Spirit of Wyoming lands in Hanna

The Small Business Administration of Wyoming (SBA) District Office gave the Small Business Spirit of Wyoming award to a business in Hanna.

Kyle and Amelia Young, owners of the Hanna Market, was presented with the award on April 4 at their store by Jim Drever, Small Business Development Center (SBDC) regional director for Albany and Carbon County, and Amy Lea.

This award is presented to small businesses that demonstrate potential for success in the areas of growth in number of employees, increase in sales, steady growth of the company and innovation and imagination in product and services. The Spirit of Wyoming award also acknowledges contributions to their local community, a demonstrated spirit of volunteerism and community involvement.

When accepting the award, Amelia said it was the contributions of many that had made their business a success."We have been really blessed to have such wonderful employees that we trust and that work so hard," Amelia said. "They do more than we ask and go far beyond."

She said the community's support made the success of the store possible.

"We are really grateful to the community, because without their support, it just would not have happened," Amelia said.

"Every year since 1963, the president has declared Small Business Week nationally," Lea said. "We were here today to recognize Kyle and Amelia Young as our winners of our 2018 Small Business Spirit of Wyoming and it is a big deal."

She said there were two small business awards given in Wyoming during this week. One is a small business person award, of which the recipient came from Gillette, and the award for spirit.

"The small business spirit of Wyoming award is given because we want to celebrate the businesses that are not only growing and are stable, but also the spirit of how a business gives back to a community," Lea said. "Kyle and Amelia have supported the community by offering space for community events and meetings, plus they have hired local people, creating jobs."

She said Drever recommended the Youngs for their commitment to the community. "It really takes a commitment from people like Kyle and Amelia to make this sort of investment in such a small market," Lea said. "They didn't know if it would work and it really takes guts."

Lea said the SBDC works in conjunction with the SBA to give out the awards to let small businesses know about the services available.

SBDC provides assistance to small businesses and aspiring business owners throughout the U.S and its territories. SBDC helps entrepreneurs realize the dream of ownership and help existing businesses remain competitive in changing marketplaces. SBDC is hosted by leading universities and state economic development agencies, and is funded in part through a partnership with SBA.

SBDC advisors provide aspiring and current small business owners a variety of free business consulting and low cost training services such as business plan development, manufacturing assistance, financial packaging, exporting and importing support, market research help, program support and ways to protect from cyber attacks.

"It has (sic) truly been my honor to come here and you can tell this place is special by all the people that have come here to see them get this award," Lea said. "Kyle and Amelia are amazing in what they have done here."