‘Root of our economy’

By Jessica Legge
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT June 14, 2009 01:29 am

— A few of the area’s small businesses are being honored this week for their outstanding work.
President Barack Obama designated May 17-23 as National Small Business Week for 2009. As part of that celebration, the U.S. Small Business Administration is honoring the top small business owners at the state, regional and national levels with its annual awards competition.
“It’s a national program,” Rick Haney, public information officer for the SBA’s West Virginia District Office in Clarksburg, said. “Every state in the union honors small businesses.”
The Small Business Week awards are basically a year-long process — from accepting the nomination packages to honoring the winners and then starting it all over again for the next year, he said. The state office had nominations and competition in all the award categories.
Haney said small companies make up 97 percent of all businesses in West Virginia, and the owners generally work hard and put in long hours.
“It’s important that you take time out ... to recognize all of these hard-working individuals that are kind of the root of our economy,” he said. “The small businesses will lead us out of the economic condition that we’re in.”
The West Virginia District Office will recognize this year’s state recipients during a luncheon Wednesday at Tamarack Conference Center in Beckley.
Four companies from the North Central area are among those being acknowledged at the 2009 West Virginia Small Business Awards Celebration, hosted by the West Virginia Women’s Business and Training Center and the West Virginia Small Business Development Center.
“It’s a good representation of businesses in West Virginia,” Haney said. “It just seems that the award winners this year fit the criteria perfectly. It’s a good group of award winners.”
Lotus MacDowell, owner of Artworks in Bridgeport, is this year’s Women in Business Champion, and Oliverio’s Ristorante Inc. in Bridgeport was named the Jeffrey Butland Family-Owned Small Business. Also, Jim Martin, president of Citynet in Bridgeport, was selected for the Entrepreneurial Success award, and Angelo Petitto Jr.,
Jim Petitto and George Marshall from Petitto Mine Equipment Inc. in Morgantown have been chosen for the Small Business Exporter honor.
Lotus MacDowell started her Bridgeport business, called Artworks, 24 years ago.
“The purpose of it was to have a retail outlet for my artwork,” she said. “The secondary reason was to be able to have access to good framing.”
Her business evolved to include many gift products as well.
MacDowell said she always liked art and never thought of it as being tedious or boring. She majored in art in college, and since then there’s only been a handful of days that she didn’t want to be at work.
She said she feels fortunate to have a job she loves. She enjoys spending time painting in the studio as well as working in the shop. Plus, she said she gets the chance to deal with nice people and beautiful art.
MacDowell was really excited when she learned that she had been named the SBA’s 2009 Women in Business Champion.
“This is really great,” she said. “It’s nice to do things that you feel strongly about, but it’s extra special when you get appreciated for it. It just kind of reassures you that what you’re doing is a good thing.”
MacDowell said she didn’t have any business experience when she established her company, and she had to learn the hard way about what it took to survive. Today, she works with other women who want to start their own businesses and encourages them to think about what will help them reach their goals.
“It’s really exciting to see people kind of live their dream,” she said. “It’s great to see people not have to make the same mistakes I made. I think (that’s) what made that award so precious.”
Petrina Oliverio Bonamico said her parents, Shirley and the late Sonny Oliverio, started their small business in Bridgeport in 1965. They called it Sonny’s Restaurant and served Italian cuisine.
Over the years, the business expanded and underwent remodeling several times, and eventually became Oliverio’s Ristorante.
Petrina and her siblings — Pat Oliverio, Phillip Oliverio and Polly Oliverio Washburn — own Oliverio’s Ristorante Inc. and share in the management. Polly’s husband Todd, Pat’s wife Carla and Petrina’s husband Nunzio are also part of the business.
The family operates Oliverio’s Ristorante locations in Bridgeport and Morgantown and Oliverio's Marketplace, which opened in Morgantown last spring and offers quick service in a casual dining atmosphere. They also have the Via Veneto conference center in Bridgeport.
When Oliverio’s Ristorante was nominated for the SBA’s Family-Owned Small Business award, Bonamico didn’t really expect her family’s enterprise to be selected. The restaurant also went on to win in Region III among the state recipients from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.
“We’ve been here for 44 years,” Bonamico said. “We live and breathe our business, so to be recognized for all the hard work that we put into the businesses has just been really nice.”
She said that the members of the Oliverio family have really put their hearts and souls into this business. They always strive to give the best product and service possible.
“We grew up in this business with our parents,” Bonamico said. “This has become our life. We just care so much about quality, not just in our food but the service that we provide.
“We just take a lot of pride in what we do,” she added.
In 1993, Jim Martin started a business called Marcom, which was a dial-up Internet provider in Bridgeport. Then a company by the name of Citynet, which a group out of Charleston owned, bought a portion of Marcom in 1996.
City National Bank bought both companies — Citynet and Marcom — in 1998 and named Martin as president. Citynet LLC was created in 2001, and that’s when Martin purchased Citynet back from City National Bank.
Citynet is an integrated telecommunications provider specializing in voice, data and Internet services for business, he said.
“It was exciting,” Martin said of being selected for the SBA’s Entrepreneurial Success award. “It was nice to know that the people recognized the success that not only myself but the company has had over the years.”
He said the SBA was a contributing factor in the start of his business career. In 1994, Martin applied for and received an SBA low-doc loan for start-up small businesses. That $100,000 loan enabled him to launch his career.
Martin praised the SBA for the work it does.
“If it wasn’t for them, a lot of businesses wouldn’t get started,” he said. “They are a very valuable and resourceful group.”
In addition to getting the Small Business Exporter award for West Virginia, Petitto Mine Equipment Inc. in Morgantown was a Region III award winner.
Angelo S. Petitto, who passed away 10 years ago, and his sons founded this family-owned and operated business in 1969. Angelo Petitto Jr., Jim Petitto and George Marshall are the family members that now run the company, which continues to serve the coal industry.
All of the West Virginia award winners are listed at www.sba.gov/wv.
E-mail Jessica Legge at jlegge@timeswv.com.