Insight Strategic Concepts, a strategic growth firm located in Elkhart, IN, plans to honor recipients of Insight’s Entrepreneur of the Year awards at the monthly Evenings at Insight event that will be held on November 20 at 5:30 pm. The awards were initially announced at the Elkhart County Chamber of Commerce Business Expo on November 6. These awards honor innovation and growth achieved by entrepreneurships in the Elkhart County and Northern Indiana regional area.
ACC Climate Control (President Dave Sanders) received the “Entrepreneurship of the Year Award.” The criteria for this award included an entrepreneurial business that has inspired learning and innovation, consistently hired employees to accommodate their growth, and innovated new technologies to achieve higher levels of efficiency. According to the nominator, Darren Goodwin of Schultz Insurance, ACC Climate Controls meets and exceeds these evaluation criteria and drives the company forward by finding new areas of growth and risk taking. The ACC team has embraced cutting-edge technology to enable innovation and spur strategic growth. While other companies follow the status quo, ACC heavily invests in R&D, which has enabled the company to avoid layoffs and hire 14 more people, even in a down market. Additionally, ACC Climate Controls also achieved ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation in a stunningly brief period of 6 months.
Jeremy Clarke, President of Vortex Web Solutions, received the “Top Entrepreneur Under 30 Award.” This award honored an entrepreneur under the age of 30 who has demonstrated the greatest potential for innovation, originality, creativity, and leadership abilities in their business achievements and Mr. Clarke, Senoir at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, certainly fit these criteria. Mr. Clarke had early inspiration for Vortex by starting websites during high school. These early attempts garnered clients and has expanded rapidly since that time. Vortex has developed websites such as Sharperresults.com andIndydining.com and continues to expand based on word of mouth advertising; all of Vortex’s clients are from referrals. Mr. Clarke hopes to grow Vortex’s client base to 50 top markets (indydining.com) and looks to expand to the larger Michiania area in the coming year. He is working with statewide educators to expand Shaperresults.com, an ISTEP assistance program.
Vortex Web Solutions’ Top Entrepreneurship of the Year Under 30 Award is in collaboration with the Global Entrepreneurship Week developed by the Kauffman Foundation. Insight is opening the eyes of teens and young adults to the unlimited possibilities of ways to create value for society through entrepreneurship, including creating their own business, developing a new product, or implementing a creative solution to a local problem.
This event is the first of many that Insight will support to develop young entrepreneurs. Young people want to be self-reliant and see their ideas become a reality. According to a recent Harris Poll survey, funded by the Kauffman Foundation, 63 percent of the 8- to 21-year-olds agreed that, if they work hard, they have the ability to successfully start their own business. Through this initiative, the next generation of entrepreneurs will emerge—even in places where that dream has always seemed out of reach.
Insight would like to congratulate ACC Climate Controls and Jeremy Clarke of Vortex Web Solutions for their business achievement and for embodying the best of the region’s proud tradition of innovation. Insight looks forward to learning more about their achievements at the Evenings gathering on November 20.
Insight Strategic Concepts is a strategic firm located in Elkhart, IN that helps progressive business owners use unique and innovative strategies to realize organic growth.
About Global Entrepreneurship Week / USA
With the goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, Global Entrepreneurship Week /USA will encourage youth to think big, to turn their ideas into reality, and to make their mark. From November 17-23, 2008, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement to generate new ideas and to seek better ways of doing things. Thousands of activities are being planned in more than 70 countries around the world. Global Entrepreneurship Week / USA is: sponsored nationally by the Kauffman Foundation and the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence; founded globally by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Make Your Mark campaign; sponsored globally by NYSE Euronext, IBM and Ernst & Young; and, supported by JA Worldwide, Endeavor, Entrepreneurs’ Organization, DECA, YPO-WPO, and National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. To view a complete list of participating countries or to learn more, visitwww.unleashingideas.org.