ANN ARBOR ? Unusual Entrepreneurs will share their stories July 28 at the next meeting of the New Enterprise Forum at the Holiday Inn North Campus.

Some business development issues are basic; others are off-the-wall entertaining. But all are informative, because there’s no one way to build a business. Attendees will hear wonderful entrepreneurial success stories that educate and inspire. Panelists include:

Billy “bd” Downs, president, founder, and mongo man, of bd’s mongolian barbeque restaurants. This unique franchise organization, which focuses on “Create Your Own Stir-fry” cooked on a 600-degree Mongolian barbeque grill, currently operates 28 restaurants in 10 states and two countries.

Fred Gallagher, founder of “Megatokyo.” “Megatokyo” is an online webcomic about the misadventures of two Americans stranded in Japan. The comic steadily gained readership among the gamer, computer geek, and Japanese animation communities until it reached a point where there was a substantial demand for t-shirts and products related to the comic.

Howdy Holmes, president and CEO of Chelsea Milling Company, manufacturers of “JIFFY” Mixes. After successfully competing in the world of motor sports for 20 years, Holmes returned to the family business, then 100 years old, and led the transformation of the business, creating “JIFFY” as the market-share leader in retail prepared baking mixes.

Scott Pemberton, director of programs of The Lowe Foundation. Edward Lowe, founder of The Lowe Foundation, occupies a special place in the galaxy of great American entrepreneurs. Trying to help a neighbor in 1947, he “brought the cat indoors” by creating Kitty Litter from clay he was using for an industrial absorbent. In the process, he created an entirely new category of consumer products that changed the lives, and lifestyles, of millions of cats and cat lovers – and a billion-dollar industry. The Edward Lowe Foundation is an operating foundation that assists groups of second-stage business owners and the organizations that serve them.

The Showcase Presenter will be Paul Angott, president and founder of Self Guided Systems. Self Guided Systems is commercializing its patented SGS Navigation System that is used to guide various unmanned vehicles on nearly any terrain. The company’s initial product is a commercial lawn mower.

Registration and networking begin at 5 p.m. with the program starting at 5:45 p.m. Free to NEF members, the cost is $20 for nonmembers.

To register, click on NEF.Bizserve.Com