Oct 16, 2015 – Sustainable Surplus Exchange (SSE)
won the Small Business of the Year in the “Community Impact” category at the
Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce awards event. Several hundred small business owners,
community leaders and governmental representatives joined in the celebration
held today at the Carlsbad Sheraton Resort.
SSE had been nominated in three
categories: Community Impact,
Cornerstone and Woman-Owned or Founded business. “That’s a first,” commented Chamber president,
Ted Owen, when he called their CEO, Sue Prelozni to tell her SSE was a
finalist. The Chamber awards recognize
the accomplishments and entrepreneurship of small business owners – the
backbone of our economy representing 99.7 percent of all employers in the
country.
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| SSE Board Director Aaron Brooks with Sue Prelozni, CEO |
Sustainable Surplus was founded by Ms.
Prelozni and launched in 2011. She recognized a need to manage the fall-out of
the biotechnology industry’s constant flux – mergers, acquisitions, drug
failures, depleted funding. As a result, thousands of still-useful assets were
left behind for disposal. Resellers were only buying capital assets. Prelozni
designed an innovative donation channel to redistribute left-over assets to fulfill
the growing needs of struggling nonprofits, schools and start-ups.
“This has been quite an experience – a lot of
passion mixed in with hard work and faith,” commented Prelozni. “SSE has been blessed by the support of many
committed people who volunteer their time to achieve the mission of building a
sustainable community.”
SSE has benefited more than 30,000 teachers,
students, nonprofit staff and beneficiaries, and start-up entrepreneurs
throughout San Diego County. Of the 400
organizations SSE has supported, more than 10 percent are in Carlsbad. Today, 200 companies have engaged in
sustainable practices and have donated, not disposed, $1.7 million of still
usable assets to the program. As a
result, SSE helped divert 374,000 pounds of items from the landfills.
SSE is now in a position to expand its
outreach and impact and will be in need of additional warehouse space. “As the social responsibility of local
companies grows, more assets are being donated. Our distribution efforts are
doubling and we will need to hire more people to support the community
organizations,” Prelozni explained.
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| SSE Board Advisor Sandy Atkinson wth Sue Prelozni, CEO |
The theme for today’s event was “Rising
Tides,” based on the idiom "a rising tide lifts all boats," coined by
John F Kennedy. It describes the idea
that when an economy is performing well, all people will benefit from it. The
idiom is actually from the New England regional chamber of commerce.
SSE has
supported more than 400 educational, charitable and start-up organizations in
San Diego County – benefiting 35,000 teachers, students, nonprofit
beneficiaries and entrepreneurs.
Congratulations to board director, Dave Lange and his wife, Kate, on the newest member of their (and our extended) family!
Sustainable Surplus celebrated its 4th year with a
Birthday BYOB. The famous Bring Your Own Box event invites teachers and
nonprofit staff to come to the warehouse with an empty box and fill it with
FREE office supplies. 
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