Strube award puts spotlight on small business

The scores have been tallied, and an independent panel of judges has named three finalists for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2007 W. Curtis Strube Small Business of the Year award. The award is named in honor of the late W. Curtis Strube, who was the director of Drury University’s Breech School of Business Administration, and a longtime small-business advocate. The finalists are Buxton-Kubik-Dodd Inc., Family Pharmacy (Plainview Road Location) and Smillie’s IGA.

Chamber Economic Development Coordinator Jennifer Johnson said there were more than 20 nominees for the 2007 award. Companies are scored on a scale of one to 10 in five content areas: staying power, response to adversity, innovative products or services, business philosophy and contributions to the community.

“Whoever gets the most points (determines) who our top finalists are,” she said.

Choosing a winner

Johnson said the judges’ panel comprises representatives of companies that won the award in the two previous years, the previous chairperson of the chamber’s Small Business Council and two local business professors chosen on a rotating basis from Missouri State University, Drury University, Ozarks Technical Community College and Evangel University.

This year’s judges were Terry Hicklin, owner of Candy House Gourmet Chocolates, which received the Strube award in 2005; Ted Amberg, whose Amberg Entertainment was the 2006 honoree; Dwayne Fulk, partner with The Law Firm of Neale & Newman LLP; Robert Wyatt, director of Drury’s Breech School of Business Administration; and Phil Davis of OTC’s training resource group.

For Hicklin, serving as a judge for the 2006 and 2007 award cycles hasn’t been easy – primarily, he said, because any of the contenders would make good recipients.

“There’s such a wide variety … of the types of companies,” Hicklin said. “It’s not easy to do. There are … different levels of age and sophistication of the companies that have to be added in, but there are a lot of good small-business operators in the area.”

Hicklin, who has two stores in Springfield and a store and a production facility in the Joplin area, said he was surprised when Candy House won Small Business of the Year honors in 2005.

“It brings you a level of legitimacy, that this is a good, legitimate company that’s doing things right,” he said. “It’s kind of like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.”

Serving small businesses

Though the chamber presents several annual awards, Johnson said the Small Business of the Year award is important because most of the chamber’s 1,900-plus member businesses fall into the small-business category.

“Something like (more than) 80 percent of our members employee 50 employees or less, which is how we define a small business for the purpose of this award,” Johnson said.

In the past, Johnson noted, the chamber recognized five finalists for the award, though this year, officials decided to stick with only three.

“The reason we make such a big deal out of the finalists and not just the recipient, is that it honors all of our small-business members and the achievements that they’ve made in our community.”

Small Business of the Year Honorees

2006 – Amberg Entertainment

2005 – Candy House Gourmet Chocolates

2004 – Millwood Golf & Racquet Club

2003 – PFI Western Store

2002 – Environmental Works

2001 – Carnahan-White

2000 – Aire-Master of America

1999 – ServiceWorld Computer Center

1998 – Butler, Rosenbury & Partners

1997 – Springfield Business Journal

1996 – Opfer Communications

1995 – Mears Floral Products

1994 – Watts Heatway

1993 – Big Cabin Wholesale Gifts

1992 – Terminal Consolidation Co.[[In-content Ad]]