SBA Small Business Award Nominations Open for 2012

Jane Sawyer, SBA Hawaii District Director. Photo courtesy of SBA Hawaii.

By Sonia Isotov

The US Small Business Administration (SBA) has opened the nominations for the prestigious SBA Small Business Awards for 2012.

Last year’s winners from Maui County were: Mariah Brown and Les Tomita, Restaurant Destinations, Inc., dba Da Kitchen who won the Maui County 2011 Small Person of the Year award;  Joseph Rossi, President & Owner of Maui Babe, Inc. won the State of Hawaii Small Business Exporter Award; Curtis Takaoka, owner of Tasty Crust, Inc., took home the Maui County Family Owned Small Business Award; and Kai Pelayo, the Maui Native Hawaiian Chamber and the Grand Wailea Resort, received the Maui County Minority Small Business Champion.

For more than 20 years, the SBA has been recognizing excellence in small business several categories. Other past Hawaii District SBA winners have included small companies such as Bale Sandwich and Bakery, Old Lahaina Luau, L&L Drive In, Martin and MacArthur, Pictures Plus and many, many more.

“SBA’s Annual Awards continues to generate interest and excitement in Hawaii because we discover great stories of innovation, creativity and teamwork focused on excellence. It is inspiring to learn about the positive, proactive measures that many small business owners and entrepreneurs are taking to sustain and grow their businesses, particularly with the tough economic conditions,” said Jane Sawyer, Hawaii District SBA Director, in a written statement.

The year, the 2012 SBA award categories include:

• SBA’s Small Business Person of the Year
• Entrepreneurial Success Award
• Family-Owned Business of the Year
• Small Business Exporter
• Young Entrepreneur of the Year
• Minority Small Business Champion Advocacy Award
• Women in Business Champion Advocacy Award
• Veteran Small Business Champion Advocacy Award
• Financial Services Champion Advocacy Award
• Home-Based Business Champion Advocacy Award

Award winners will be announced in spring 2012 and awards presented at the Annual SBA Awards banquet normally held on Oahu.

Any individual or organization may submit a nomination for an SBA Small Business Award.  The required nomination forms with detailed information for each of the ten award categories can be downloaded from the web at the Hawaii Small Business Development Center Network site, http://www.hisbdc.org .

Completed forms should be submitted to the SBA District Office at 500 Ala Moana Boulevard, Suite 1-306, by 4:00 p.m. on November 10, 2011.  For more information, call SBA at 808-541-2990.