Editor's Welcome

by David Reed

April 4,2008

Too many good choices. It was an agonizing, but uplifting experience, judging CBT's Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards. Our panel pored over scores of nomination forms and were a bit overwhelmed by the multitude of entrepreneurs who deserved to win an award.
Of course, we were just scratching the surface of the deep pool of talented Columbians who create the small businesses that provide the jobs that help our local economy thrive.
We decided to add a category, a special recognition for career achievement in entrepreneurship, and give certificates of excellence to many entrepreneurs who deserved recognition, at the least.
But the competition is really just a tool to get everyone's attention. The real intent of this award ceremony that took place at Tiger Hotel on Thursday was to celebrate the healthy spirit of innovation in Columbia's business community.
The best part for me was listening to winners like George Pfenenger tell their inspiring stories of building companies.
Part of my inspiration during the process of developing this event, which will be held annually, was the definition of an entrepreneur from the University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship:
"Entrepreneurs have the vision to see what is possible. They have the creativity to develop new approaches to old problems and to muster the right resources in the right combination to bring their dreams to fruition. And, they have the selfassuredness to see the vision become reality, often in spite of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
"Entrepreneurs not only benefit our economy by creating jobs, businesses and products, they ultimately help society by providing a necessary service, inventing tools that make life easier or offering subtle improvements to existing products or processes. Whatever their contribution, they leave things better than they found them, and that helps all of us.""…Entrepreneurism appears wherever people have the will to make things better. But they can't do it alone. They need the support of friends and neighbors as well as investors. Some need education, training or technical assistance. And they need the support of communities to not only lure companies to the area but also to invest in the homegrown human capital in our own back yards."
That last paragraph is at the heart of why we launched this event, the CBT Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards.

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