2019 Excellence in Business Award Winners
The Awards and Gala
The Business Advancement Resource (BAR), a council of the Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce, hosted the Excellence in Business Awards Gala on February 7th at the Forsyth Conference Center. Each year, these awards serve as an opportunity to celebrate entrepreneurship. They provide a chance for businesses and entrepreneurs to be awarded for their impact on the community.
“This yearly program offers well-deserved recognition to our businesses and nonprofit organizations for their achievements and contributions to our community by giving the opportunity to showcase their company, share their stories and reward them for their efforts.” – Mark Thompson, Chair of the Chamber of Commerce’s BAR
The BAR recognized a number of companies for their outstanding performance in the community in the last year, but only 1 for-profit business and 1 non-profit business received the Business of the Year award.
Selection Process
First, any and all Chamber member organizations could apply for the award. Following submission, all applications were reviewed by a panel of six judges who individually scored their responses using a 10-point grading system for each question. This system then results in a cumulative score for each applicant. The final applicants with the highest scores advanced as finalists.
Then, the second phase of the selection process included an on-site interview, during which the judges visited the finalists’ facilities. Each finalist then had the opportunity to make a formal presentation, conduct a facility tour, and respond to additional questions from the judges. This process results in a second and final set of scores to determine the 2019 Business of the Year & Non-Profit of the Year award winners.
Announcing the Winners
The winning organizations’ names remained confidential until announced at the 2019 Excellence in Business Awards on February 7th.
Business of the Year
Non-Profit of the Year
The Ceremony
This year the BAR hosted the Excellence in Business Awards on February 7, 2019, at the Forsyth Conference Center.
First, Torri Westmoreland, Council Member for the Business Advancement Resource, introduced videos created to showcase the nine finalists. Then, Dr. Valery Lowe awarded 6 Internship Innovation Awards to Forsyth County School students. After that, Westmoreland recognized the Business of the Year and Non-Profit of the year finalists.
These finalists included:
Business of the Year Finalists:
- Bentley Media LLC
- Better Moonwalks of Georgia
- Elevation Rehabilitative Massage LLC
- Regal Maid Service LLC
- Signature Total Car Care
- Totally Running
Non-Profit of the Year Finalists:
- CASA of Forsyth County, Inc.
- Fill Ministries
- Vibha
Finally, Westmoreland announced the Business of the Year and Non-Profit of the Year award recipients:
Regal Maids was honored for increasing their sales by 22% in 2018. They also partnered with local non-profits like Cleaning for a Reason in Cumming, and they supported other local non-profits including The Place of Forsyth and the ABBA House. In the future, Regal Maids reported that they would like to continue growing with 10% increase in sales each year and providing the best cleaning service in the community.
Fill Ministries was honored for a 33% increase in donations and their plan to add more greenhouses with harvests fully-distributed to client families. They would like to convert those efforts to sales that will go straight to the community, which they hope leads to the creation of a community training center that will host work skills classes for families like Produce Logistics, Catering, and Computer Training.
See the award ceremony here.
See the full photo album here.
