Aplus.net Blog

The U.S. Small Business Administration recently launched a brand-new website in anticipation for this year’s Small Business Week, April 21 - 25. It’s a nice collection of news and info about the upcoming events. Click here to check it out.

Small Business Week is five days of events (most of which are held in New York City and Washington, D.C.) that, according to the SBA, strives to recognize the “nation’s top entrepreneurs”. Events culminate with the announcement of the National Small Business Person of the Year, who is selected from among 53 State Small Business Persons of the Year.

According to the website, this year “marks the 55th anniversary of the agency, and the 45th annual proclamation of Small Business Week.”

From a recent news release by the SBA:

In addition to the State Small Business Persons of the Year, men and women involved in disaster recovery, government procurement, small business champions as well as SBA partners in financial and entrepreneurial development will be honored.

A focal point this year will be a series of executive panel forums on Health Care, International Trade, Energy, and Finance. In addition, there will be a procurement session with corporate buyers and prime contractors who will discuss small business partnering and mentoring opportunities for small businesses seeking government contracts.

The events also include the Champion Awards, “recognizing both individuals and organizations for their achievements on behalf of small business, including minority, women and veteran-owned small businesses,” the Phoenix Awards, “recognizing a public official, a business owner and a volunteer whose efforts have helped their businesses or communities recover successfully from a disaster,” the Lender of the Year, “honoring financial institutions, including those that provide financing for small business exporters and inner city businesses,” the Entrepreneurial Development Awards, “honoring Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers and SCORE for their innovation and excellence in assistance to entrepreneurs and small businesses,” the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Excellence, “recognizing large prime contractors who have excelled in their utilization of small businesses as suppliers and subcontractors,” the Gold Star Award, “recognizing exemplary performance of federal staff who manage the aggressive goals and strategic initiatives that help ensure a role for small business in the federal marketplace,” the Frances Perkins Vanguard Award, “honoring government and industry for excellence in the use of women-owned small businesses as prime contractors and subcontractors,” and the Small Business Prime Contractor and Small Business Subcontractor of the Year, “honoring small businesses that have provided government and industry with outstanding goods and services as prime or sub contractors.”

(A quick side note: It appears that the new portion of the SBA site was created solely for Small Business Week. The main site remains in its original design. Honestly, we’re not sure if it’s meant to be simple, or perhaps easy to use, but we kind of feel that this design is somewhat stale and, well, uninspiring. When we first saw this news, we had hoped that the redesign extended to the original site. Any reader thoughts on this? Or is it just us?)