SBA South Dakota Announces 2024 National Small Business Week Award Winners

SIOUX FALLS – This week, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, announced the National Small Business Week (NSBW) 2024 Award Winners, comprised of business owners, lending partners, and advocates who embody the grit and determination that power our nation’s economy and ensure disaster-impacted communities can recover. This year’s NSBW will take place April 28-May 4, 2024.

“Our 2024 National Small Business Week award winners exemplify excellence, innovation, and commitment, and the SBA is proud to showcase their incredible achievements and impact on their communities and our economy,” said Administrator Guzman. “National Small Business Week is the nation’s opportunity to lift up the amazing entrepreneurs, small business advocates, local partners, advisors, lenders, and investors who support America’s entrepreneurial spirit and the historic Biden-Harris Small Business Boom.”

The NSBW Award Ceremonies will take place April 28 - 29, 2024 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Washington, D.C., where Administrator Guzman will recognize the national award winners and individual state winners, and announce the top honor of National Small Business Person of the Year from among the individual state winners. The week-long National Small Business Week celebration will also feature a virtual summit co-hosted by SCORE, mentors to America’s small businesses.

According to SBA Regional Administrator Aikta Marcoulier, the Rocky Mountain Region including Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming includes some of the most rural business sectors in the entire U.S. “Amplifying small businesses during National Small Business Week showcases the collective impact being made across our region and beyond including strong economy states like South Dakota. Small businesses are the economic engine of America, creating jobs for the majority of the working population and the goods and services we all rely on in our daily lives.”

“National Small Business Week is an opportunity each year for SBA and our vast network of economic partners to showcase top performers in the small business space,” said Jaime Wood, SBA South Dakota District Director. “Our network works diligently to ensure there’s equity and access to opportunity for small businesses across South Dakota. This year’s Small Businesses of the Year recipients are a wonderful representation of backgrounds and varieties of industries that comprise South Dakota’s nearly 90,000 small businesses – both urban and rural.”

2024 SBA South Dakota Small Businesses of the Year Awardees:

Small Business Persons of the Year                                       

Nick & D. Greg Heineman, Co-owners, Look's Marketplace, Sioux Falls    

Women Owned Small Business of the Year                          

Julie Wingen, Pain & Movement Solutions, Belle Fourche  

Veteran Owned Small Business of the Year                         

Monika & Peter Johncour, Timber Ridge Campground, Keystone               

Minority Owned Small Business of the Year                        

Obed Garza, Garza Insurance Agency, Sioux Falls                  

Small Business Exporter of the Year                                       

Tim & Vivian Houghton, H-S Precision, Rapid City

Family Owned Small Business of the Year                            

Stuart Stein, ESCO Manufacturing & Stein Sign Display, Watertown

Young Entrepreneur of the Year                                 

Hillarey Warner, HH Design, Britton               

Small Business Government Contractor of the Year       

Darrel Brotsky, Dakota Plains Electric, Eagle Butte                            

Small Business Advocacy Champion of the Year 

Jodi Schwan, Founder/Owner, SiouxFalls.Business

There are several activities planned during NSBW across the U.S. with event information at www.sba.gov/nsbw. In South Dakota, a Small Business Government Contracting and Exporting Seminar is scheduled for April 30, 2024, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m., at the Black Hills State University campus in Box Elder. An awards presentation for NSBW SBA SD recipients is included in the event. The public may register for the event at: 2024 Small Business Week Contracting & Exporting Seminar #NSBW | U.S. Small Business Administration (sba.gov)

The SBA South Dakota District Office and partner network will host a virtual SBA SD 2024 Small Businesses of the Year Ceremony, featuring statewide awardees, on May 7, 2024, at 11 a.m. (CT). The public may join the event at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86523210477?pwd=rqy3B9fqUmrwyu80zKYQGMbX8u0KO3.1.

For more information about National Small Business Week, visit www.sba.gov/NSBW. For interviews with SBA SD District Director Jaime Wood about NSBW, please email: jaime.wood@sba.gov.