Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 22, 1995 TAG: 9503220057
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHANNON D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Rarely do small businesses "spend time beating their chests. They're just trying to make a living," said the Salem businessman who Tuesday was named Virginia's Small Business Person of the Year.
Randy Frazier, chief executive and founder of R. Frazier Inc., was presented with the award Tuesday by the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Association.
Frazier will join a group of 53 award recipients from which the national Small Business Person of the Year will be chosen next month. Awards have been given in 50 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands and Guam. The national winner will be announced in Washington during Small Business Week, April 30 - May 6.
"The awards are a way to highlight specific accomplishments. It creates a healthy nurturing climate and shows the way for other small businesses," said John Jennings, the chamber's vice president for business development.
"It creates an aura of camaraderie and competition," Frazier added. "And it sends a message that there are organizations" looking out for small businesses.
The SBA selected Frazier from a field of 10 nominees within the state. The criteria for the award are: staying power; growth in number of employees; increase in sales and/or unit volume; current and past financial reports; innovativeness of product or service; response to adversity, and contributions to the community.
R. Frazier Inc. recycles computers and telecommunications equipment and resells them around the world. The company had sales of about $11 million in 1994 and estimates about $15 million for this year.
The company has offices in Scotland, Costa Rica and China. It recently opened its first retail operation, Trade America, with a store in Salem.
Frazier was a "clean winner," Jennings said, "because of his innovative approach and also because he imports worldwide."
Frazier said the key to his company's success has been its ability to forecast. He used the company's recent success with selling personal computers in China as an example.
"We are reaping the benefits of that now. We are positioned to capture what we have forecasted," Frazier said.
The company has been a project of Frazier's for the last six years. His first steps into the market came in 1976 when he dealt mostly with recycling precious metals, a trade he learned while working for DuPont in the mid 1970s.
Frazier said developing a business from scratch has never been an easy task, nor is it any easier today, despite numerous programs offered such as business incubators and loan programs.
"I think small businesses are a lot more sophisticated. You have to be a little more strategic in your thinking," Frazier said. Succeeding as a small business "is more difficult in that respect."
He credited this increase in sophistication to the larger number of college graduates entering the business field. Also marketing strategies and communications have become more sophisticated, he said.
Frazier feels that small businesses will continue to be the core of America's economy.
"I do believe small businesses will be our job creators" in the future, he said.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 97 percent of businesses in the U.S. are classified as small businesses because they have fewer than 500 employees. Small businesses account for a third of new jobs created in the U.S., 57 percent of all sales and half of the domestic private sector output.
"Small businesses are very customer driven and it is easier for them to adapt to market situations," Frazier said. To illustrate the point, he referred to examples of small personal computer manufacturers such as Dell Computer Corp. of Houston, Texas, and Gateway 2000 of North Sioux City, S.D., which have successfully competed with large corporations such as IBM.
Frazier intends to take advantage of the award he received Tuesday when he travels to Washington to take part in Small Business Week ceremonies. Networking with other small businesses will help the company, he said.
"We will try to meet the 52 winners in other states and will have the chance to meet the people who form policy for small businesses," Frazier said.
by CNB