DMACC Small Business of the Year 2013

DMACC Small Business Awards
Thursday, September 12, 2013
www.dmacc.edu

Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) held its first Small Business Awards banquet Sept. 12 inside the FFA Enrichment Center on the DMACC campus.  Businesses were honored in five categories:

Most Innovative Company:
Substance Architecture is located in downtown Des Moines and was started in 2005 by Paul Mankins, Tim Hickman and Todd Garner. Substance is leaving its mark on Des Moines with projects along the Principal Riverwalk and the new DART Transfer station.

Young Entrepreneur of the Year:
RAYGUN is known for its popular humorous and witty T-shirts with sayings like “Kiss Me I’m Iowish”, “Iowa City: All Our Creativity Went into the Name” and “Des Moines: Even Better in Spandex.” Thirty-one-year-old Mike Draper is the founder of RAYGUN. Shirts are printed and sold at his Des Moines East Village shop.

Top Growth Company:
Iowa Beef Systems is an agricultural construction company. The company was started by Bill Rubis and Mark Ehrsman. Iowa Beef Systems constructs several types of buildings, including the mono-slope cattle confinement, a structure that maximizes efficiency and allows UV rays to increase cattle comfort.

Dennis Albaugh Award:
CR Painting was started by DMACC graduate Caleb Roney. The Windsor Heights painting company was founded in 2006 and has built a reputation as one of the go-to resources for high end remodelers and interior designers. The company is also expanding into commercial painting. The award is named after DMACC graduate Dennis Albaugh, the founder of Albaugh Inc., a distributor of chemicals used for crop protection.

Small Business of the Year:
Puck Enterprises is a manufacturer of Drag Hose manure application equipment based in Manning. Ben Puck started the business in 1979. The company has experienced tremendous growth and applied 210 million gallons of manure to 25,000 acres of land in 2012.