Council Honors Four American Success Stories : Minority Entrepreneurs Have Diverse Pasts

Their backgrounds are as diverse as the countries in which they were born.

What four business owners who were honored Friday night in Santa Ana have in common is that each is a successful entrepreneur. Each was also singled out by one of four ethnic chambers of commerce for recognition by the Orange County Minority Business Council.

The award winners--the first in what is to become an annual honors presentation--include a Latino meat supplier, a black computer consultant, a Korean ad and print-shop executive and the owner of a Vietnamese awning company. They are:

- Luis Mendoza, owner of Central Meat Co. For six years, Mendoza has supplied wholesale pork and beef to smaller grocery chains and restaurants, including the El Torito chain. A native of Mexico, his Santa Ana firm employs 26 people and has annual sales of more than $6 million. Last year, he opened the Rancho De Mendoza Restaurant in Santa Ana.

- Aaron L. Lovejoy, president and chief executive officer of Ultratech Resources. The 2-year-old technical and management consulting firm in Santa Ana provides computer systems analysis and programming, as well as business planning and market analysis for large and small clients. Lovejoy is chairman of the Irvine Black Republican Council and is chief financial officer for the Black Business Alliance of Orange County.

- Won Pyo Lee, president of PNS Ad & Printing Co. in Garden Grove. His firm has printed 11 editions of the Orange County Korean Directory. A native of Seoul, South Korea, Lee is a board member and president of the Korean Chamber of Commerce of Orange County.

- Buu Pham, owner of B & C Awnings Inc. The 2-year-old Placentia firm employs more than 15 people and should gross more than $1 million this year. The company recently won a contract from Kentucky Fried Chicken valued at about $2 million. A native of Vietnam, Pham is a former officer in the Saigon police force who came to this country in 1980.

The business council said the awards are intended to give the businessmen a higher community profile so they can better serve as role models and spur interaction in Orange County’s business community.

The 2-year-old council is a voluntary organization made up of four business groups: the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Black Business Alliance, the Korean Chamber of Commerce, and the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce.

Each of the four groups was asked to honor a member for his or her success as an entrepreneur, said Pat Krone, founding co-sponsor of the business council and chair of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce.