Shaw Trustees Dr. Joseph Bell Jr., Tim Catlett: Business Owners Offering Essential Services

Raleigh, NC – In determining which businesses remain open as the nation deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, the term “essential business” is used to designate businesses people must rely on in their day-to-day life. Two such businesses are Bellklean Cleaning Services in Savannah, GA, and Progressive Business Solutions in Raleigh, NC. These companies are essential because they provide critical products or services that assist other essential entities in the operation of their businesses.

In addition to overseeing the daily operations of extremely busy companies, the operators of both companies do double-duty through their service on Shaw University’s Board of Trustees. Dr. Joseph N. Bell, Jr., who runs Bellklean, serves as Chairman, and Tim Catlett, the owner of Progressive Business Solutions, chairs the Board’s institutional advancement committee.

The Board is essential to effective governance of the University, serves to advance Shaw’s mission and values, and safeguards and enhances the University’s reputation and institutional strengths. Shaw’s Trustees not only uphold these basic tenets in their service as members of the Board but in their service to their respective communities.

Bellklean Cleaning Services is a thriving concern that provides “green” commercial and residential cleaning services. Operated by Dr. Bell and son, Joseph N. Bell, IIl, Bellklean, whose customers include medical offices, law firms, gas stations, and laundromats, is busier than ever because of clients’ increased need for attention to cleaning and sanitization.

“The blessing for us is that, although we’re working harder to meet increased demand, we have been able to keep our own staff employed and safe, and even been able to hire a number of people who were displaced,” said Dr. Bell. That increased demand means that Bellklean had to find new supply and delivery sources, and order more supplies more often, but Dr. Bell says the effort is worthwhile: “Bellklean is able to eliminate some of the stress for clients as they operate their business during these unprecedented times.”

Tim Catlett tells a similar story about Progressive Business Solutions. The company offers a diverse range of products and services, including marketing and promotional products, printing services, office supplies, and janitorial and cleaning supplies. Progressive’s customers for janitorial and cleaning supplies include state and local government agencies, first responders, and hospitals; they currently make deliveries to their hospital customers as frequently as four times a week.  

Catlett says, “Our clients are not the only businesses whose operations have been affected severely by COVID-19. Everyone in our supply and delivery chain is feeling the strain of huge increases in demand. The need for paper products, soap, sanitizer, surgical masks and gloves, and N95 masks has grown so much that we are literally in touch with suppliers and delivery services every day to make sure we can meet the demand.”

Catlett, like Bell, emphasized the importance of ensuring that the employees who are working so hard to fulfill their customers’ orders are safe and protected while doing so. Although the demands for their time and attention are heavy, both Bell and Catlett agree that, at the end of the day, it is not just about running successful businesses. As they see it, everything comes down to people helping people. “That’s how we will get through this,” said Catlett.

Bell sums it up: “Caring about people is what this is all about.”