LANSING – The Michigan Celebrates Small Business Awards program opened for nominations this week for the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch Awards, honoring second stage companies that have posted minimum annual revenue of $750,000.
Each year fifty companies are chosen from hundreds of applicants and this year the program judges expect to be looking at more than 750 possible candidates. A new VIP reception for nominees has been added to the program in November. This reception is a by-invitation-only event for leaders of the nominated companies, sponsors and nominators. Many companies have multiple nominations each year and this year will reward individuals first to nominate companies with an invitation to the VIP reception.
Self-nominations are highly encouraged as well and the leader of one of the founding organizations of MCSB makes the case for just that.
“Being selected as one of the Michigan 50 Companies To Watch is not only an honor, it can also be great for your business,” said Rob Fowler, President, Small Business Association of Michigan. “Second stage companies are, almost by definition, not well known – yet. Being recognized with this award gets you on the radar in your community and with your customers. I have a one hyphenated word piece of advice for growing businesses in Michigan; self-nominate.”
Nominations opened September 8 and will remain open until November 2 at 5 p.m. Be first to nominate your favorite company, go to http://www.michigancelebrates.biznow.
Eligibility Criteria for Michigan 50 Companies to Watch
Be a privately held commercial enterprise (not a nonprofit, not publicly traded, not a subsidiary or division of another company) and has not received the award in the past
Be past the startup stage and facing issues of growth, not survival
Employ 6-99 full-time equivalent (FTE) W2 employees which includes the
Have between $750,000 and $50M in annual revenue OR working capital from investors or grants
Be headquartered in Michigan
Demonstrate the intent and capacity to grow based on:
Employee or sales growth
Exhibit a sustainable competitive advantage
Other notable successes
MCSB Award categories for business owners also includes the Small Business Person of the Year, Young Entrepreneur, Women Owned Business, Veteran Owned Small Business, Main Street USA Best Small Business, Small Business Innovation, and Government Contractor. Nomination processes and award information for all the MCSB Awards can be found at www.MichiganCelebrates.biz.
