Gulfport man earns state small business person of the year
GULFPORT -- The SBA on Monday announced that Mike Pornovets, owner of Everthing Kayak in Gulfport, is one of the top small business persons in the nation.
He has won the Mississippi Small Business Person of the Year and is now in the running for the 2016 National Small Business Person of the Year, to be announced in May. It' been four years since a Coast business won the state honor, the local branch of the Small Business Administration said.
There's one winner in each state and territory in the United States. This makes Pornovets one of 54 to be honored for American ingenuity and innovation. He was nominated by the Mississippi Small Business Development Center on the Coast.
When he learned of the honor at his store in Gulfport on Monday, Pornovets said, "It sounds pretty awesome."
The attention from the award kept him pretty busy at the business, but he told the Sun Herald, "I'm very happy and honored. I'm happy to bring this honor to South Mississippi and hope it helps other entrepreneurs get started."
He works with entrepreneurs, is on the board of the Innovation Center in Biloxi, and helps veterans realize business success by working with the Mississippi Veterans Outreach Center. He is also an active reservist with the 4th Marine Surgical Battalion in Gulfport.
"Mike is a veteran who made his business idea a reality when he retired from active military service," the SBA said.
The SBA said Everything Kayak is a full-service retail kayak company with an ever-increasing market share along the Gulf Coast.
He will be formally recognized at a ceremony in Washington D.C. in early May during National Small Business Week with the winners from other states. That's when the SBA will announce the national winner.
"These small business owners represent the best of the best," said SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, "and showcase daily their entrepreneurial spirit and what it takes to be successful in today's evolving and competitive business environment."
Pornovets opened Everything Kayak in 2011 at its 15240 Creosote Road location.
Janita R. Stewart, SBA Mississippi District Director, said the state chose Pornovets as a winner "based in large part on Everything Kayak's staying power, growth in number of employees, increase in sales ... current and past financial reports, innovations of product or service, responsiveness to adversity and contributions beneficial to the community."
According to the SBA, Everything Kayak is one of more than 28 million small businesses in the United States.
Small businesses employ half of the private sector and create two out of three net new jobs.
"If our small business sector was a country," the SBA said, "its output would rank number three above Germany and Japan."
This story was originally published March 14, 2016 at 6:10 PM with the headline "Gulfport man earns state small business person of the year ."