Harlingen entrepreneur gets top honor in SBA awards

Seven U.S. Small Business Administration Lower Rio Grande Valley District award winners were honored at a luncheon and ceremony at Rancho Viejo on Tuesday, with SBA South Central Regional Administrator Justin Crossie serving as keynote speaker.

The Lower Valley district covers 14 counties in southernmost Texas. The event was held as part of 2025 Small Business Week (May 4-10), which has taken place in May each year since it was designated by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

Two of the award recipients, including this year’s Small Business Person of the Year, are based in Harlingen and three in Brownsville.

In the national category, Abygail T. Elizondo, owner of Elizondo Insurance Services in Harlingen, was named Small Business Person of the Year, nominated by Allan Leonard, chapter chairman of SCORE, a nationwide business mentorship program.

Also in the national category, Small Business Exporter of the Year went to Hansheng Lei, owner of American Instrument Inc., doing business as America Ship, based in Brownsville. Lei was nominated by Dainela Sosa, executive director of the Business Development Fund of Texas.

Under the heading of district director awards, Home-Based Business of the Year went to Francisco Javier Garcia, owner of Harlingen-headquartered Bruskees Spices LLC. He was nominated by Orlando Campos, CEO of the Harlingen Economic Development Corporation.

Another director award recipient was Daniel Perez Rodriguez, owner of Sandia-based Malfunction Junction Automotive LLC, who was named Rural-Owned Small Business of the Year. Rodriguez was nominated by Celia Garza, rural program manager for the Del Mar College Small Business Development Center.

Martin Rubio Flores, owner of Marty McPies LLC, based in Corpus Christi, received the director’s Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year award after being nominated by Theresa Moffitt, certified business advisor IV with the Del Mar center.

The director’s Women-Owned Small Business of the Year award went to Karina M. Saldivar, owner of Sweet & Fit, doing business as Amor Y Pan and headquartered in Brownsville. She was nominated by Linda Ufland, director of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Commercialization for the UTRGV Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center.

Finally, Daisy Nayeli Alcazar, owner of La Pale Frozen Fruit Bar LLC in Brownsville, was named the director’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year, with LiftFund Market Director Marlene R. Rodriguez nominating.

SBA Lower Valley District Office Director Angela Burton, taking her turn at the podium during the ceremony, said she was honored to “celebrate the resilience and innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit that powers our community.”

Burton, who joined SBA in 2013, said her favorite part of the awards each year is calling the winners to share the news.

“I can see their smiles through the phone and hear the excitement in their voices,” she said. “I just love it.”

Burton called this year’s seven winners “remarkable businesses that represent the best of the American small business landscape.”

“You remind us that small businesses are not just economic drivers,” she said. “They are the true heart and soul of our community.

Crossie said during his speech that the nation’s 34 million small businesses “form the backbone of the United States of America.”

“Small businesses drives innovation and create two out of every three new jobs, and employ nearly half of America’s workforce,” he said, adding that 45.1% of every job in Texas is provided by small business.

“That’s an impressive number,” Crossie said.

Tuesday’s event hosted by RGV Partnership and sponsored by the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, Harlingen Economic Development Corporation and Texas Gas Service, with supporting sponsorship from Elizondo Insurance Services and Pathfinder Public Affairs.

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