Success story:
Jina Yoo's Asian Bistro
Energetic owner of Columbia-based Asian bistro offers sumptuous cuisine in a soothing atmosphere
Columbia restaurateur Jina Yoo is a diminutive, concentrated bundle of energy. She combines the soul of an artist with the drive of a determined entrepreneur.
She opened Jina Yoo's Asian Bistro more than four years ago in the trendy, growing southwest section of Columbia. Her unique approach to dining has been so successful Jina is planning to open a second restaurant this spring in downtown Kansas City.
Jina's path to restaurant ownership started with joyous extended-family gatherings in her native South Korea. Growing up there, the older of two children, Jina remembers frequent get-togethers with cousins, aunts and uncles. Every family celebration involved cooking and eating. In addition, Jina's father was a gourmet who took his older daughter on frequent journeys around their native land to sample the fare of restaurants in every corner of the country.
This joyful part of her life contrasts with the discipline of an education focused on developing Jina's musical talents. Her mother made sure Jina began taking piano lessons at age six. By her senior year in high school Jina regularly practiced up to 11 hours every day. She had time only for schoolwork and piano — no time for such diversions as tennis, volleyball or figure skating.
"But I never learned to love music," Jina confesses. "I was like a machine. After recitals I always had an empty feeling."
Read this complete story with additional photos.
22 Missouri entrepreneurs, innovators to be honored Jan. 18-19 in Jefferson City
Owners and managers of 22 outstanding small businesses in Missouri will be honored at an awards banquet and legislative business showcase Jan. 18-19, in Jefferson City. The event, sponsored by the statewide Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers (MO SBTDC) and the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (MO PTAC), highlights the achievements of some of the top performing clients of the two programs.
The businesses will exhibit their products and services at the MO SBTDC/MO PTAC Client Showcase from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Jan. 19, on the third floor of the Capitol rotunda. They also will receive legislative resolutions from their respective state senators and representatives honoring the impact of their enterprises on the economic development of the state.
"This showcase provides a venue to demonstrate the importance of Missouri's small businesses to the economic vitality of the state," says Max Summers, interim director of the University of Missouri Extension's Business Development Program, who administratively oversees MO SBTDC and MO PTAC. "Each of these businesses — many of which are technology-oriented and in early stages of developing cutting-edge products — has received expert assistance from MO SBTDC and MO PTAC counselors, which enabled them to start or expand their enterprises."
Among the honored Missouri-based businesses scheduled to attend the showcase are:
- Ability Building & Restoration LLC - St. Louis
- Accurate Rx - Columbia
- Alpha Energy and Electric Inc. - Kansas City
- Certified Energy and Environmental Labs - Lee's Summit
- Chiropractic Wellness Center of South County - Fenton
- Elemental Enzymes Inc. - Columbia
- Emergent Sensors Technologies LLC - St. Louis
- FINSPEED - Moberly (view YouTube video)
- Freiezo - St. Peters
- Frontier Environmental Technology LLC - Rolla
- Gaming Grounds - Jackson
- JB's Healthmart - West Plains
- Jina Yoo's Asian Bistro - Columbia
- JMARK Business Solutions Inc. - Springfield
- LMG Construction - Kansas City
- Main Street Flooring and Interiors LLC - Jackson
- PURE EARTH SOAPS LLC - Springfield
- K&C Solutions LLC - Kansas City
- Superior Rents & Sales Inc. - Springfield
- StartKC Inc. - Independence
- Twister Safe LLC - Neosho
- Whitley Construction Company LLC - Lee's Summit
Success Story: Mobile Media
Parkville, Mo.
UCM SBTDC tech client helped county emergency management office respond to Northwest Missouri floods
Emergency-response officials in Atchison County, Mo., faced a major crisis last summer with record flooding on the Missouri River.
Their response may have set a record for the creative use of modern communication techniques, including a cutting-edge mobile broadcast system called TextCaster.
"I can't imagine working a disaster without it," says Rhonda Wiley, Atchison County emergency management director. "It is quick, simple and easy to use."
Wiley covers a county of approximately 5,500 people and 550 square miles. In her seven years as emergency manager and 9-1-1 director, she's found efficient technology to be a key. Recently developed technology such as Facebook and, especially, TextCaster are good examples.
Quick, Easy
Rob Sweeney, inventor of the TextCaster technology, worked with the SBTDC at University of Central Missouri to patent his invention and develop a marketing plan focused on schools, media and providers of emergency services.
"Rob is a great entrepreneur and has built a nice business around this technology, but Rob has always been about giving back and using the TextCaster technology to save lives," says Mark Manley, director of UCM SBTDC. "Use of the TextCaster technology in times of emergency will save lives and will help business owners in areas impacted by emergencies minimize business disruption."
Sweeney's business, Mobile Media, is located in Parkville, Mo.
Though less well known than Facebook, TextCaster uses text messages, voice, e-mail, and mobile web or web syndication to instantly send messages to a large group. Wiley so far has focused on text messages to cell-phone users.
"I have sent out alerts for levee breaches while standing right on the levee," she recalls. "Our citizens have grown accustomed to TextCaster and have relied on it heavily. In addition to being a powerful communication tool for both pre- and post-emergency events, it's also quite affordable."
Wiley adds her own creativity to expand on that. The system's texts are limited to 120 characters, so for longer messages she'll link a text to the emergency system's Facebook page where she can post additional details.
Wiley learned of TextCaster last year through the local Rock Port School District. By the time last year's record flooding began, the county had its own system in place.
"We were trying out different programs, and we heard Rock Port schools were using TextCaster," she recalled. "Now, it's part of everything we do. It's become a process in our daily operations, from reminding people of daily briefings, to putting out public safety alerts."
The process works much like group e-mail messages. Wiley collected cell phone numbers for key emergency personnel. Another group included residents of floodprone areas. She also maintains a group for the media, so she cuts down on calls for information and possible misinformation. To send a message, she simply gets on her computer. Using TextCaster, everyone in a group or groups receives the message instantly on their cell phones.
Read the complete TextCaster story.
Business going green
Companies save money employing pollution prevention engineering interns
A small University of Missouri program is producing some large savings for Missouri businesses. In just four summers, the Pollution Prevention (P2) program and its interns have identified more than $1 million in energy and environmental savings. Most recommendations have a payback in less than three years.
The P2 intern program, a partnership between MU Extension's Small Business and Technology Development Centers and the MU College of Engineering, teaches students pollution prevention principals, practices and tools through an applied engineering course. The best students are matched with businesses and municipalities across the state for a summer job that identifies and measures environmental improvements and cost reductions.
"Interns bring a new perspective to the company," says Marie Steinwachs, P2 program director. "Their job is to find problems, analyze and compare solutions, and calculate the return on investment."
"The companies give engineering interns an opportunity to apply their engineering knowledge to solving real problems. (The interns) can't get this type of learning experience in a classroom or from a computer model," says Steinwachs.
Due to the P2 interns' high performance levels, some companies have gone on to hire them as full-time employees. Mike Dwyer, director of environmental health and safety for the Boeing Co. in St. Louis, hired a P2 intern Sean Crockett as a full-time employee after Crockett completed a summer project in 2008.
Read this complete story or visit www.missouribusiness.net/eac/p2/internships_summer.asp to learn more about the program or to complete an application.
Payroll tax cut temporarily extended into 2012
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 temporarily extends last year's 2 percentage point payroll tax cut for employees. It continues the reduction of Social Security tax withholding rate from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent of wages paid through Feb. 29, 2012. This reduced Social Security withholding will have no effect on employees' future Social Security benefits, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
Employers should implement the new payroll tax rate as soon as possible in 2012 but not later than Jan. 31, 2012. For any Social Security tax over-withheld during January, employers should make an offsetting adjustment in workers' pay as soon as possible but not later than March 31, 2012.
Employers and payroll companies will handle the withholding changes, so workers should not need to take any additional action.
Under the terms negotiated by Congress, the law also includes a new "recapture" provision, which applies only to those employees who receive more than $18,350 in wages during the two-month period (the Social Security wage base for 2012 is $110,100, and $18,350 represents two months of the full-year amount). This provision imposes an additional income tax on these higher-income employees in an amount equal to 2 percent of the amount of wages they receive during the two-month period in excess of $18,350 (and not greater than $110,100).
This additional recapture tax is an add-on to income tax liability that the employee would otherwise pay for 2012 and is not subject to reduction by credits or deductions. The recapture tax would be payable in 2013 when the employee files his or her income tax return for the 2012 tax year. With the possibility of a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut being discussed for 2012, the IRS will closely monitor the situation in case future legislation changes the recapture provision.
The IRS will issue additional guidance as needed to implement the provisions of this new two-month extension, including revised employment tax forms and instructions and information for employees who may be subject to the new "recapture" provision. For most employers, the quarterly employment tax return for the quarter ending March 31, 2012, is due April 30, 2012.
SBA news
SBA Q&A: How important are small businesses to the U.S. economy?
Small firms:
- Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
- Employ about half of all private sector employees.
- Pay 43 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
- Have generated 65 percent of net new jobs during the past 17 years.
- Create more than half of the nonfarm private GDP.
- Hire 43 percent of high-tech workers (e.g. scientists, engineers, computer programmers).
- Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.
- Made up 97.5 percent of all identified exporters and produced 31 percent of U.S. export value in FY 2008.
- Produce 16.5 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.
SBA helps veterans start, grow, expand small businesses
WASHINGTON, D.C. - With thousands of service men and women returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Small Business Administration is welcoming them home with programs and initiatives to help them start, grow and expand businesses.
"When you consider the leadership and management skills our veterans develop while on active and reserve duty, it's no wonder we see so many of them choose a path as entrepreneurs and small business owners," said Karen Mills, SBA administrator.
SBA provides veterans with access to much-needed business counseling and training, capital, and business development opportunities through government contracts.
Entrepreneurial development
SBA and Syracuse University are expanding the successful Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans with Disabilities program to an eighth school, Cornell University. The growing partnership between SBA and Syracuse University, now in its third year, provides training on how they can start and grow a small business with programs targeted to service-disabled veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and their family caregivers, women veterans, and National Guard and Reserve members and their families.
The "boot camp" was created and delivered by a network of some of the best business schools in the country. In 2010, the first year SBA partnered with Syracuse University, 129 service-disabled veterans participated in the program.
Since the program's inception, more than 320 wounded warriors have graduated and more than 150 businesses have been launched by graduates. In addition to Syracuse and Cornell, participating schools are: the University of Connecticut, UCLA, Florida State University, Texas A&M University, Purdue University and Louisiana State University.
SBA also is providing $2.6 million through a cooperative agreement over three years for two new programs supporting veteran entrepreneurs.
The first, Women Veterans Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship, focuses on training, networking and mentorship for women veterans. With the three-day off-site training program, online training and network support structures are delivered in several locations around the nation. It is expected to serve up to 1,400 female veterans over a 36-month period.
The second, Operation Endure & Grow, targets National Guard and Reserve component members, their families and partners. The goal of this program is to mitigate the small business economic hardship of deployed members and their families. The eight-week online course focuses on the fundamentals of launching and/or growing a small business for those who will sustain the business when the service member is deployed, injured or killed. Initially, 550 individuals are expected to participate. Together, V-WISE and Operation Endure & Grow are expected to serve more than 1,950 individuals and their families over three years.
Access to capital
SBA had a near-record year lending to veteran-owned small businesses in FY 2011. SBA lending to veterans during the year amounted to more than 4,300 loans totaling $1.5 billion in its flagship 7(a) and 504 programs. Since 2007, SBA's Patriot Express loan pilot initiative alone has guaranteed loans of more than $667 million to nearly 8,100 veterans, reservists and their spouses to establish or expand their small businesses. The initiative, extended through 2013, provided more than 1,560 loans totaling $142 million in FY 2011. Patriot Express is offered by SBA's network of participating lenders nationwide and features one of SBA's fastest turnaround times for loan approvals.
Government contracting
SBA worked with both contracting officers and veteran-owned small businesses to deliver the highest-ever percentage of federal contracts to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses in FY 2010, totaling $10.4 billion. Also, through parity legislation, SBA re-established a level playing field for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses that compete with other small businesses for set-aside contracts.
The Office of Veteran's Business Development provided more than 3,000 service-disabled veteran owners of small businesses with procurement training in 2011 to help achieve the 3 percent SDVOSB goal. The SBA is expanding its outreach to service-disabled veterans with an online contracting tutorial to help veterans and military spouses who own small businesses identify and take advantage of federal contracting opportunities.
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Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.
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