Hawaii Entrepreneur Named National Small Business Person of the YearWisconsin, California and North Carolina are runners-up in the annual competition

The owner of a sandwich and bakery business from Honolulu,Hawaii, was named National Small Business Person of the Yearyesterday, the start of the SBA's National Small Business Week.At ceremonies today, Thanh Lam, president of Ba-Le Inc. (dba Ba-LeSandwich & Bakery, was named winner of the 39th annualentrepreneurial award.

Lam was selected from among the state Small Business Persons ofthe Year representing the 50 states, the District of Columbia,Puerto Rico and Guam. He is a successful retailer ofVietnamese-style sandwiches, pastries and noodle dishes and awholesaler of baked goods and deli sandwiches to airlines, foodcaterers, hotels, supermarkets and restaurants throughout Hawaii.The company is expanding internationally.

"Thanh Lam is a true example of entrepreneurial success andof achieving the American dream," said SBA AdministratorHector V. Barreto. "Resourcefulness and creativity have beenkey to his success. Small business must be innovative in securingtheir niche in a competitive market, and Thanh has clearly donethat with his business."

The first runner-up this year in the national competition isMary Jurmain, president and CEO of BTIO Educational Products Inc.,a provider of parenting educational products in Eau Claire,Wisconsin. Second runner-up is Belinda Guadarrama, president andCEO of GC Micro Corp., a supplier of computer hardware and softwareproducts in Novato, California. The third runner-up is MildredCouncil, president of Mama Dip's Country Kitchen in ChapelHill, North Carolina.

The national small-business awards are a highlight of theSBA's National Small Business Week. Now in its 39th year, thecelebration honors the contributions of the nation'ssmall-business owners. The winners are selected on their record ofstability, growth in employment and sales, financial condition,innovation, response to adversity, and community service:

• When he arrived in the United States from a Malaysian refugeecamp in 1979, Lam had little money and only minimal knowledge ofEnglish. By 1984, he had opened the first Ba-Le sandwich shop.Shortly afterward, Lam was also baking and selling his own bread.In 1986, after securing an SBA-guaranteed loan to refurbish theequipment, Lam's business truly began to flourish. In 1996, hebegan offering catering services and moved operations to a15,000-square-foot warehouse. By 1999, Lam's satisfiedcustomers included the Hilton and Sheraton hotel chains as well assuch airlines as Air New Zealand, American, China Airlines,Continental, Delta, Japan Airlines and United. Lam also producesfresh pizza dough for Papa John's in Hawaii. The business isexpanding to Japan and China.
• Jurmain's Baby Think It Over infant simulator andaccompanying program materials have evolved into a comprehensiveparenting education program. The program teaches teenagers aboutthe responsibilities of parenting in an effort to help reduce thealarming rate of teenage pregnancy. More than 1 million teens havegone through the program. BTIO Educational Products Inc. is alsoseeing a continually growing presence internationally with directsales in Canada and distributors in Australia, Germany, Japan, NewZealand and the United Kingdom.
• In 1986, Guadarrama started GC Micro with two employees. By theend of its first year, the small business reported revenue of$209,000. Today, GC Micro is one of the nation's leadingsuppliers of computer hardware and software products to the defenseand aerospace industries. The company employs 28 and enjoyed saleslast year of $34 million. Through sheer determination and a passionfor service to the customer, Guadarrama overcame the perceptionthat a minority woman did not belong in the technology field or inmarketing to defense-related contractors.
• In 1976, Council opened a restaurant with only $64 in cash anda reputation as a good cook. What began as an 18-seat restauranthas now become a Chapel Hill institution. Council became aself-taught restaurateur by taking business classes and attendingworkshops and seminars. Mama Dip's Country Kitchen is now asuccessful and profitable business operation with a 200 percentincrease over the previous location. Council has written a cookbookand appeared on national TV cooking shows.

Additional information on National Small Business Week 2002 isavailable athttp://smallbusinesssuccess.sba.gov.