052311 ABS Materials receives Ohio Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award
By Sharon Haught
May 15, 2011
359
Summary: A local Wooster company has received the 2011 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award from the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
When the members of the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce gathered for its Legislative Breakfast on May 13 President Jeff Griffin shared a local success story few communities can match.
On May 10 Griffin and other local business leaders were in the audience at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Columbus to watch Ohio Governor John Kasich present Wooster-based ABS Materials Inc. with the Ohio Chamber of Commerces Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award for 2011 during the Ohio Chambers Annual Meeting.
According to information provided by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award is designed to identify, honor and financially assist a company in Ohio that is demonstrating the historical innovative spirit of our state.
The award recipient best demonstrates this entrepreneurial spirit through a recently introduced or pending introduction of a unique product or service that will have the ability to sustain long-term growth for the company, increase local employment and assist in the creation of economic prosperity within the state, Ohio Chamber officials continued.
The story of the accidental discovery of a reactive glass capable of absorbing solvents in contaminated groundwater made by Dr. Paul Edmiston in a laboratory at the College of Wooster and the subsequent commercialization of that scientific breakthrough with the help of entrepreneur Stephen Spoonamore fit the Ohio Chambers award criteria to a tee.
The powered silicon based nano-glass material now marketed by the company under the name Osorb is capable of capturing organic compounds such as oil, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and solvents in contaminated water without capturing the water itself. By heating and drying the used material, not only can the product itself be re-used but the materials that it captures can be recovered and re-used, saving companies with contaminated sites years of work and precious environmental remediation dollars.
The process to selection of the winner of this years award began in spring when local chambers of commerce submitted a detailed application advancing the cause of their nominee.
According to Griffin, in all 70 businesses were nominated for the prestigious award.
From those nominations, 25 were selected to compete for the award, which according to Ohio Chamber officials was the most ever in the three year history of the program. An award committee comprised of member of the Ohio Chambers Board of Directors reviewed the applications and selected the top three finalists.
ABS Materials compelling success story propelled it to the top.
In honor of our states history of innovators and entrepreneurs, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce created this award to recognize those who continue to take considerable initiation and risk in creating new products and services, said Ohio Chamber President Andrew Doehrel. ABS Materials Inc. and its product Osorb is fulfilling an important world-wide need and is an excellent example of Ohios innovative spirit.
Griffin noted that the award itself includes a $25,000 grant and even more importantly, statewide recognition. As the nominating chamber, the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce also received a $1000 award.
According to the awards application, the company plans to use the grant to promote science education through its sponsorship of B-WISER (Buckeye Women in Sciences Engineering and Research), which offers an annual summer camp for junior high school girls who have expressed a passion for science.
The company adopted this program in 2010 by underwriting the entire program and making eight scholarships available for participants who would not otherwise be able to attend. This year the company expanded its commitment to the program by becoming the leading sponsor for the next three years and increasing the scholarships to 10.
To learn more about ABS Materials, log on to www.absmaterials.com.
