High caliber companies: our Small Business Awards winners are growing their businesses by serving their niche.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP HAS LONG BEEN viewed as one of the paths to achieving wealth. Our Ultimate Wealth Builders series shows that the overwhelming majority of African Americans who have acquired and passed on wealth have been entrepreneurs. This fact isn't lost on the winners of the 2005 BLACK ENTERPRISE Small Business Awards. Recognized during the 10th annual Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference hosted by General Motors, held in May at the Wyndham Anatole hotel in Dallas, this year's victors have all successfully filled the void in a niche market to build thriving enterprises. For information about the 2006 conference or to nominate a small business, call 800-543-6786 or visit www.blackenterprise.com.

To find the best in show, BE's editors surveyed a range of businesses and selected companies that exemplify stellar concepts and push black entrepreneurship to new heights. Over the next four pages, we will introduce them to you.

BUSINESS INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR DR. JOHN CREWS, DR. DERRON SIMON, MID-ATLANTIC SURGICAL ASSOCIATES P.L.L.C.

The use of robotics in medicine allows for unprecedented control and precision of surgical instruments in minimally invasive procedures. The growing awareness of its benefits has led to a thriving practice for Drs. John Crews and Derron Simon.

The founders of Mid-Atlantic Surgical Associates are perhaps the first African American robotic surgery team to use instruments as small as a pencil tip and 3-D magnification of the surgical site. Their practice was awarded Business Innovator of the Year, which recognizes companies that have set trends and broken new ground in a particular industry.

Robotic surgery is minimally invasive, requires a shorter hospital stay and smaller incisions, and offers faster recovery for patients. The surgeon can perform intricate procedures by using joystick-like controls to manipulate the surgical instruments. "The robotic arms are inside the patient's abdomen. We sit in a console 12 to 20 feet away, and one of us will be controlling [the robot] with our legs and fingers," explains Simon.

The firm, which launched in 2002 with $60,000, grossed $820,000 in revenues last year. Crews, 35, and Simon, 36, were trained in robotics at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York; and Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore.

With expansion plans in the works, the two surgeons are keeping apprised of the latest technology. "The coolest thing about the equipment is that you are actually looking inside a patient's body through a lens and every motion you make is picked up by the robot," says Crews.

EMERGING COMPANY OF THE YEAR LISA PRICE, CAROL'S DAUGHTER 

Lisa Price's love for fragrances goes back as far as she can remember. As a 5-year-old, she recalls opening her grandmother's bureau drawers and smelling the exotic scents of perfumes bought in faraway countries. "My aunt would travel to Germany, and in her travels she'd bring back gifts," Price recalls.

Now 42 Price has turned that passion for fragrances and creams into a thriving business. Carol's Daughter, the company she launched in 1993, now offers a line of more than 300 hair, face, body, and bath products as well as fragrances, candles, and incense. With such scents as Lisa's Ocean Rain, Island Passion, and Almond Cookie, Carol's Daughter brought in revenues of more than $3 million last year, earning it the Emerging Company of the Year, an award which recognizes businesses that have poised themselves for future growth by carving out a special business niche or by adopting creative marketing techniques.

The Brooklyn company's name pays homage to Price's mother and inspiration, Carol Hutson, who passed away in February 2003. "It was a great way to celebrate my mother while she was still here. And when she passed away, it made me feet good that the company bad that name while she was here so she got to see it and experience it."

Others have taken notice Of Carol's Daughter's potential. Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Jay-Z are among the big names, led by ex-record executive Steve Stoute, who have invested a collective $10 million in the business. Price intends to use the funds to open a flagship store in Harlem this fall and seven more stores over the next two years. The boutique has a national ad campaign that features Pinkett Smith.

RISING STAR AWARD DANA POWELL, SHANNON BONNER, BRIDES NOIR

Dana Powell's interest in publishing began in the early 1990s when her father, Gary, sent her shopping for bridal magazines to find dress designs for her senior prom. Since no magazines featured African American models. Powell returned to her father empty-handed. The 16-year-old then promised her father she'd create one should there be no black bridal magazine by the time she completed college.

Serious about her publishing ambitions, Powell majored in mass communication at Illinois State University, where she met Shannon Bonner in 1996. At the time. Bonnet held a bachelor's degree in mass communication and was working toward a master's in marketing communication. Powell was impressed with Bonner's business expertise and the two became partners.

Some six years later. Powell, 29, and Bonnet, 32, launched Brides Noir from their Chicago home office Powell and Bonner started the magazine with $80.000 in personal assets and loans from family and friends and $20,000 in award money from the Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Series.

Brides Noir currently has a circulation of 50,000, is audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, and grossed $350,000 in revenues last year. The partners received the Rising Star Award, which recognizes individuals, aged 21-35, whose outstanding skills, professionalism, and perseverance have established them as future business leaders.

TEENPRENEUR AWARD NAJEE MCGREEN, TECHMASTER COMPUTER WORKS

When Najee McGreen heads to college this fall, he's going to pack his business plan along with his books.

The 17-year-old graduate of Benjamin Banneker Academy in Brooklyn, New York, is also president and CEO of Techmaster Computer Works, a computer design and repair services business. As such, he oversees his company's repair jobs, the education provided through his company's youth development program, and the free technical support offered through its community outreach program. He's also looking to expand the business to Maryland, where he'll be attending Johns Hopkins University.

McGreen, whose business generated some $7,000 last year, was given the Teenpreneur Award, which recognizes entrepreneurs under the age of 18 who serve as role models and are committed to advancing the tradition of black business achievement. "I was just overwhelmed at first," says McGreen, who plans to major in chemical and biomolecular engineering and minor in computer sciences. "The way the prizes were presented, it was almost like an Academy Award. I felt like I was at the Oscars. When I heard my name called, so many things rushed through my mind."

Modeled in many ways like a franchise. Techmaster splits the money made on a service call between the company and one of its 5 repair technicians. Repair jobs cost $35 for the first hour and $15 for each additional hour. "After I graduate [college], I want to go full time with this," McGreen says. "As I keep moving along, I hope to bring people along who can actually manage the business while I'm away."