brought to you by san francisco animal care and control. to find out more, visit them on the web at sfgov >> tonight marks the eighth anniversary of small business week in san francisco. wells fargo started it eight years ago. [applause] my name is lesley, and i am a senior vice president of the san francisco chamber of commerce. my partner is steve adams, the president of the small business commission. we had the honor of cochairing small business week again this year, our second year running. and do was add flavors of san francisco last night? all right, thank you so much. you made it really amazing. we had a lot of small businesses, incredible restaurants, and all of the

small business resource providers mated just extraordinary this year, many are saying the best ever. thank you for that. we celebrate small business week every year as a san francisco community, to celebrate, honor, and support small businesses that really bring the texture and the distinguished experiences in the neighborhoods. they bring the jobs. they put people to work. [applause] and then make our neighborhoods special. innovation is growing every day from the people in this room and small businesses across san francisco. >> and we would like to thank a few people who helped get us here today. san francisco small business week is managed by a volunteer committee made up of people who are dedicated to the success of small business. a special thank you to all you have made san francisco small business week the best anywhere. i do not know if you guys knew

this, but san francisco small business week is the largest small business week celebration in the united states. [applause] so i would like to thank our honorary post, mayor ed lee. mark from the sba. michael from wells fargo. steve from the chamber of commerce. and our committee members, regina and jane from the office of small business. kathleen and steve from the small business administration. sharon of the renaissance entrepreneurial center. melanie with the san francisco chamber of commerce. brigid from the san francisco african american chamber of commerce. jim from the council of district merchants. eric and pat from the golden gate business association. edith of the as the

entrepreneurial center. susan, ella, a and katy from wells fargo bank, and adam and allison of strauss events. [applause] >> and thank you very much to our sponsors who make this week- long bigger and more meaningful to small business every year, starting with our title and presenting sponsor wells fargo, of entrepreneur sponsor sfmta. if you have seen that we have been able to promote small business to where we needed the attention. we wanted small business to know we were throwing a party and a weeklong celebration and a week- long opportunity to educate and inspire a small business. visa, at&t advertising solutions, a constant contact. recology, pacific gas and

electric company, kaiser permanente, zero, chevron, and vertical response. >> t-mobile, microsoft office -- office 365, dynatech, veriphone, and our principal sponsor, it aaa flag and banner, fedex, and strauss event. seven by seven magazines, the bay citizens, san francisco business times, san francisco bay guardian, in the bay area reporter. let's get our sponsors and media sponsors a round of applause. [applause] >> we are here to solicit several small businesses tonight that have gone above and -- salute several small businesses denied that have gone above and beyond to open their stores, get on the phone, turn on their websites, and stand up as

mentors for small businesses. this is not an easy time, and small businesses overall, many of them are struggling to stay afloat, including many in this room. so we would like to shine the spotlight for a little while tonight on some of these small businesses that have been able to push the envelope and continue to do very well. they have been beacons of hope, and we cannot have this event tonight to really give them the recognition that they deserve without recology. recology has long been the community sponsor of small business week and small business even said throughout this city. we're thrilled to have that consistency, to have the partner in recology and the work they do in san francisco and beyond. we would like to have the opportunity to introduce our host tonight, a vice president of recology, john medino.

[applause] >> good evening. it is a pleasure to be here. recology is a community company, and we like to do things within our community. we do a lot with small business. after all, they're the fabric of san francisco, and we're part of that also we're glad to do it. i will keep it short tonight. i know people have a few things to say. more importantly, i want to make sure everybody gets enough to eat and drink. with that, thank you very much for allowing us to be a part of this. we are certainly going to continue this relationship and more to do with small business in the future. thank you very much. [applause] >> and we're lucky here today. we have sba regional administrator here to bring us a few words from washington, d.c.

so let's welcome elizabeth. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. it is so great to be here to celebrate with you. small business week and celebrating small business truly is the best part of my job. as president obama's voice for small business on the west coast, it is so great to be able to be here and celebrate with you. i want to thank our partners, sponsors, volunteers, and of course mark and his team for making this possible, as well as recology for hosting us in this beautiful spot, as well as the mayor and treasurer. thank you did during small business week, we honor our small businesses, and we should. we should be celebrating our small businesses every day of the week actually, because of course, they're the ones creating the jobs they create two out of three jobs.

they represent 99% of our employers in the country, over 99% in california. and what i really love about the west coast and san francisco in particular is not only are you a week ahead of the national small business week -- of will be traveling back to washington, d.c., this week and to celebrate national small business week, but you're also the largest. best of all, you do small business week in a unique way. you not only celebrate and honor our small businesses, but your help to provide them with the support they need to go on and be even more successful. for example, a number of you were there last night at flavors of sf, and over 1200 people there -- i love the people -- the idea of luring people in with food and helping to connect them with the resources to helping them succeed. tomorrow is the all day small business conference and training. a host of training to help a small businesses be more

successful. san francisco really is unique, and i hope will lead the whole country in this. it is just a fabulous week. thank you again to everyone, and congratulations to our award winners. [applause] >> thank you, elizabeth. and thank you so much for recognizing san francisco. i now would like to welcome the president and ceo of the san francisco chamber of commerce, a champion of small business, and my boss, steve locke. [applause] >> thank you. i guess she had to say that, but on behalf of the chamber of commerce, first of all, congratulations to all the award winners tonight. the chamber of commerce suffers from the perception of being a downtown big business organization. but the truth of the matter is, out of 1500 chamber members that represent almost 300,000

employees in the city, 1200 of them employ fewer than 50 employees. so we really do represent all of you. we represent the small business community. and just to put that in perspective, 85% of all businesses in this city that have employees have fewer than 20 employees. 85%. and i certainly do not want to offend our large businesses, wells fargo -- [laughter] because we love large businesses, but the truth of the matter is, over the past 30 years, the number of employees working for businesses with 1000 or more employees has declined by 50%. so, what is the driving engine of the san francisco economy? you will hear it from the mayor. it is small business. that is where we get our

neighborhoods. that is where we get the entrepreneurial spirit. it is small businesses hiring people wonder two at a time, that will put san franciscans back to work. it is about small business. congratulations to all of you. and i would also like to thank john and recology for hosting us tonight. a reporter asked me earlier, why are you having this that recology? does it have something to do with prop a? i said it has nothing to do with prop a. recology is a good example of a large company that is very successful because the partners with small companies. 78% of all of the trash in at this city is diverted away from landfills. that is because this company works with all of you.

we have finally figured out in this city -- it took a while, what goes in the blue came in, what goes in the green can, what goes in the black can. [laughter] it took a while, but we figured it out. now we are number one in the country. [applause] yes, thank you. we are probably the no. 1 in the world. if we say it, it is real. [laughter] congratulations to recology. which brings me to the final point. tonight is not about politics. it is about celebrating award winners. i cannot help myself. we have the most successful operation of recycling and composting in the country. there is a proposition on the ballot, prop a, that will undermine and destroy the reputation.

i encourage all of you to vote no on prop a. it would break this company into five pieces. it would double the number of trucks on the road. the secret is working together. recology wor the mayor's office, the city, the department of environment, that is how we get the job done. i will in on a political note, but again, congratulations to all of you. we're glad to help you celebrate small business week. thank you. [applause] >> sharon miller is here tonight to award some very special awards. she is part of the highly successful coalition of

companies. sharon miller. [applause] and she got the red dress memo. >> i am the ceo of renaissance entrepreneur center. it is a small business development sector. we work with entrepreneurs. every day, is small business week at renaissance. we're privileged to provide training and support services to help people start and grow their own businesses. i am joined by my colleague, paul conley, and by a board member katie johnson, from wells fargo bank. thank you for being here. i am joined -- i am so privileged to give out an award from the san francisco economic development association or seda. we are a coalition of all the

organizations in san francisco that provide small business support services to primarily lower and moderate income women and men. this is a very exciting award. this is the first time a micro- enterprise has been given an award during small business week. i would like to ask the members to raise your hands. we're working the of the -- together to provide a host of services helping people to start and grow their own businesses. tonight, the very first sfeda businurban bazarrre. [applause] we are joined by brandy and brianna, the founders and owners of urban bazaar.

it is a wonderful business that speaks to the whole culture of small business in san francisco. they are artists and are creating beautiful crafts that they sell. more than that, they're bringing fair trade items to san francisco. they're bringing items made by other san francisco artists to the richmond district where the business is located. it does not take a miracle to start a small business. sometimes it feels like it does. it does not really take a miracle. it takes passionate people, great ideas, and a lot of support. urban bazaar has received support from a number of agencies. they've worked with women's initiative, community ventures, a small-business development center, and working solutions.

they embraced all san francisco had to offer. mark quinn and elizabeth, the mayor, san francisco. what they did was really smart. they looked at what was out there and took advantage. they were founded in 2010. they now have three employees in addition to two full-time right here. they were the best boutique in "sf weekly." they are women-owned gift shop. you can buy fabulous things. we are honored we will be giving an award to urban bazaar at the mixer/party, a great event, on friday night. please join us there. [applause]

>> thank you. we do not want to take up much time but we want to sincerely thank all of the organizations and programs in san francisco, the offices at city hall that work with small businesses. we support a number of small businesses. it is the two of us and one employee. we're very tiny ourselves. we work with about 78 area artists and craftspeople along with others in developing countries. we're open because of the women's initiative, working solutions, and the guidance from different organizations around the city. we're helping much tinier entrepreneurs start and grow their small businesses as well. when you support us, you are supporting dozens or hundreds of tinier businesses that have a chance to grow and get back to

the community to meet -- committee creatively and through taxes. thank you so much for helping us along the way. when you do not come from that background, it can be difficult to start a small business. we're only able to do it because of the support we received. [applause] >> our next speaker is our own mark quinn with the sba. [applause] >> not a lot of prep on that, steve. [laughter] sharon and all the organizations mentioned are connected with

sba. for us, the richest part of what we do is the micro-enterprise support in san francisco and organizations that do us -- do it. we're fortunate to have a terrific network of partners to work with. as steve said in the beginning, no other city is doing small business week like we are in san francisco. small business week here is not just about awards. it is also about all small businesses feeling like they are a participant in house small business suite i -- small- business week. we were trying to speak over the crowd last year at flavors. it was about all small businesses and them. that is what it should be about. it is an opportunity for us to recognize special small businesses, a special small business of the year.

while i am in san francisco, i cover all of northern california. this is really the small business of the year for northern california. every year, we look for great, you need small businesses. all small businesses are unique in their own way. the challenge is to find a business that represents the things small business does for the community in ways everyone talks about the only one small business gets the chance to be recognized and honored this year. if i could get rebecca and john up first, so i can make sure you know who we are recognizing here. for sba, we try to recognize the business that is unique in a couple of ways. we look for a business that is financially successful. at the beginning of the 2000's they were doing $10 million a year. they hope to do $60 million a

year this year. around a turn-of-the-century, they had a little over 100 employees. now they have 300 employees. it is now a nationwide coast to coast operation with locations in five places across the country. financially, operatestions b wide -- operations-wise, and hiring. it is a woman-managed manufacturing business in an industry that is not that big. for us, it represents a unique aspect of the fact that manufacturing in the united states works. for us to recognize it is something we want to make sure everyone realizes they are important to the way the u.s. economy works. in manufacturing firm like this is important. uniquely, we're holding this session at recology.

if we had known this was the case, it would look like a setup. fleener recycles or repurchases paper -- re- purposes paper for the packing materials that movers use to move people around. this is their busy season. for recology, this business is in your line of work. the idea is what they are about. it is a green business that does things that are environmentally sensitive and friendly in ways that not every business does. fleenor has been doing this. they have been doing this for 50 years. they were recycling before it is part of the vocabulary. this represents a lot of those qualities, a special business, a great employer, expanding business when businesses are

struggling. they have been succeeding and expanding. the business is environmentally important. they have been in business 50 years this year. this is the 50th anniversary. the real reason i wanted to recognize them is this is a three-generation family owned and managed business. i think that by itself says this is something really special. the business was started by's started -- the business was started by rebecca's father. it has been managed by john and rebecca's since the mid 1990's. they have been running their business as a family business. is a three-generation business. their children are working for the company as well. this is one of those special businesses that does great for a long time, and between three generations, there still managing and expanding the

business. for us, that promotes all the other qualities. that is the reason why fleenor paper is our small business of the year for 2012. [applause] >> i just want to thank everybody for coming. thank you for nominating us and electing us. my banker is here also. if not for the support we've gotten from the california bank of commerce, we would not be where we are today. i am really happy that my family is here to share this. our children are working with us as partners. we've had a great ride. we have a crazy family. we're having a lot of fun.

i hope the same for you. it has been really awesome for us. thank you very much. [applause] >> i also want to amplify to the lenders and tmc development, barber is the one that the sba loan went through for expansion several times now. this is a country that tmc and lending partners have been a big partner of. another big partner is wells fargo. it is the largest sba lender in the country for several years running. [applause] >> we are really excited to be with all of you tonight to celebrate small business week

and especially the winners tonight. we are committed to small businesses. we love small business and big business. thank you for the acknowledgement. in the first six months of the fiscal year, wells fargo has been the no. 1 sba small lender in california and the country. we are excited about that. i want to tell you about a local after we have going on in san francisco. that is our small business neighborhood renovation program. we work with local organizations. we funded the renovation of three local businesses who applied for assistance at no cost to them. i want to recognize those businesses here tonight. the renovations are complete. the business owners are here. they are from ja and k grocery and others.

if you could stand, congratulations. [applause] we had an independent panel. we had a lot of fun. we judged the makeovers to select a winner for the most dramatic improvement to the renovations of the business. the award for the winning business, they will be featured on of the wells fargo atm's for the next 30 days. this business will be highlighted there. the top 2012 small business renovation award goes to g and k grocery. [applause] congratulations. we have certificates for all of you.

congratulations. great renovations. the judges were very impressed. thank you for all that you do. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] my english is not so good. today i am very happy and very excited. i am really lucky and very happy that i come here to get this award. i am 56 years old.