The U.S. Small Business Administration this week announced the 2022 Small Business Persons of the Year winners. Iowa’s 2022 SBA Small Business Person of the Year is Kimberly Baeth, president and owner of Golden Openings in Urbandale. Baeth started Golden Openings in 1997, and today her company employs 14 people, offering thousands of ceremonial products for grand opening, ribbon-cutting and ground-breaking events. Her company works with hundreds of contractors and has done business on every continent except Antarctica, with an average annual revenue growth of 28% each year since 1997.

Baeth and the other state winners will be formally recognized on May 5 during the National Small Business Week Virtual Summit’s Awards Ceremony. This year’s NSBW theme, “Building a Better America Through Entrepreneurship,” highlights the resilience, ingenuity and creativity of these award winners. “Our 2022 award winners represent the vibrancy and resiliency of our nation’s 32.5 million small businesses, and I look forward to celebrating these small business giants and the positive impact they have had on lives and livelihoods in communities all across America,” said Isabella Casillas Guzman, SBA administrator.

Baeth credited the SBA’s assistance through two Paycheck Protection Program loans with helping see her business and her employees through the pandemic. In 2021, Golden Openings had its best revenue year ever, with 84% growth. Baeth was nominated for the award by Judy Eyles, director of the John Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship at Iowa State University. To register for National Small Business Week and for other event information, visit sba.gov/national-small-business-week.