Following a tough year for the nation s small businesses, Topeka leaders this week celebrated local businesses that weathered the storm and demonstrated excellence throughout 2020.
At the Greater Topeka Partnership s 40th Annual Small Business Awards ceremony Tuesday, six local businesses were chosen from among 18 finalists in six categories as award winners:
• Dialogue Coffee House was recognized as the Emerging Entrepreneur of Distinction.
• The Capper Foundation was honored with the Nonprofit Award of Distinction.
• TLJ Consulting was recognized as the Woman Business of Distinction.
• Evergy Plaza, which is owned and operated by the Downtown Topeka Foundation, received the Innovation Award.
• And Dobski & Associates Inc., which owns and operates 19 McDonald s throughout northeast Kansas, including nine in Topeka, was awarded the Capital City Business of Distinction.
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Jake Taylor didn’t worry about what was happening with his business after dealing with medical issues. Taylor, owner of Curb Appeal Power Wash, created an emergency plan for such a situation as part of the Business Continuity Grant Program.
“I thought I had a heart attack. It really freaked out my wife and family,” Taylor told the commissioners at Monday’s Shawnee County Commission meeting. “My wife was really worried and is like, ‘Who is going to take care of everything?’ I said, Babe, we have already got a plan. ”
That program was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and required businesses to start preparing for emergencies. It also provided $5,000 grants to small businesses and included a four-hour training course.
Shanta Trice could have lived anywhere in Topeka, but she chose the Hi-Crest neighborhood.
“There is just a sense of belonging, being aware of who you are and being accepted,” said Trice, who is also a spokeswoman for Mothers of Murdered Sons.
The diversity of Hi-Crest, coupled with its sense of community, gives the area potential, Trice said, but she believes it is being squandered. She said some central, northern and eastern neighborhoods “definitely get slighted in city infrastructure investment.
Trice said everything from roads to business development is lacking, and that has a negative impact on schools.
“I can t tell you really where it’s broken, other than it is broke,” Trice said. “It’s a cesspool of all kinds of problems.”
Programs meant to provide economic relief to struggling small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic have left Leslie Fleuranges frustrated.
Fleuranges, owner of Tender Loving Care Pet Nursing Hotel in Topeka, tried to apply for such programs. But while researching her options, Fleuranges discovered she wasn t eligible for most of the government-funded loans and grants being offered by local, state and national entities.
Because Fleuranges opened her business last year, she isn t able to compare her 2020 revenue to that of previous years. And such comparisons are required of small businesses applying for those economic relief programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, as a way to demonstrate the coronavirus pandemic has had a negative impact on income.