Claudia Viek wins national award for her work on behalf of very small businesses.
Our 21st century economy will live or die on the success of micro-businesses, so we need new innovative policies and strategies to make sure our economy is sustainable.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) October 09, 2013
Claudia Viek, CEO of CAMEO, has been named a Top 100 Champion in the 2013 Small Business Influencer Awards. The Awards honor those who are influential to small businesses in North America.
“One of my main goals is to challenge longtime policies that have worked against progress to achieve self-sufficiency and wealth creation through self-employment,” said Claudia Viek. “Our 21st century economy will live or die on the success of micro-businesses, so we need new innovative policies and strategies to make sure our economy is sustainable.”
CAMEO, the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity, is a statewide network of 160 organizations and individuals committed to promoting economic opportunity and community well-being through entrepreneurial training programs (think mini-MBA) and microloans (under $50,000). CAMEO members serve about 20,000 very small businesses in California annually that support or create about 35,000 new jobs and generate a total of $1.5 billion in economic activity.
Under Ms. Viek’s leadership, CAMEO works hard in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. on behalf of our members to ensure the sustainability and growth of our micro-business development field. CAMEO serves the large, unified voice that represents many small enterprises in the halls of power.
In addition to her work at CAMEO, Ms. Viek is the founder of the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center where she served as Executive Director for 14 years. An estimated 1,100 women benefited from the Renaissance Center’s award winning programs during her tenure. Ms. Viek served on the Board of the National Business Incubation Association and founded the Pacific Incubation Network. She is a past president of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). In all of these activities throughout her career, women entrepreneurs have been primary beneficiaries.
The Small Business Influencer Awards are designed to recognize the heroes of small businesses – those who support and encourage entrepreneurs and small business owners, and help them achieve success and stay successful. The Champions are chosen based on a combination of voting by the small business community and a panel of judges steeped in the small business market, who considered the contributions of the nominees over the past year toward:
*advocating on behalf of small businesses,
*providing products or services that address the unique challenges faced by small businesses,
*revolutionizing how small businesses do business or how they solve business challenges,
*helping small businesses grow,
*or otherwise impacting small businesses in a significant way.
Says Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends and one of the co-founders of the Awards, "Influencers are those who play crucial roles in the small business ecosystem, but who often are in the background. The Top 100 Champions have distinguished themselves in some way. “
About CAMEO
CAMEO is California’s statewide Micro Enterprise association made up of over 160 organizations, agencies and individuals dedicated to furthering Micro Enterprise development in California. CAMEO members serve about 21,000 businesses with training, technical assistance and loans. These firms, which were largely start-ups, support/create about 35,000 new jobs and generate about $1.5 billion in economic activity– raising state revenues, decreasing demand for government services and putting more money into local and state economies. Federal taxes paid increased 35% over a five-year period.