Small Business Person of the Year honored @ luncheon

James Benevides (photo)

UTSA Downtown Campus

Public Afairs Scialist

A vegetarian restaurant and a free-lance writing business are among this year's winners for Small Business of the Year. The Small Business Development Center at UTSA's Institute for Economic Development will honor the Small Business Person of the Year at an awards luncheon, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., May 15th at the Norris Conference Center at Crossroads Mall in San Antonio.

Every year, the Small Business Administration, through its Small Business Development Centers, honors the nation's top entrepreneurs and champions of small business at the district, state, regional and national levels. UTSA is home to the South-West Texas Border SBA district office, serving a 79-county area, reaching from San Angelo to Harlingen. San Antonio, Lubbock, Dallas and Houston are the four state districts and Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico comprise the SBA's Region VI.

Jesus & Maria Luisa Mendoza have been named Small Business Persons of the Year for the San Antonio District and the State of Texas. They are the owners of Mr. Natural, a 100 percent vegetarian restaurant and bakery in Austin. Mr. Natural operates two Austin locations and is best known for vegetarian versions of traditional Mexican dishes including tamales, guisado and pipian. Their bakery can prepare wheat-free, sugar-free, dairy-free and gluten-free pastries, breads, cookies and cakes.

Betty "Lou" Guckian has been named the Region VI and San Antonio District Winner of the Home-Based Business Champion of the Year award. She operates FishHook, a free-lance writing business. Guckian has free-lanced for nearly ten years, with profile pieces and features appearing in the San Antonio Business Journal, NSIDE Magazine, NSIDE MD Medical Journal and the San Antonio Express-News.

Also receiving state-level honors is Mark Winchester of UT Pan American, who is the Small Business Development Center State Star Counselor of the Year.

Other San Antonio district winners include:

• Small Business Exporter of the Year: John Kenemore, Battery Concepts International


• Financial Services Champion of the Year: Yvonne Fernandez, Security Service Federal Credit Union


• SBDC Service Excellence & Innovation Award: UTSA SBDC


• SCORE Counselors of the Year: Alex Cantu, Austin Chapter #249 and Jean C. Riley, San Antonio Chapter #164


• San Antonio District Director's Alliance Award: City of Austin – Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office Small Business Development Program
  

For more information on UTSA's Institute for Economic Development and Small Business of the Year awards, call (210) 458-2453 or visit www.iedtexas.org.

James M. Benavides

Public Affairs Specialist

The University of Texas at San Antonio