SBDC Executive Director Miguel Lopez said small businesses make up the majority of businesses located in Texas.
“In the state of Texas, 98.6% of the business in our state comes from small business. ... We use the [U.S. Small Business Administration] definition of small business, which is a business with 500 or less employees,” Lopez said.
Lone Star College Chancellor Stephen C. Head, who gave opening remarks at the event, spoke about the importance of small businesses in the economy and plans for new facilities within the college system to support future growth.
The college system, which includes seven north Houston campuses, also plans to expand its transportation and logistics center in Spring in March 2020 and also plans to open a drilling services training center in Tomball.
“We are very conscientious about the role of small business. ... We’ve lowered our tax rate three times in five years. We like to do business with small business. ... We want people to have an education here and stay in the community,” Head said.
Nominees and winners for the 2019 Small Business of the Year awards are:
Family-owned
Winner: Boatman Construction LLC (Tomball)
EZ Exit Now (Houston)
Visibly Connected (Humble)
Minority-owned
Winner: Sergio’s Landscaping (Conroe)
Starfox Financial Services LLC (The Woodlands)
Tropical Smoothie Cafe (The Woodlands/Shenandoah)
Veteran-owned
Winner: Abundant Health & Wellness Center (Humble)
Rehab Garage LLC (Tomball)
Small business owner
Winner: The Young Learners (The Woodlands)
adWhite Marketing & Design (Magnolia)
The Republic Grille (The Woodlands)
Woman-owned
Winner: Spinal Care Chiropractic Center (Spring)
Cy-Fair Coatings (Cy-Fair)
CarrieRae LLE-Undersummers (Kingwood)
Young entrepreneur
Winner: Serenity Massage (Kingwood)
Loganitus Training (Humble)
An award was also given to The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce for having the most businesses as finalists for this year’s awards. The masters of ceremony for the event were Mark Mitchell, the president of the Lake Houston Area Economic Development Partnership, and Kelly Violette, the executive director of the Tomball Economic Development Corp.
The Lone Star College SBDC is part of the University of Houston Texas Gulf Coast SBDC Network and is funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, according to LSC.
