Owners of Top Business Prepare for National Competition

TYLER – Tyler entrepreneurs Michael and Lisa Lujan are preparing for national competition after being named the Small Business Administration Texas Small Business Persons of the Year for 2011. This is the first time this honor has been awarded to an East Texas business, according to the Fort Worth SBA Regional office. The Lujans will represent the entire state at the national competition in Washington, D.C., during National Small Business Week, May 18-20, which honors the estimated 27.2 million small businesses in America.

Michael Lujan, a former school administrator, and Lisa Lujan, a former banker, founded Mentoring Minds in 2002 after developing an innovative study aid, designed as a flip chart, that would help elementary teachers and students in Texas better meet new state educational standards. The two launched the firm from their garage, maxing out their credit cards to print the first 6,000 copies. Less than 10 years later, Mentoring Minds is a full-service educational publisher, producing innovative learning products with more than $11 million in 2010 sales. One of the nation’s fastest-growing Hispanic-owned businesses, it also ranks #344 in Hispanic Business Magazine’s 2010 list of the largest U.S. Hispanic-owned firms. The Lujans continue to own the company, which now has 50 employees.

To the Lujans, the key inspiration continues to be “the kiddos”, as Michael Lujan fondly refers to the students who reached him from his earliest days as an educator. “It’s what inspires our growth,” he says. “We want to reach educators and kids across the country, and our plans for the future will move us out of the ‘small’ business category very quickly.”

The Lujans say they received critical support early on from a variety of East Texas groups, including the Small Business Development Center at TJC, the Tyler Economic Development Council, and the Tyler chapter of SCORE, a small business counseling organization. Michael now serves on the board of the TEDC and as the Vice Chairman of the local Hispanic Business Alliance with the objective of promoting the growth and competitiveness of new and existing Hispanic businesses. The Lujans also support many causes, saying, “It’s not just our duty to help our communities, it’s our mission.” Among other things, Michael mentors other entrepreneurs. Mentoring Minds CEO Robert Bush says that’s “critical to East Texas,” adding that the company is committed to keeping the area “vibrant” by helping keep jobs in East Texas.