”
Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce President Jennifer Giering said Lightbridge is “innovative in their approach to retrofit facilities with cost-saving LED lights. They are making an otherwise sizable investment cost effective.”
Cimino said the indoor and outdoor LED lights can last between five and 25 years in comparison to the standard lights that need replacing more often.
A team completes a free analysis of a facility and then writes a detailed pre-proposal, Cimino said.
The pre-proposal tells the customer based on old lights versus new lights what the company is going to save them on a monthly basis, he said.
“That dollar amount on a monthly basis is the loan amount that we prepare for (them),” Cimino said. “Based on the loan amount, how much we are saving you and the cost of the lights, your pay-back period is (a set) amount of years.”
To qualify for LightBridge LED lighting a business needs to have a minimum of $20,000 to $25,000 in overall costs, Cimino said.
“It has to be scaled up enough to warrant the job,” Cimino said. “And the potential client has to be credit-worthy. (They) have to be fundable.”
LightBridge LED plans to work with Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Melvindale, Allen Park, Southgate and Riverview.
LightBridge LED also plans to take their business nationwide. Cimino said he plans to expand LightBridge LED to Ohio, Illinois, Texas, Arizona and Pennslyvannia in the next 60 to 90 days.
Cimino said his business is ready but he wants to get everything in order.
“I wanted to make sure we have our infastructure in place,” Cimino said. “Because once word-of-mouth gets around you have to be able to answer the call and we are there now.”
For more information on LightBridge go to www.lightbridgeled.com.
(Sherri Kolade can be reached at [email protected])