FGC_10 Years

gigi@corridorbiznews.com
tim@corridorbiznews.com
$1.50
ST
Corridor’s
CORRIDOR
Rapid
growth
Asoyia named
Corridor’s Fastest
Growing company
By Gigi Wood
FOCUS:
FASTEST GROWING
COMPANIES
Featuring the CBJ List
of Fastest Growing
Companies
CEDAR RAPIDS/IOWA CITY CORRIDOR’S INDEPENDENT LOCALLY OWNED BUSINESS WEEKLY
JOHN RICHARD
Asoyia President Greg Keeley compares the company’s journey thus far to a roller coaster ride while
accepting an award at the Corridor Business Journal’s Fastest Growing Companies breakfast May
28. Asoyia was named the fastest growing company of the Corridor, with 856 percent growth over a
three-year period.
It comes down to five principles.
That's what Greg Keeley, president of
Asoyia, told an audience last week at the
Corridor Business Journal’s Fastest Growing
Companies breakfast. Asoyia, maker of a
zero trans fat soybean oils, was named the
fastest growing company in the area.
It was one of roughly 25 businesses to
be nominated for the award; 15 were recognized
at the breakfast at the new Kirkwood
Community College’s Center for
Continuing Education in Cedar Rapids.
Companies had to earn at least
$350,000 annually and were ranked
based on the percentage increase in revenue
experienced from 2005 to 2007.
Companies submitted tax forms or audit
statements to participate.
“We got a good cross section of companies
applying,” said Gordon Epping, a
partner with Honkamp, Krueger & Co.,
who evaluated the entries. “We had some
big companies with some great, large sales
apply but they didn’t have the percentage
increase and didn't make the cutoff.”
Asoyia topped the list with 856 percent
growth. Mr. Keeley shared with the audience
five principles all entrepreneurs need to follow
to succeed in today’s business world.
“Entrepreneurs are all about growth
and not about cost reductions or laying
off workers,” he said.
Business owners need a great product,
should spend wisely, hire great people
and need passion, Mr. Keeley said.
“Find great people,” he said. “Not
good people, but great people.”
Asoyia is a fledgling name in agriculture
circles and has brought attention to its new
hometown, Iowa City, in recent months. In
March, Forbes.com ranked Iowa City
Auto parts
Company opens a new
NAPA auto parts store after a
long search for the right spot.
PAGE 5
The century mark
Electrical and telecommunications
wholesale supplier
Terry-Durin Co. marks
100 years.
PAGE 8
eighth among its Top 10 Up-and-Coming
Tech Cities, specifically naming Asoyia’s
presence as a reason for the designation.
The company was started by 25 farmers
in 2004 in Winfield, a farming community
45 miles south of Iowa City. It
moved to Iowa City last year to be closer
to business partners, such as Cargill in
Cedar Rapids.
Asoyia’s soybean oil is made from soybeans
with only 1 percent of linolenic
ASOYIA continues on page 12
845 Quarry Rd. Ste. 125
Coralville, IA 52241
Credit counselor
stresses paying
debt is best use
By Tim Kenyon
June 2 - 8, 2008
IOWA
Economic
stimulus
check
spending
varied
Using an economic stimulus check can be
the first move for consumers to fix their
troubled finances, according to a Cedar
Rapids credit advisor.
“I had a client last month that I put on
a debt-management program and we
looked at the check as a source to start
debt reduction. That seemed to work good
for us; we’re telling others the same thing,”
said Kathi Moss, a housing and credit
counselor at Consumer Credit Counseling
Service in southeast Cedar Rapids.
The $152 billion federal measure provides
tax rebate checks of up to $600 per
working individual and $1,200 per married
couple, plus $300 per child for families with
children. It also includes new tax incentives
for job-creating business investments.
Continuing to pay down debt without
adding to it again is the next challenge,
Ms. Moss said.
“So many people are truly living on the
STIMULUS continues on page 10
Fastest Growing Companies 2008
(Ranked by percentage revenue increase from 05-07)
RANK NAME HOMETOWN PERCENTAGE GROWTH
1 Asoyia LLC Iowa City 851
2 Hybrid Transit Systems Inc. Cedar Rapids 818
3 Express Auto Delivery Cedar Rapids 621
4 MobileDemand Hiawatha 312
5 kor Cedar Rapids 235
6 ServiceMaster 380 Cedar Rapids 197
7 Geonetric Cedar Rapids 156 1
8 Reminisce North Liberty 144
9 Genova Technologies Cedar Rapids 115
10 Iowa Northern Railway Cedar Rapids 89
11 Bankers Trust Co. Cedar Rapids 89
12 VIPS Cedar Rapids 73
13 OPN Architects Inc. Cedar Rapids 72
14 World Trend Financial Cedar Rapids 67
15 RuffaloCODY Cedar Rapids 59
Source: The companies featured on this list submitted information to an independent auditor for verification. 1 Figure from 04-06.
“We had gotten investments and
venture capital money came in and
they helped sustain that for awhile,
but the cost structure was just too
heavy and eventually collapsed, based
on what we could sell the oil for.”
We Put Your Pets First
– 2016 Fastest Growing Company Honoree –
- Bob George, Former CFO of Asoyia
think about how it will last longer in a fryer.”
Saving the company would have required too much of an
investment, he added.
“Based on the numbers, it was going to take a significant
amount of additional capital to try to get the cash flow positive
and we just didn’t see a buyer on the horizon who was
going to be willing to do that, let alone existing ownership,”
Mr. George said.
– Angela Holmes
319-743-0554
www.petersenpethospital.com
420 Colton Circle NE, Unit 3, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
CBJ’s Fastest Growing Companies 10th Anniversary 11