Action Publishing, Inc. CEO Earns SBA CO top spot.
Release Date: April 17, 2009
Contact: Chris Chavez
Release Number: 08-01
Phone: (303) 844-0501
Colorado’s Best Entrepreneurs and Small Business
Champions Announced by the SBA
Denver – Grady W. Busse, CEO/Founder of Action Publishing, Inc. has been named the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Colorado Small Business Person of the Year for 2009. Mr. Busse is one of 11 entrepreneurs nominated for this award. Action Publishing is a Grand Junction-based manufacturer of Student Day Planners. Approximately one million students nationwide use an Action Agenda Student Day Planner to manage their time and achieve goals. Action Publishing also produces day planners, journals and notebooks for nationally recognized companies including Victoria’s Secret, Steelcase, LaFarge, Lietner Poma, and Ty, Inc.
Action Publishing, Inc., founded in 2001, began operations in the Business Incubator Center located in Grand Junction, Colorado. Within 10 months Action achieved $1 million in total revenue, hitting the $1 million milestone faster than any other client in the history of the Business Incubator Center. In 2005, the City of Grand Junction offered land as an economic incentive for Busse to build Action’s new headquarters. Funded with an SBA 504 Economic Development Loan the 15,000 square foot facility was completed in November of that year. Also in 2005, Action was awarded the National Business Incubation Association Outstanding Incubator Client Award. Before leaving the incubator, as a demonstration of his belief in the Business Incubator model, Busse gave the Incubator two percent of Action Publishing’s stock. In 2008, Action Publishing delivered more than one million planners to schools in all 50 states and Canada.
Busse’s dedication to the youth of Colorado has extended to include homeless youth and youth hospice programs. He also provides plant tours for local schools and business groups and discounts products for local and Colorado schools. Over the last few years, Action Publishing has donated over 5,000 Action Agenda Day Planners to troops based at Fort Carson that were serving tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Six other Colorado Small Business Week award winners include:
1. Andre Pettigrew, Executive Director of the City of Denver Office of Economic Development, is this year’s Minority Small Business Champion Award Winner. Andre has been active in assisting minority business owners throughout the City of Denver. His leadership efforts have resulted in greater access to markets, capital and labor for minority businesses, which has ultimately resulted in a stronger, more thriving business community.
1. Andrew Spaulding, Vice President for Small Business Lending at First Community Bank, is this year’s Financial Services Champion Award winner. Andrew has been instrumental in promoting the SBA’s 7(a) Loan Guaranty Program to Colorado’s small business community. He is the past chairman of the Colorado Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders. Andrew is based in Denver.
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Page two – SBA Small Business Week Award Winners
1. Aldo Svaldi, Business Reporter at the Denver Post, is our Small Business Journalist of the Year winner. Aldo is one of the premier business reporters in Denver. He has been extremely proactive in promoting small business issues in the Denver Post since 2000.
1. Timothy Edgar, Fort Morgan, CO Small Business Development Center Director, is our Women in Business Champion Award winner. Tim has created a number of innovative programs in the Fort Morgan area that target women-owned businesses.
5. Jim Hurley, President of JE Hurley Construction, Inc, is our Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year winner. Jim’s business is based in Colorado Springs, and has advocated for veterans issues in El Paso County for a number of years. Hurley is also the Region VIII Veteran Small Business Champion Award winner.
6. Dr. Paul Ibanez, President of ANCO Engineers, Inc, has been selected as the Small Business Exporter of the Year winner. For 37 years ANCO has provided custom structural research and testing systems & services to clients’ world wide, including the USA and 25 foreign countries. ANCO Engineers is based in Boulder.
“This year’s group of Small Business Week Winners offers one of the most dynamic cross sections of entrepreneurs and small business champions the State of Colorado has ever seen. Grady W. Busse is a perfect example of the ingenuity and innovation that small firms possess here in Colorado and across the nation. Small businesses represent the heart of any community. They always hire locally, pay the taxes that support neighborhoods, and provide support to non-profit organizations.” said Greg Lopez, SBA’s Colorado District Director. “Beginning today, I strongly encourage all Coloradoans, government agencies, and prime contractors to Buy Local, Buy Small Business. Support for our small firms is the fastest way this nation is going to beat the current economic downturn. Congratulations to all of our Small Business Week winners from Colorado.”
There are over 25 million small firms in America today -- creating 100 percent of all new net jobs; generating 50 percent of the private, non-farm gross domestic product (GDP); and generate more than 57 percent of all sales in the country. Over 97 percent of all firms in Colorado are considered small – representing more than 550,000 businesses statewide. For individual contact information on winners, call Chris Chavez at 303-844-0501.
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