The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce will recognize six small businesses for their contributions to the region, their customers, employees, and communities. Each year, the Chamber’s Small Business of the Year (SBOY) Awards acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of Greater Boston’s for-profit companies with fewer than 500 employees.
The Chamber’s SBOY Awards will be entirely virtual for the first time ever. Winners will be given extensive visibility across Chamber communications and social media channels.
Small Business of the Year Award Categories and Honorees are as follows:
Innovation and Growth: Soofa
Launched out of MIT and Harvard in 2014, Soofa is a female founded company for people with a shared stake in a special place. Soofa creates the neighborhood news feed that connects a community with screens everyone can see and anyone can use.
Cultural Excellence: BSC Group
BSC Group is a multidisciplinary consulting firm committed to supporting New England’s economic growth through the provision of engineering, planning, permitting, landscape architecture, and ecological services. BSC offers client-focused solutions to support transportation, energy, and land development projects. BSC’s capabilities are augmented by the expertise of its affiliated firm, Geonetics, a software consulting team specializing in the development of custom solutions for the engineering and transportation industries.
Community Impact: Stop and Compare Supermarket
Stop and Compare is a family-owned and operated neighborhood supermarket established in 1996 to serve the Hispanic and ethnic population of the Boston metropolitan area and other New England communities. Stop and Compare operates stores in the cities of Chelsea and Lynn, Massachusetts and is proud to offer high quality and diverse products at affordable prices to its customers.
Diversity & Inclusion: Cruz Companies
Cruz Companies is one of the oldest and largest minority-owned companies in the Northeast. A third-generation, family-owned business, Cruz is a modern firm that values old-fashioned quality and integrity. The John B. Cruz Construction Company is responsible for landmark projects and developments across the region; Cruz Development Corporation produces well-designed homes, maintaining the highest standards of workmanship, and Cruz Management Company, Inc., provides quality residential housing management services.
CEO Leadership: Proverb
Proverb is a multidisciplinary branding agency working to shape the images, narratives, and messages that define its clients. Led by Daren Bascome, Proverb has guided revitalized neighborhoods in cities like Washington, DC and Los Angeles in reshaping their image and even helped religious leaders strategize about how to better connect with the millennial generation.
Champion: The Urban Grape
The Urban Grape is an award-winning wine, craft beer, and spirits store located in Boston’s vibrant South End neighborhood. UG is the first store in the world to utilize Progressive Shelving, a unique system of organizing wines by their body, rather than varietal or region. Progressive Shelving allows UG staff to help you pick the perfect wine for customers’ palate by encouraging the exploration of regions, varietals, producers, and price points.
About the Greater Boston Chamber
We are the convener, voice and advocate of our region’s business community, committed to making Greater Boston the best place for all businesses and all people to thrive. We help our members and Greater Boston succeed by convening and connecting the business community; researching, developing and advocating for public policies that contribute to our region’s economic success; and providing comprehensive leadership development programs designed to grow strong business and civic leaders. Learn more at BostonChamber.com.