A business headquartered in the Kent Valley was recently named one of the 2009 National Excellence in Minority Business Award Winners by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA).
PetroCard Services, whose corporate headquarters are on Central Avenue, was scheduled to receive the National Minority Supplier Distributor of the Year at a ceremony Friday in Washington D.C.
PetroCard specializes in offering “cardlock” fuel systems, where commercial vehicle drivers can buy fuel 24 hours a day, seven days a week without having attendants at the pump.
The system works by using a proprietary card and personal identification number that allows members to sign in and gas up whenever. The company also sells lubricants.
According to Stephen Tolton, president and C.E.O. of PetroCard, the company began in Kent as Southcenter Oil, which was purchased by PetroCard in 1998.
PetroCard is a subsidiary of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, an Alaskan regional organization that is owned by 85 Native Alaskans, which gives the company its minority status.
Tolton said PetroCard recently became involved with the work of the MBDA.
“In the last couple of years we’ve gotten pretty active with that group in the Seattle area,” he said during a phone interview form Washington D.C., adding that the idea was to “give back to minority communities.”
Since the 1998 buyout, the company has grown in leaps and bounds. Today, PetroCard has 68 stations in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
In 1997, Tolton said the company moved 23 million gallons of product. Last year, that number had reached 330 million gallons for total sales of nearly $1 billion.
“We’ve grown quite a bit,” Tolton said.
The business remains headquartered in Kent because of the cost as well as the centralized location.
“It has served us well,” he said, adding that the company has seen no reason to move.
Tolton, who has been C.E.O. for two years, said the company received the regional award on Aug. 21 in San Francisco and was then nominated for the national recognition, which it was set to receive Friday.
In a press release announcing the awards, MBDA National Director David Hinson said the agency is creating a foundation for a new generation of $100 million minority-owned businesses.
“The minority firms recognized by these awards represent those companies well on their way to achieving this goal,” he said. “Minority firms have a substantial impact on communities throughout the country with the number of people they employ and the revenues they generate. The minority business community plays a critical role in the recovery and reinvestment of our national economy.”
“We’re honored,” Tolton said of the award. “While we think we do a good job we’re glad other folks outside agree.
“We think we built a good, ethical company,” he added. “It’s nice that others think so, too.”
Tolton said minority businesses need to focus on what they do well and gain expertise and experience because they will be hired for what they do, not who they are, though it will often help break a tie between two businesses.
He also said though the award is nice, PetroCard will not let the recognition go to its head.
“We’re just trying to deliver a bunch of fuel everyday,” he said.
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