NEWS RELEASE

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SBA Number : NV-13-06 Contact: Judith Hepburn

Release Date: April 16, 2012 (775) 827-4923

E-mail: judith.hepburn@sba.gov

SBA Announces 2013 Nevada Small Business Award Winners

Las Vegas, NV – The Nevada District office of the U. S. Small Business Administration has

selected its small business award honorees for 2013. Winners will be recognized at a luncheon

on June 6th

in Las Vegas. The event will take place at 11:30 a.m. at the Gold Coast Hotel.

Robert Brian Edwards, CEO and Joe Machin, COO, RO Bus Sales, have been named

SBA’s Small Business Persons of the Year for the State of Nevada. Messrs. Edwards and

Machin have also been invited to attend SBA’s National Small Business Week activities in

Washington, D. C. from June 17 - 21, to be recognized with all other state Small Business

Persons of the Year. This year marks the 60th

anniversary of the SBA, and the 50th

annual

proclamation of Small Business Week.

Others being honored at the awards function in Las Vegas include:

Microenterprise Business Person of the Year: Katie Knapp, Owner, Bumblebee

Blooms, Reno;

Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Ty Lee Salazar, Operations Manager, Logistical

Solutions, N. Las Vegas;

Minority Owned Business of the Year: Promilla Mohan, President, Davidson’s

Organics, Sparks;

Women Owned Business of the Year: Laura Zander, CEO, Jimmy Beans Wool, Reno;

Small Business Exporter of the Year: Kenneth and Sarah Brown, Owners, Critical

Tattoo, Carson City;

The nominees are judged by an independent panel of small business leaders on a variety of

criteria, including staying power, growth in number of employees, increase in sales, financial

reports, innovative products or services, response to adversity, evidence of contributions to

community-oriented projects, and small business advocacy.

In 1999 Joe Machin and Brian Edwards opened a mobile repair shop. They started the company

out of their homes with one truck and two employees – themselves. After a year on the road they

opened their first repair facility, RO Truck & Equipment. The company rapidly grew to a fleet of

seven trucks and 38 employees, with the help of an SBA 7(a) loan.

The company was focused around truck repair for the construction industry and in the aftermath

of September 11 construction slowed, business declined and revenues dropped. The partners

responded by moving to a smaller location, reducing staff and overhead. Then they refocused,

diversifying the company while staying true to their core business.

Brian and Joe found that working on buses is similar to truck repair and as they marketed to this

new industry with its fleets of buses and limousines, their client base expanded. In response to

repeated requests from their new customer base, they became a full-line bus and limousine

dealership and the company continued to grow. In 2008, with an SBA 504 loan, they purchased a

building and yard to house further expansion with a new paint and fabrication shop.

When they economy turned again in 2009 and with new vehicle purchase declining , Brian and

Joe found that instead of buying new equipment, companies were now keeping their existing

fleets on the road. RO refocused once again, this time on long term maintenance, service and

repair. As they realized they were the only company in Nevada specializing in buses, they shifted

the business exclusively to buses, adding municipality and government agency fleets.

# # #

District Office, U.S. Small Business Administration

300 South Fourth St., Suite 400, Las Vegas, NV 89101.

702-388-6611

Reno Office, U.S. Small Business Administration

775-827-4923

For more information about all of the SBA’s programs for small businesses, call the Nevada SBA Offices

or visit the SBA’s extensive Web site at http://www.sba.gov/nv.