Northwest Businesses Highlighted in the Upcoming National Small Business Week

Every day at Business Impact NW we celebrate the success of small businesses around the Pacific Northwest. Joining the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) for National Small Business Week once a year is an honor. For more than 50 years, the U.S. Small Business Administration has celebrated National Small Business Week (NSBW). NSBW recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. Every year National Small Business Week shines a spotlight on the nation’s 30 million small businesses across the country. It brings the work of entrepreneurs like Business Impact NW’s own Boon Boona Coffee and Leisureland RV into the spotlight.

This year’s NSBW celebrations will be unlike any before. The theme for this year’s NSBW is “Recovery, Adaptation, and Innovation.”

The intention is to certainly highlight the tenacity of America’s small businesses. Also to applaud their determination in recovering and adapting to the current crisis. As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration and cosponsors will host three days of virtual events. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, National Small Business Week will be postponed from May. Instead it will take place from September 22nd-24th, 2020.

This year’s virtual event will include numerous educational panels providing retooling and innovative practices for entrepreneurs. Our nation’s small businesses look to pivot and recover, contributing to a stronger economy. The event will recognize the national award winners, which includes the naming of the National Small Business Person of the Year. Steve Watts-Oelrich, Program Director of Veterans Business Outreach Center, put it best: “This year, spotlighting small business for National Small Business Week feels more important to me than it has ever been (at least in my lifetime). I believe small businesses can use all the support they can get as they navigate these unprecedented times. I am proud to be part of an organization that provides coaching, training and access to resources to persons who are at some point on their entrepreneurial journey.”

Many of the small businesses honored at National Small Business Week are veteran, women and minority-owned.

Some of whom are champions in the Business Impact NW community. This year’s SBA winner of the Idaho Small Business Persons of the Year is John DeHoff. John is the owner of Leisureland RV Center in Boise, Idaho. Together, John and wife Carina built Leisureland RV Center. The center evolved from a small RV dealership founded in 2015 into a company serving the entire western United States. The business now has grown to have 21 employees and more than $7 million in sales. It has grown 272% since inception. John has applied leadership principles learned from serving 25 years in the U.S. Air Force. He retired at the rank of Senior Master Sergeant in 2014. John and wife Carina are Boots to Business alumni.

We at Business Impact NW are proud to have them in our community. Congratulations John and Carina!

Our very own Boon Boona Coffee will also be recognized this year after being nominated for the Washington Small Business Persons of the Year Award (2020). Boon Boona was born in 2018. Founder and CEO Efrem Fesaha brought the East African tradition of freshly roasted beans to the Puget Sound area. She received assistance from Washington Women’s Business Center (WWBC). In 2018 she won the Impact Pitch Community of Color Award. Today, Boon Boona has a café and roaster in Renton, WA. Boon Boona is made unique by their long-lasting sustainable relationships with coffee producers, exporters and importers in East Africa. Their commitment to local community development is also very important. Boon Boona partners with local schools to provide opportunities for students of color in the Renton area. Ninety percent of Boon Boona’s staff are local and so are their contractors and vendors.

 Boon Boona is a leader in job creation and community development in the Puget Sound area.

We are continually impressed by Boon Boona’s incredible work and are so happy to celebrate their nomination. Director of the Washington Women’s Business Center Susan Perreault stated:“The WWBC team is inspired daily by our clients’ perseverance, resiliency, and adaptability. Especially in the face of the current unprecedented challenges. During National Small Business Week, we want to recognize their accomplishments and the contribution of small businesses as the foundation of our communities and our economy.”

Thank you Efrem Fesaha for your determination and pioneering leadership!

Join us in celebrating the incredible success, resilience, and innovation of small businesses like Boon Boona and Leisureland RV Center next week.

For further details and registration information about National Small Business Week’s virtual events check out the Small Business Association’s event page: https://www.sba.gov/NSBW.