INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which is a program of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), honored 14 small businesses recently for their work to help grow Indiana’s economy and strengthen communities across the state.
Each award winner received business counseling from the Indiana SBDC, which provides entrepreneurs with expert guidance and resources on how to start and grow a business, including strategy development, business planning and valuation, export assistance and market research. The Small Business Impact Awards annually honor small businesses that received assistance from the organization’s 10 regional offices.
Indianapolis recipients included awards for Social Enterprise of the Year: Bitchstix founded by Indianapolis-native Emily Kennerk in 2016, is a face and skin care company selling lip balms and skin products made with organic, environmentally-friendly ingredients. Veteran Small Business of the Year was named Hotel Tango Artisan Distillery, the first combat-disabled, veteran-owned distillery in the nation and the first artisan distillery in Indianapolis since Prohibition.
The 2019 Small Business Impact Award recipients included NinjaZone in Indianapolis.