IPG Building Company | 2025 Small Business Award
Compiled by LAUREN JURGENSEN & BRADEN DIMICK | Photos by CHRISTINA NOLAND
IPG Building Company | Owner Manny Herron | Minority-Owned Small Business Award Winner & TopCity Business of the Year Winner
What inspired you to start your business?
After my brother was murdered, I made a terrible decision at 16 that led to incarceration. From that lowest point, God showed me that broken neighborhoods, and broken lives, can be rebuilt. Real estate became my way to redeem the places that shaped me, create beautiful spaces for families and prove that faith-driven stewardship can turn trauma into a thriving community.
What’s been your biggest challenge?
Extreme market swings, such as rising rates, material shortages and shifting buyer demand, threatened our margins and mission. We answered by becoming vertically integrated: development, construction, cleaning, asset management and media now operate under one umbrella. Controlling the full value chain lets us protect timelines, costs and our clients’ trust.
How do you develop a strong company culture?
We treat culture like family: We kickoff with prayer, safety and a “high-low-learned” meeting that keeps everyone honest. Wins get celebrated. Mistakes get daylight and coaching, not blame. Our mantra, “excellence with grace,” means produce at the highest level, tell the truth fast and lift the next person higher.
How does your company help the community?
Serving Topeka is in our DNA. We host trade-skill workshops for teens and serve on various boards that contribute to the growth and vitality of our community. Business success is only complete when the streets that raised us look and feel better because we’re here. We believe a rising tide raises all ships. When Topeka wins, we win.
What does leadership mean to you?
Leadership is stewardship. It means temporarily holding the people, projects and resources God entrusts to you and returning them better than you found them.
What’s next for your business?
Larger-scale development and commercial renovations, and turning underutilized properties into vibrant mixed-use spaces across the Midwest. The goal is to launch our first ground-up, mixed-use commercial project and secure a $20 million development fund within 18 months.
What does winning a Topeka Small Business Award mean to you?
It validates that redemption stories belong in boardrooms, too. This plaque tells every kid who feels trapped by their environment that their past can inform their purpose, not imprison it. It also raises our standards by making excellence our baseline.
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