Small Biz Superstars shines light on entrepreneurs in the shadows; Nominations open now

Editor’s note: The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is a non-financial partner of Startland News, which serves as the media partner for the Small Business Superstars program.

Being designated a Small Business Superstar in 2023 provided much needed visibility for The Scented Webb, Victoria Campbell Osborne shared. She credits the program with helping to spread the fragrance of success for her business even faster.

“Exposure is very hard, especially when you don’t have a dedicated brick and mortar,” Campbell Osborne explained. “Even when you’re as busy and have as many popup shows as we did in the year, there are always going to be people that we missed because everybody can’t be everywhere.”

Victoria Campbell Osborne, The Scented Webb

She was surprised to learn of her previous nomination to the  Small Business Superstar program — the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s initiative for emerging, Main Street, and startup ventures. The Scented Webb offers a customized line of body products — like beard oils, body butters, and sugar scrubs — plus travel sizes of luxury perfumes so customers can try before they buy.

“We had been in business six months,” Campbell Osborne continued. “We were brand new. It was a shock in the ‘You know about us already?’ kind of way.”

Now entering its fourth year, the KC Chamber program is accepting submissions for another round of Superstars: open to any for-profit small business in the Kansas City metro with fewer than 250 employees. Applicants do not need to be Chamber members to be nominated or to nominate themselves.

Click here to submit your favorite small business or even your own. The deadline is Feb. 5.

For The Scented Webb, the program also provided validation, Campbell Osborne noted.

“I think when you first start out — especially in the first two years — most banks won’t touch you,” she continued. “You can’t get investors. You’re trying to slowly build a following — and I don’t even mean social media — just people who know who you are and know that your business is a good one and a reputable one to take part in. And I think that’s the thing that it did for us ridiculously early in our journey.”

Victoria Campbell Osborne, The Scented Webb, accepts her prize at The Porter House KC’s Pitch Night; photo by Austin Barnes, Startland News

“I think that legitimacy allowed us to be able to step into spaces and into rooms that we would not have been in,” Campbell Osborne added, noting that through connections made to the small business community she was made aware of pitch competitions and accelerators like those offered through the Porter House KC.

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All Superstars receive a digital toolkit to increase exposure for their businesses and an invitation to the Small Business Superstar reception, said Vicky Kulikov, small business director for the KC Chamber and a key organizer of the Superstars program.

“Small Business Superstars primarily helps lift up entrepreneurs and encourages them to keep at it; keep doing the hard work that it takes to sustain a small business,” Kulikov said. “It’s hard out there; we want them to know the Chamber is here to be a resource for the small business community however we can.”

2023 Small Business Superstars pose with a selfie booth during a KC Chamber reception at lightwell

At the 2023 reception, Campbell Osborne shared, she met business owners who had been in business for nearly a decade and hadn’t received a recognition like the one offered through the Superstars program. It meant just as much to them as it did to her as a new founder, she said.

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“There’s my perspective as a brand new business, and then there are businesses that have been in business for 10 or 15 years, who — if not for Small Business Superstars — would not see the light of day,” she explained. “Entrepreneurs work in the shadows and anonymity. You want customers of course, but you want to be recognized for doing a good thing.”