The Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC) honored four winners at its annual NBDC Business Awards. Governor Jim Pillen attended the award ceremony at the capitol in Lincoln on Tuesday, which was followed by a celebration.

“Today’s award winners show the spirit of entrepreneurship is alive and well across Nebraska,” said Gov. Pillen in a press release. 

“The businesses being recognized create jobs, solve problems and show that Nebraska is the place to bring innovative ideas to life, in part because of the level of support available in this state through organizations like NBDC.”

NBDC Executive Director Dan Curran said the awards are an opportunity to bring attention to both the range of businesses operating within the state and the types of services offered by the program. He said guests in attendance included state senators, university partners and representatives of additional business resources.

“I think people are always surprised in the general public just the diversity of work that goes on — the kinds of companies that exist from Omaha to Scottsbluff,” said Curran. 

The 2024 NBDC Business Award winners are:

• Champion of Small Business: Elevator, a co-warehousing and co-working space that started in Omaha
• Government Contractor of the Year: Daycos, a Norfolk company that offers payment processing solution for the transportation industry
• Innovation Business of the Year: Set Your Sites, a Lincoln startup that provides campground management software and technology solutions
• SourceLink Nebraska Resource Partner of the Year: Entrepreneur’s Education Collaborative, a statewide network of business support organizations

Elevator co-founders Emiliano Lerda and Shannon Lerda said NBDC was one of the first resources they leaned on when starting their co-working and co-warehousing business. Now at the point of expanding beyond Omaha and into Des Moines and Kansas City, Elevator often partners with NBDC in their shared mission to support small businesses and entrepreneurial communities. 

“It’s been a cross-referral relationship,” said Shannon Lerda. “They send businesses our way, and we send businesses their way.”

She said it felt like a full circle moment to be recognized by NBDC.

Set Your Sites Cofounder Stacy Dam said she similarly felt honored to be recognized by an early supporter in her startup’s journey. Initially connecting with NBDC representatives at a networking event and then later during I-Corps Customer Discovery, she said she was amazed how NBDC’s services got her “up and running” at no cost. 

“They are an extension of our team that has allowed us to do so much more in such a short amount of time,” said Dam. “I truly believe we wouldn’t be where we are without the NBDC, and I think there are many businesses in this state that would say the same thing.”

With assistance from NBDC, Dam said she is now pursuing Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). She said she sees the federal government as a viable customer to pursue, especially with tapping into the National Park Service. 

NBDC recently released its annual report for 2024 featuring in-depth stories of the award winners. You can read SPN’s story about the report here.