President Donald Trump presented the Small Business Association's National Small Business Person of the Year award to Mark Lamoncha, CEO of Humtown Products [3].
The recognition highlights the impact of individual entrepreneurship on industrial recovery and the U.S. economy through innovation and strategic management.
Lamoncha received the award after leading a significant turnaround of Humtown Products. The company faced near-bankruptcy in 2008 [1]. To save the business, Lamoncha patented a new system that increased productivity by more than 400 percent [1].
During the ceremony, Trump praised the scale of the company's recovery and the efficiency of the new system. He said he had a personal interest in Lamoncha's professional capabilities based on the company's growth.
"I want to hire him. How big is his business? I want to get him, Mark Lamoncha," Trump said [1].
The award recognizes the specific technical and operational improvements that allowed the business to move from the brink of failure to a position of national recognition. The Small Business Association's honor is intended to spotlight leaders who demonstrate exceptional resilience, and ingenuity in the face of economic instability [3].
“"I want to hire him. How big is his business? I want to get him, Mark Lamoncha."”
This event underscores the administration's focus on celebrating domestic manufacturing turnarounds and the use of intellectual property, such as patents, to drive industrial productivity. By highlighting a company that survived the 2008 financial crisis, the award serves as a symbolic endorsement of small-business resilience as a pillar of national economic stability.
