[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 56 (Tuesday, May 7, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE TO AARON ZACK PHILLIPS, SBA 2002 YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 7, 2002

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce to my colleagues 
that the American dream is alive and well in Rochester, New York. It 
can be found embodied in a Rochester businessman and booster who, 
though only 25 years old, has already achieved what others spend a 
lifetime trying to accomplish. His name is Aaron Zack Phillips, and he 
is president of Kink BMX, a manufacturer and distributor of BMX bicycle 
parts and related soft goods. He is also this year's national winner of 
the SBA's 2002 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
  Zack's middle name is self-reliance--a character trait always present 
in American dreamers. From the age of 12, he juggled school and part-
time jobs like throwing papers or flipping hamburgers at fast food 
restaurants. By 18, he was the assistant manager for a local home 
improvement store, in charge of payroll, scheduling and inventory.
  But at the same time that Zack was working for others, he was 
beginning his own business--out of pure frustration. Because the 
bicycle parts he bought kept breaking down, he decided that he could 
make them better and stronger--and did. Then, with the help of a media 
kit from a trade magazine and an advertising budget, he began selling 
them to other cyclists at competitions and skate parks.
  The rest is history, hard work and an entrepreneurial drive that just 
won't stop--always necessary components in any successful American 
dream. At the age of 25, Zack now runs a million dollar business 
employing 6 people, which both manufactures the Kink line and 
distributes its products throughout the Midwest and California, as well 
as in Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan. He didn't do all this 
totally alone. Along the way, the U.S. Small Business Administration 
stepped in to guarantee the loans this young man could not get without 
its help, reminding us once again what a beneficial service this small 
Federal agency makes in the lives of Americans with lofty goals and 
high-flying dreams.
  I am so proud of this young man--proud that he dreamed his dream, 
then made it a reality. But what really endears me to him is the way he 
ties his own economic well-being to that of his home-town. On every 
mailing, logo, brochure and marketing tool, he prints the words 
``Rochester Made Means Quality Made,'' along with archival prints of 
our city and High Falls.
  That slogan might just as well describe Aaron Zack Phillips, the SBA 
Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

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