By LINDA CHION KENNEY
The Central Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce, founded as the Riverview Chamber of Commerce, has opened the application process for Business of the Year awards.
The business contest is open to chamber members in good standing, with businesses established on or prior to Jan. 1, 2022.
According to chamber officials, the aim is to present awards to “locally operated businesses that best represent entrepreneurship in the central Hillsborough County area.” Last year’s recipients, recognized at a gala in February at The Regent in Riverview, included ABC Event Planning, owned by Craig Beckinger, in the category for up to five employees.
“Being recognized as a business of the year definitely gives you more exposure and extends your reach,” Beckinger said, giving special notice to award criteria that include community involvement.
“Community involvement should be second nature for business owners,” Beckinger said. “If you’re not giving back to the community, then you’re not being a good steward of the community. The community supports you, and you should support them.”
For businesses with more than 20 employees, the 2023 award went to Sylvan Learning Center of Apollo Beach, owned by U.S. Air Force Veteran and doctorate recipient Vanity Barr-Little, who earlier this year, at 13444 Boyette Road, Riverview, opened a second Sylvan location.
“It was an honor to be recognized,” Barr-Little said. “It’s important to recognize business owners for their hard work, investment, time, energy and commitment to excellence. It’s reaffirming and it keeps us motivated to continue to do our best, knowing that others recognize the hard work that we put in.”
Grease Monkey, a full-service auto repair center in Ruskin, owned by Joe and Melissa Canfield, rounds out the 2023 business award recipients, in the category for 16 to 19 employees. The Canfields previously owned HiTech Automotive in Brandon for 17 years, then came out of retirement to open Grease Monkey in October 2022.
“Starting a new business again takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but it’s probably the best job in the world,” Canfield said. “We enjoy it. We love our customers, we love our employees and we realized that we missed that when we went into retirement. We missed giving back to the community, and this award means a lot to us, that in a short amount of time, we were able to make a big impact.”
Linda Chion Kenney Photo
From left, Craig Beckinger, Vanity Barr-Little and Melissa and Joe Canfield at the chamber awards dinner in February 2024
Back again to judge this year’s award applications will be local representatives from SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors. The online application covers a range of topics, including business mission; percent of revenue growth in 2022, 2023 and 2024; largest challenge and plan to overcome it; and participation in community and charitable events, employee volunteer programs, awards and employee benefits associated with volunteerism.
The deadline to apply is 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1. Business of the Year Award recipients for the past three years are ineligible, but finalists in those years are eligible to apply.
The chamber is in residence in the Winthrop Town Center, at 6152 Delancy Station St., Suite 205. Call 813-234-5944 or visit online at www.riverviewchamber.com/.