Houstonian Corner (V10-I27)

Port of Houston celebrated the 6th Anniversary of Small Business Development Program

What is Port of Houston? It is Number One in U.S. in foreign import tonnage and 2nd in overall tonnage; 10th largest port in world; 2nd largest petrochemical complex in world; 215 million tons of cargo; 150 public & private terminals; 7,057 ships annually and 150,000 barge calls. These were some of the statistics presented by the Port of Houston Authority (PHA) Commissioner James Edmonds and Executive Director Thomas Kornegay, as the PHA celebrated the 6th Anniversary of the “Small Business Development Program of PHA”.

Mistress of the Ceremonies was Melinda Spaulding, Anchor at KRIV Fox 26 News. Prominent speakers on the occasion included the Honorable Ed Emmett, Harris County Judge; Honorable Sylvia Garcia, Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 2; Honorable Sue Lovell, Vice Mayor Pro-Tem City of Houston Council and Kase Lawal, PHA Commissioner and Chairman of Small Business Task Force. In attendance were several elected officials, their staff members, special guests and prominent entrepreneurs of the region.

Through reciprocate and easy Small Business Certification Process, this program called “Small Businesses Doing BIG Business” is structured. With an application, the certifications from one of these agencies, namely the City of Houston, Houston Minority Business Council, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, U.S. Small Business Administration and Women’s Business Enterprise Alliance, is acceptable for enrolling with PHA.

Commissioner James Edmonds and Executive Director Thomas Kornegay informed that over $203.70 million worth of projects have been given to Small Enterprises’ since the inception of the program six years ago. This would mean 37% of small business participation in PHA projects. More than 1,100 small businesses are registered in the program and it is increasing every day.

Terence Cheng of TSC, Inc. and Gary Crouch of Crouch Environmental Services, Inc. were given special recognition as the “Biz Champions’ for Year 2007”.
Honorable Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said that over the years with ever increasing trade via PHA, the port has changed the very economic and social fabric of the region and the best change of all is that Small Business can now do Big Business with PHA.

Specials at 4th of July Houston ISNA Convention: Faiyaz Merchant

Theme of the ISNA’s Regional Convention in Houston over the July 4th weekend is: “Muslims in the Public Square: Spiritual and Institutional Development”. This was informed by social and entrepreneurial personality of the Houston community Faiyaz Merchant, as he further mentioned about certain specials during the conference. Like for instance, people can come for “No Charge” to see the excellent Bazaar during this upcoming ISNA Regional Convention at Houston’s Westin Galleria July 04 till July 06. Also those businesses, who offer specialized services and do not have products to sell on site at the Convention Bazaar like Clinics, Hospitals, Engineering Consultants, Business Opportunity Consultants, Media, etc. can have Vendor Booths for FREE at the Biz Arena during the Convention starting with Friday Prayers on July 04 and going all the way till Zuhr Prayers on Sunday July 06. For more information, call 281-748-9705.

During the Convention, nationally recognized and distinguished scholars and speakers like Ingrid Mattson, Sheikh Abdalla Idris Ali, Muneer Fareed, Sayyid Syeed, Louay Safi, Rodwan Saleh, Yahia Rahman, Mahmood El-Gamal, Monem Salam, Mohamed El-Moctar El-Shinqiti, Ibrahim Dremali, Dr. Laeeq Khan, Dr. Mazhar Kazi, Ubaid Qazi and many others. Registration is reasonable.

For more information, visit www.isna.net

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