Outstanding entrepreneurs embrace new technology

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The State Small Business Persons of the Year for 2000 are a diverse group, but one thing they all have in common is technological savvy, according to a tally of questionnaires the winners submitted to the U.S. Small Business Administration.|ret||ret||tab|

Of the 53 businesses owned by the state winners, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam:|ret||ret||tab|

100 percent use personal computers. |ret||ret||tab|

92 percent use e-mail. |ret||ret||tab|

69 percent have laptops. |ret||ret||tab|

88 percent use fax machines. |ret||ret||tab|

55 percent use pagers. |ret||ret||tab|

96 percent use modems giving them access to the Internet. |ret||ret||tab|

92 percent use cellular phones.|ret||ret||tab|

According to the SBA, these business owners produce and provide a vast array of products and services including: pasta, building materials, fiber-optic lighting, furniture, cross-cultural videos, environmental consulting, commercial printing, confections, clinical drug research, balsam products, restaurants, information technology, sheet metal products, digital printing services and Internet access.|ret||ret||tab|

The winners also represent a broad cross section of Americans:|ret||ret||tab|

35 percent are owned by women. |ret||ret||tab|

30 percent are owned by minorities. |ret||ret||tab|

57 percent are family owned and operated. |ret||ret||tab|

13 percent are veterans. |ret||ret||tab|

46 percent are in either manufacturing or retail.|ret||ret||tab|

While not a criterion for nomination, 67 percent of the winners received financial or management assistance from the SBA. |ret||ret||tab|

As a group, the companies' average sales for last year were $7.6 million, and they employ an average of 150 people. And while they are still considered small businesses, on average they had a much smaller work force at start up three employees and average first year sales of $457,000.|ret||ret||tab|

In total, the winners' sales for the most recent fiscal year amounted to more than $330 million. They have a total employment of more than 7,000. |ret||ret||tab|

According to the SBA, these entrepreneurs have led the nation in the business expansions in the past five years. |ret||ret||tab|

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