2008 Entrepreneurs of the Year
(photos by Timothy H. Raab)
Minority Entrepreneur of the Year: Jorge Rodriguez, Zefe’s Mexican Restaurant
Exporter of the Year: John Barber, Evergreen Timber Corporation
Manufacturer of the Year: Kim Genduso, ARC TEC Welding and Fabrication Company
Turn-Around Entrepreneur of the Year: Doubletree Hotel
Innovation in Technology Entrepreneur of the Year: Scientific Media
Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Lucas Manning, The Partridge Cafe
Veteran Entrepreneur of the Year: William Ketcham, North Country Aviation Services
Female Entrepreneur of the Yea: Elaine Wilshire, Elan-Sa International Handbags
Minority Entrepreneur of the Year:
Jorge Rodriguez, Zefe’s Mexican Restaurant (Boricua SBDC)
Jorge Rodriguez, a naturalized American citizen born in Mexico, is living the American Dream. He started 25 years ago as a short-order cook in a Brooklyn neighborhood restaurant. When an opportunity arose to go into business for himself, his employer helped him establish a small Mexican takeout restaurant. After he made a success of that establishment, Rodriguez decided to develop a second restaurant. In 2006, he found a good site in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, but was unable to get a mortgage because of tax liens on his business.
He consulted business advisor Miriam Colon at the Boricua SBDC for permit assistance and credit counseling. Together they worked with city, state and federal tax compliance and finance agencies to resolve the tax issues. Miriam also helped Jorge resolve his business credit history in order to clear his business record of disputes. In addition, Miriam counseled Jorge about the requirements for a NYS beer license and a food establishment license from the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs. Once the purchase of the building was complete, Miriam assisted Jorge with the things needed to give the restaurant a good presence, create branding and improve the restaurant’s image in the neighborhood. Zefe’s Mexican Restaurant, named for Jorge’s wife, Zeferiana, opened in May 2007, creating five jobs.
Exporter of the Year:
John Barber, Evergreen Timber Corporation (Albany SBDC)
With a wealth of different types of timber produced from more than 6 million acres in the Adirondack Mountains and Vermont, Evergreen Timber exporting Co, supplies its customers with some of the finest hardwoods in the world. John Barber, who has owned Evergreen Timber for 35 years, guided his company from a small independent timber operation to a leader in the timber industry in upstate New York. The company, which is located in Hadley, is one of the oldest continually operating timber companies in the Adirondack region. It harvests and sells a wide variety of quality hardwood and softwood (cherry, maple, ash, beech, oak, poplar, to name a few), veneer and saw logs. John’s customers use the timber for a wide variety of things, including fine furniture, posts and beams for house construction and cabinets. Approximately 2 million board feet a year is exported to Canadian customers. In 2007, John’s partner Mark Ehrhardt consulted with Albany business advisor Amy Amoroso about exporting to China and Japan. Evergreen Timber uses state of the art logging and processing equipment on site, does helicopter logging when required, and manages reforestation according to all environmental and conservation regulations. John also donates land to create “forever wild areas.”
Manufacturer of the Year:
ARC TEC Welding and Fabrication Company(Staten Island SBDC)
When Kim Genduso had a chance to take over a relative’s struggling iron fabrication company in California, she seized it and, working 18-hour days, turned it into a successful business. ARC TEC Welding and Fabrication Company, operating out of a 10,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility, won major contracts from the biggest builders. After nine years in CA, Kim was ready to return east to friends and family.
She decided to take advantage of the commercial and business boom on Staten Island and establish a new branch of ARC TEC Welding and Fabrication Company there. She took her dreams to the Staten Island SBDC and business advisor Refaat Sawires, who helped Kim register as a Minority and Woman-Owned Business and a NYC Pre-qualified Contractor and Vendor. Ref also introduced her to representatives of the Empire State Zone Program, which offers tax credits and other incentives for locating manufacturing businesses in economically challenged areas. As a result, ARC TEC invested in a headquarters building in Port Richmond, an empire zone, and plans to invest up to $1 million to build a new state-of-the- art shop. Kim intends to construct her new shop using environmentally sound green building principles to make it resource and energy efficient. In March, the NYC SBA District Office informed the SBDC that they will nominate Kim for a national award for women in business.
Turn-Around Entrepreneur of the Year:
Doubletree Hotel (Buffalo SBDC)
When Rum Chopra met with Buffalo business advisor Clifford Bell in 2002, he was the owner of the financially troubled Pillars Hotel in downtown Buffalo. Mr. Chopra returned to the SBDC in 2007 to develop a plan to resolve financial issues, increase the hotel’s occupancy rate, and secure financing to purchase a Doubletree franchise. The two men met with several city agencies to explore possible solutions to the financial and occupancy issues. SBDC director Susan McCartney interviewed Mr. Chopra as part of the Buffalo SBDC’s series on small business that airs regularly on Education Television Channel 19.
As it turned out, Mr. Chopra’s interview on the television show was the centerpiece of the hotel’s strategic marketing plan. He updated his hotel operation to meet Hilton standards for a Doubletree location, and was able to secure a federal loan of $1 million through the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corporation (BERC) and an equity loan of $1.5 million from Inn Centers of America to transform The Pillars Hotel into a Doubletree Hotel. The collaborative efforts of Mr. Chopra and the SBDC helped turn this business around and give it new life, which saved 60 jobs, most of them held by residents of the surrounding community. The employees are proud of their relationship with the Doubletree Hotel that has recently been named the number one hotel in the chain for hospitality.
Innovation in Technology Entrepreneur of the Year:
Scientific Media (Stony Brook SBDC)
2007 was a banner year for Stefan Gromoll. Early in 2007, Stefan, a Ph.D. candidate at SUNY Stony Brook, and Professor Kenneth Lanzetta, of Stony Brook’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, founded a company called Scientific Media. According to the company website Scientific Media provides solutions to businesses that seek to disseminate their content by SMS (cell phone text messaging). The company’s goal is to create an “SMS internet,” or to make content creation via cell phone text messaging as easy as it is on the Internet. Protected by a provisional patent, the Scientific Media System replicates the organizational structure of the Internet by using text-message keywords that correspond to Internet domain names.
In February, Stefan began working with Stony Brook business advisor Bernie Ryba to develop a business plan. In May, Stefan was a co-winner of Stony Brook’s annual student entrepreneurial competition with a $15,000 prize. When he presented his business idea to the Long Island Angel Investor Network later that month, he received investment offers from several angel investors. At the same time, Scientific Media was awarded a $100,000 Phase I SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation for The Scientific Media Concise Message Routing System.
Young Entrepreneur of the Year:
Lucas Manning, The Partridge Cafe (Canton SBDC)
In just three years, Lucas Manning has taken The Partridge Café from a floundering business to a profitable business and increased his staff from two employees to five. There is no doubt that he started with a marketable product when he purchased the Café: it is the social hub of the village, which is home to two colleges and the county seat. While maintaining its original ambiance, Lucas partnered with other businesses to increase his client base. There is Trailways bus service from his location on Main Street in Canton, which brings in students and community residents. Lucas brought in used books from The Birchbark Book Shop, for browsing and buying. He recently began selling microbrew beer and locally produced wines to complement a slate of live entertainment on the weekends.
The fact that Lucas was a full-time student when he purchased the Café and was both a successful student and business owner is testament to his future potential as an entrepreneur. Lucas is dedicated to responsible business ownership and strives to achieve green business practices whenever possible. His rapid sales growth and his quick rise to profitability are evidence that age does not always precede wisdom and success. He worked with Canton business advisor Michelle Collins, who noted that his “just do it” attitude and his ability to make wise business decisions will assure that The Partridge Café will continue to thrive.” True to his entrepreneurial spirit, Lucas is considering new business opportunities, and at age 26 he continues to take courses at SUNY Potsdam and operates the business with his wife, Sarah.
Veteran Entrepreneur of the Year:
William Ketcham, North Country Aviation Services (Binghamton SBDC)
William Ketcham’s business, North Country Aviation Services, is committed to providing aircraft owners, pilots and passengers with the fastest, safest and most efficient service and maintenance-related resolutions possible. Aviation is his passion. A retired US Navy Gulf War veteran, for over 20 years Bill served as an aircraft mechanic and flight engineer at naval air stations around the world. After leaving the service, he returned home to the Southern Tier and became an aircraft mechanic at FirstAIR, the sole-provider aircraft repair facility at the Greater Binghamton Airport. Over several years, his unique expertise and reputation for quality, federally certified repair on commercial and private aircraft made FirstAIR one of the most respected companies in the field.
When FirstAIR’s owner decided to explore opportunities elsewhere, Bill saw an opportunity. Working with the Binghamton SBDC’s Doug Boyce (a former Navy aviator), he developed a business plan and set of financial forecasts for his own company, North Country Aviation Services. It enabled Bill to determine a fair purchase price for FirstAIR and convince commercial lenders to help finance the purchase. The $135,000 package consisted of a conventional bank loan, an SBA guaranteed loan, a revolving line of credit, and the client’s equity investment. North Country Aviation Services provides complete service on Beechcraft, Cessna, Piper single and twin aircraft, the Mitsubishi MU-2 and Mooney aircraft. Bill has an excellent reputation with the airport operations staff and is known for his quality of work and customer satisfaction.
SBDC Female Entrepreneur of the Year :
Elaine Wilshire, Elan-Sa International Handbags (Pace SBDC)
Elaine Wilshire, founder and President of Elan-Sa International Handbags, has more than 20 years of experience as a fine fashion designer and creator of wearable art in many exciting forms. In 1997, when she was laid off from an administrative position at a large New York hospital, Elaine decided to pursue her passion for accessory design and signed up for courses in handbag and shoe design. Although hampered most of her life by a chronic optical disability, Elaine had no problem working on original designs as part of her class assignments. When the designs inspired appreciation and admiration from colleagues and friends, Elaine decided to go into business for herself. Her company, Elan-Sa International, has been designing, manufacturing, and distributing designer handbags – “Unique Bags for Unique Women” – since 2003. Her forte is custom design using fabrics and other materials including tapestry, cowhide, kimono fabrics, plastics, to name a few.
With brisk sales at street fairs and local stores, Elaine needed additional capital and marketing advice to take advantage of growth opportunities. She was referred to the Pace University SBDC, where Business Advisor Catalina Castano assisted Elaine with developing a business plan and marketing strategies. Working together, they charted a course for Elan-Sa International. Elaine’s completed business plan, earned her a grant from the UJA-Federation of New York. Elaine’s work has won recognition at design centers and exhibitions at the 53rd St YWCA Craft Students League and BWAC (Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition).