SMALL BUSINESS : BofA Honors 6 Small Firms in L.A. County

A Van Nuys manufacturer of clip-on sunglasses has received a $10,000 prize from Bank of America as the top winner in the bank’s 1999 Small Business Awards.

Revolution Eyewear began after eye-wear salesman Gary Zelman noticed that many of his clients asked for clip-ons. He and co-founder Roland Messih began their own business out of Zelman’s garage. The firm has $7 million in annual sales and holds two patents for bar-less and magnetic clip-ons.

The Bank of America Small Business Awards recognize top small businesses headquartered in Los Angeles County for outstanding enterprise, innovation and community service. Two winners are chosen in each category, one from among companies with sales of less than $2 million, and another with sales between $2 million and $10 million.

The six winners will be honored at the Los Angeles Times Small Business Conference on Friday and Saturday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The others are:

* Martec Construction, a Granada Hills company whose owner, Omar Marhaba, was burned in a fire but recovered to rebuild his company.

* Photomax, based in Glendale and owned by Seung Soo Lim. It was named by Dun & Bradstreet and Entrepreneur magazine as one of the top 10 minority-owned small businesses in the nation.

* Bakeaway Deluxe Bakery Goods in Los Angeles, whose owner Jackie Revel Knezevich gives her employees a percentage of the company’s net profit as an annual bonus.

* Valencia Auto Spa, which makes its charitable events part of the marketing plan devised by owners Randy Cressal and Dave Wilke.

* Motek, an inventory software company in Beverly Hills, owned by Ann Price.

For more information about the conference, call (800) 350-3211 or go to https://www.latimes.com/sbsc.