ChamberSOUTH honored local small business owners and community pillars at its annual Business Excellence Awards on Apr. 11.
Now in its ninth year, the event brings together some of South Dade’s finest business members, community leaders, elected officials, and movers and shakers for a ceremony committed to honoring outstanding businesses in the community.
Sponsored by FPL, and supported by Baptist Health South Florida, Community Health of South Florida, CareerSource South Florida, CuraLeaf, First National Bank of South Miami, The ChamberSouth Gavel Club, The Green Companies, The Promises of Hope Foundation and Zoo Miami Foundation this year’s event had over 100 nominees resulting in 42 finalists. Due to the overwhelming response by the business community, ChamberSouth continued the precedent set the previous year and awarded both first and second place awards in each category with more than three finalists.
Hosted at the Coral Gables Country Club, guests had the opportunity for a quick networking session before making their way into the Grand Ballroom for the main event, with a spectacular run time of only one hour.
WPLG Local 10 weekend anchor Alex Finnie and ChamberSouth executive director Brittnie Bassant took the stage to recognize each outstanding finalist and announce the much-anticipated winners for each category. They were joined by the previous year’s winners who had the honor of presenting the award to this year’s winners in the respective categories.
The categories and winners:
Corporate Social Responsibility Award: This award recognizes businesses that put the spirit of community into the daily operations of the company through its social, economic, philanthropic and environmental activities.
The finalists were: All American Solutions, CareerSource South Florida, Community Health of South Florida, CuraLeaf, InSource, PAAST, The Falls Mall and the Green Companies. The second place finisher in the Corporate Social Responsibility category was Community Health South Florida and the winner of this award was The Falls Mall.
Family Owned Business Award: This award recognizes businesses founded and currently operated by the founder or a descendant. The finalists were: BCA Financial Services, Catering by Les, Foster Financial Services, MAKFRY Management, Media Stage, Miami’s Community Newspapers, Moni’s Sweets and Promises of Hope Foundation. The second place finisher in the Family Owned Business category was Catering by Les and the winner was Promises of Hope Foundation.
Multi-Cultural Workforce Award: This award recognizes businesses that focus on inclusion and the need to promote economic opportunity for those who reflect our multi-ethnic community. The finalists were: Community Health of South Florida, One Premier International Realty and The Falls Mall. The winner of this award was Community Health South Florida.
New Entrepreneur Award: This award recognizes business in operation two years or less. The finalists were: CuraLeaf, EBC Drone Services, Fiola Miami, Miami Selects Productions, The Dapper Doughnut, and Workforce Dynamics Consulting. In second place was CuraLeaf and the winner was EBC Drone Services.
Not for Profit Award: This award recognizes outstanding 501(c)3 organizations. The finalists were: Arthritis Foundation, Barry University, Chapman Partnership, Promises of Hope Foundation, Ronald McDonald House Charities, The EDGE Charitable Foundation, and Zoo Miami Foundation. The second place honor went to Ronald McDonald House Charities and the winner was Zoo Miami Foundation.
Executive of the Year Award: The Executive of the Year Award recognizes and celebrates a business executive whose leadership and community involvement have contributed to their company’s success. The finalists were: Claudia A. Cancio with First National Bank of South Miami, Colonel Brodes H. Hartley with Community Health of South Florida, Dailen Rodriguez with the Falls Mall, Kent Crook with Miami Electric Masters, Mariano Martinez with US Century Bank, and Michael Schwartz with Muller Lebensburger and Schwartz. The second place finisher was Colonel Brodes H. Hartley with Community Health of South Florida and the winner of this award was Claudia A. Cancio, with First National Bank of South Miami.
The Business Champion of the Year Award is the highest award presented at the ChamberSouth Business Excellence Awards.
This honor celebrates a company that excels in overall business achievements, corporate citizenship, innovation, philanthropy and work environment. All 42 finalists across the seven categories presented were considered for this prestigious award. The winner of the 2019 ChamberSouth Business Champion of the Year Award was Florida Power and Light for its incredible work on utilizing and leveraging the most innovative technologies to provide clean and reliable energy.
For more information on ChamberSOUTH, and how to become more involved, visit www.chambersouth.com or call 305-661-1621.
