Rhonda Dolan, on-demand personal assistant Udo honored as Chamber’s Entrepreneur of the Year
May 23, 2019 | Austin Barnes
A lunchtime affair at the 2019 Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Awards quickly turned from celebratory mingling to shock and awe for Rhonda Dolan.
Rhonda Dolan, Udo
“For [the Chamber] to recognize my efforts over the last year, which have been pretty intense, means a lot,” said Dolan, founder and CEO of Udo, reflecting on her honor Thursday as the Chamber’s Entrepreneur of the Year. “It’s a little bit overwhelming. I’m still soaking it in.”
Such kudos come as Udo — an on-demand personal assistant platform — reaches a critical crossroads, Dolan explained.
“My hope is that there’s an awareness element for us,” she explained of how the win could push Udo forward. “… We have customers lining up, but we need some capital. So, we’re trying to figure out that next step. We’re ready to rock and roll, but we need a little bit of help.”
A previous Digital Sandbox award winner, entrepreneurial support programs have been great resources for Dolan in the run-up to her recognition by the chamber, she noted.
TREKK Design Group
In addition to the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Chamber awarded its small business of the year honor — the Mr. K Award — to TREKK Design Group, a 150 employee, civil engineering firm with an affinity for environmental work.
Wendy Guillies, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
The company is responsible for such projects as lighting and drainage on the iconic Christopher S. Bond bridge.
“There is a huge problem with old infrastructure in this country and the unseen things underground,” said, Kimberly Robinett, managing partner and CFO at TREKK. “We are the eyes for the unseen.”
Building a Kansas City business in the spirit of Ewing Kauffman, Robinett was presented with the Mr. K Award at Thursday’s luncheon for her efforts as an entrepreneur.
“I was at Sprint and my husband had been in the civil space his whole career, and we saw an opportunity to do work that our lives touch every day,” said Robinett. “The work that we do everyday is clean water and safe roads. It doesn’t get any more rewarding than that.”
An additional nine companies were finalists for the Mr. K Award and were honored with spots on the Chamber’s Top 10 Small Businesses list, including: Agforce, Charlie Hustle, IBC, Inc., KC Bier Co., Lever1, Odimo, RFP360, Ripple Glass, and VeriShip.
Click here to read more about the companies in the Top 10.
Thursday’s ceremony also saw The Roasterie honored with the 2019 Legacy of KC award; Datalocker with the inaugural Weida International Small Business Award; and Weave Gotcha Covered with the 2019 Diverse Business of the Year Award.
Featured Business
2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Getting Kansas City to the last mile of tech workforce development requires a bridge (and together we’re building it)
Editor’s note: The perspectives expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Kara Lowe is president and CEO of KC Tech Council. The greater Kansas City region faces a sizable workforce challenge; there currently are more tech-focused jobs in the region than local job candidates to fill the openings. At present, employers are seeking more…
Chamber showcase fills Union Station with real-life social networking for small biz owners
Entrepreneur Dane Moss likes to do things a little over the top, he shared Wednesday from inside the Grand Hall at Union Station, noting that simply handing out T-shirts and koozies to event attendees simply doesn’t fit his style. So for his first KC Chamber Small Business Celebration Candidates’ Showcase, Moss and his team from…
1 Million Cups relocating back to Kauffman Foundation, renewing weekly meetup’s energy, sense of purpose
After more than six years connecting entrepreneurs in Midtown, 1 Million Cups Kansas City is returning to its roots — relocating the weekly event series April 9 to the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center where the now-coast-to-coast morning meetup series first percolated. Changing the brew for the Wednesday entrepreneur pitch showcase came from the same voices…
Why the Savannah Bananas founder is coming back to KC (with a tip of his hat to winning leadership styles)
Jesse Cole isn’t afraid to reimagine the way things are done in business, he shared, and his brand of Banana Ball is paying off. In the past nine years, the ringleader of the Savannah Bananas — baseball’s answer to the trick ball-handling and exhibition athleticism of the Harlem Globetrotters — has gone from selling his…