SCORE of Chester, Delaware counties to honor entrepreneurs
Annual awards will be virtual this year
WEST GOSHEN » Seven area small businesses will be recognized for their achievements later this month during SCORE’s 10th annual SCORE Awards.
The awards celebrate America’s small businesses that reached out to SCORE for mentoring and assistance in starting or growing their businesses.
The event, like so many events this year will be a virtual celebration, scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 24, from 12 to 1 p.m. via the Zoom conferencing app. It is usually scheduled for June, but was postponed this year due to the pandemic. The winners, according to John Hess, chairman, SCORE Chester and Delaware counties, were chosen before the pandemic hit.
“It really is a celebration of Chester County small businesses getting through what they had to get through. We didn’t intend to celebrate then for COVID, but each one got up after getting knocked down,” he said.
Being recognized by SCORE of Chester and Delaware counties on Sept. 24 are:
Chip May and Robert Eldredge, owners of ME3 Corporation of Honey Brook, Chester County, which validates the due diligence required to purchase an existing business and the benefits of a culture that puts its people first.
Mark Padula, owner of Padula Engineering Company of West Chester, Chester County, a land development and stormwater management start-up that delivers “uncompromising” customer service.
Lynne Williams, executive director of Philadelphia Great Careers Group of Chesterbrook, Chester County, a nonprofit that assists job seekers with professional career management and transitions.
Crystal Carmen, owner of Vanity Image Studio of Media, Delaware County, which pivoted its business model to deliver specialized beauty services, add skilled jobs and give back to the community.
Pamela Boyce Simms, founder of Woodstock Timebank, of Swarthmore, Delaware County, which expanded its impact as a nonprofit developing plant medicines and self-care practices to support underserved groups.
Nina Bond, owner of Dynamic Dental Solutions of Wilmington, Del., who launched a billing service and office administration firm that emerged out of an unmet need to recover revenue in dental practices.
Hess said the award winners are chosen based on recommendations from SCORE mentors.
“If the mentor views the client has achieved a milestone significant milestone they designate them for a success story,” he said. A success story about the business is written and the chapter’s executive team looks at the stories. He added the chapter tries to limit each year’s winners to about six.
This year the chapter added some general criteria to help determine the winners, according to Maria Smith, executive vice chairwoman, SCORE Chester and Delaware counties.
“Not hard and fast numbers metrics — but more recognizable milestones,” she said. Among the criteria are: proven commercial success, the addition of employees, unique business solutions and highly technical expertise.
During the event, recipients will speak about their success stories and the challenges they have faced during the coronavirus pandemic. SCORE mentors will explain how they helped each recipient, and past award winners will provide updates on their businesses since winning their awards.
Hess said the majority of the event has been prerecorded, except for his remarks, which will be live.
Additional speakers will include: local and national SCORE representatives, as well as local, county and national elected officials.
Hess said this is an important event for the chapter, and it’s important that it be held.
“The first thing you see looking at our values is ‘clients matter.’ That’s the theme of why we’re doing it. We want to remind everyone there is a small business community, it’s been hurt and is coming back,” he said.
“This is our main client recognition event. As we wrote these stories, it is clear this is a dream come true for the winners,” Smith added. “While some are in start-up mode, they say they can’t imagine this is where they are. It goes to show there is more than just money and a good idea that makes a small business a success. They deserve the recognition.”
SCORE is a non-profit national organization of business volunteers dedicated to providing free counseling and educational service to small businesses. SCORE volunteers are business experts who mentor entrepreneurs planning to start a small business, or small business owners who seek assistance in solving business issues.
Nationally, SCORE has been helping small business owners for 55 years and has nearly 11,000 volunteers nationwide. The SCORE of Chester and Delaware counties
“We didn’t intend to celebrate then for COVID, but each one got up after getting knocked down,”
— John Hess, chairman, SCORE Chester and Delaware counties
branch has been active since the mid- 1980s.
To register for the event visit https://chesterdelco. s c or e .or g /c elebr at i n gsmall-business-successour-communities http:// events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr =ekds7zcab&oeidk=a07eh8 hs0s49a9acf0f
For more information about this year’s winners and SCORE of Chester and Delaware counties visit https://chesterdelco.score. org/celebrating-small-business-success-our-communities