Small business executives garner awards: L.A. group cites American Copak's Steven Brooker.

Small business executives garner awards

L.A. group cites American Copak's Steven Brooker

Awards and seminars were the order of the day in Los Angeles County's observance last week of National Small Business Week, sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

For openers, there was the 10th annual small business luncheon hosted by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and SBA. Steven A. Brooker, president of American Copak Corp., was honored as the "small business person of the year" in L.A. County.

"I'm one of those people (who is) rarely speechless," said Brooker. But, he added, he was at a loss for words while being honored with the award.

Brooker has led American Copak, a food packager in Sun Valley, to expand from a 10,000-square-feet building to an 80,000-square-feet facility in just two years.

And the company, with gross annual revenue of about $5 million, has more than quadrupled its employee staff from 40 in 1989 to 175 today.

The judges, according to an SBA brochure, picked Brooker based on the criteria of the "company's staying power, growth in number of employees, increase in sales and/or unit volume, current and past financial reports and innovativeness of product or service offered."

In order to qualify Brooker had to "own and operate or bear principal responsibility for operating a small business," according to the SBA brochure.

Gene Hale, chairman of the Black Business Association, who was also honored at the luncheon as minority advocate of the year, which is one of eight advocate winner categories, said that being recognized comes from taking action.

"When you say you're an advocate, it means more than saying; it means doing, said Hale, who is the chief executive of Gardena-based G&C Equipment Corp., a company that sells heavy construction equipment like tractors and forklifts.

G&C, Hale said, has been established for 10 years, during which time the company has grown by about 20 percent in sales and now has 10 employees.

The winner of the women-in-business advocate award was Elizabeth Robertson, president and chief engineer of Lyncole XIT Grounding, an engineering company in Torrance that also manufacturers and distributes electrical safety equipment.

"The visibility (from winning the award) will certainly help us in future sales and reliability," she said.

Robertson added that the company will have about $1.5 million in annual gross revenues this year, which is a vast improvement from the $80,000 it pulled in during its maiden year, 1985.

Garnering the entrepreneurial success awards were Carlos De Mattos and Edward Phillips, co-chairmen of Burbank-based Matthews Studio Equipment Group.

Chief Executive De Mattos said in a telephone interview that his firm got its first loan, $100,000, from the SBA when the company was founded in 1970. Now, he said, the company takes in $30 million in annual gross revenue from manufacturing, selling, leasing and renting equipment like cranes and generators, among other items, to motion picture, video and photography companies.

De Mattos now boasts that the company has 200 employees compared to three when the firm started.

Other award winners at the luncheon included: Norman W. Kingsley, owner of T.C. International in La Canada, for exporter of the year; Stephen P. Smith of San Pedro-based American Veteran Newspaper for veteran advocate; Alex Sarkissian, owner of Ascent Enterprises in Pasadena, honored as young entrepreneur of the year; and Jane Applegate of the Los Angeles Times for small business advocate.

However, the honorary luncheon by the LACC and SBA wasn't the only small business awards event last week.

Vee Mell, owner of Vee's Pharmacy in West Hollywood, was cited as business person of the year by the West Hollywood Small Business Council. Her award in part resulted from her contribution to the community.

"I am really thankful, very grateful," to be presented with the award, Mell said. The pharmacy, she said, deals almost exclusively with AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) patients.

"They get kind and at-home type of treatment" at Vee's, she said.

Also in conjunction with the small business week celebrations, the West Hollywood council sponsored seven free seminars, ranging from "Commercial Revitalization" to "How to Start and Promote a Home-Based Business," strictly for small businesses.

According to Helen J. Goss, spokeswoman for the City of West Hollywood, the council decided to sponsor these events because "oftentimes small businesses don't receive a lot of attention from local governments."

She added that one seminar, "Coping With the Recession," probably got the most attention because small business owners are seeking help to survive in today's troubled economy.

The LACC also sponsored a seminar called a "finance fair" for owners and individuals seeking assistance in obtaining expansion and start-up capital.

"I found the information was useful and informative and the speakers knowledgeable," said Michael Alcantar of Los Angeles, who wants to start a furniture manufacturing business in the county.