COLUMBUS — This year marks the 55th anniversary of National Small Business Week, set aside by the president to celebrate America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Columbus District Office will honor Ohio’s 940,000 small business owners during the 2018 Small Business Week Awards Ceremony, April 30, at the Idea Foundry in Columbus.

“The SBA helps small businesses start, grow, expand and recover, working to ensure that the American dream of business ownership can come true,” said acting SBA Columbus District Director Scot Hardin. “In Ohio, small businesses power local communities and economies, employing 2.1 million people in the state.”

Honorees include the following:

Small Business Person of the Year: Seth Bromberg, president, TNT Service Inc., Columbus. Since 1989, TNT Services developed from a single location into a regional fleet and commercial property power washing company, utilizing the SBA 504 and 7(a) loan programs.

Exporter of the Year: Rob Dalton, president, SAS Automation, Xenia. SAS Automation is a global leader in the design and manufacture of robotic End-of-Arm Tooling . SAS Automation utilizes SBA’s State Trade Expansion Program to export to American products. SAS Automation received SBA Region V Exporter of the Year.

Small Business Development Center Service Excellence and Innovation Center Award: Melissa Jollick, director, the Ohio Small Business Development Center at Ohio University, Athens. The SBDC team at Ohio University improved the entrepreneurial climate in the rural southeastern region of Ohio. The Ohio SBDC at Ohio University received SBA Region V SBDC of the Year.

More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and create two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year. The U.S. Small Business Administration will celebrate America’s 30 million small businesses with events from April 29 to May 5. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov/nsbw.