Thomas Johnson didn’t knock on wood for luck, but he carved it for profit.
Now his Lynchburg furniture business is within reach of the top small business award offered by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
On Tuesday the chamber announced the 75 winners of its Blue Ribbon Small Business Award, including Thomas A. Johnson Furniture Co. This is the first time a Lynchburg company reached this stage of the awards.
The winner of the chamber’s $10,000 Small Business of the Year Award will come from the ranks of the Blue Ribbon winners.
Johnson said the award validates his vision of a furniture firm that thrives without sending jobs overseas.
“Everyone is doubting furniture manufacturing in America,” Johnson said. “I’m going against the wave. It can be done in America.”
“Thomas has a very compelling story and I’m not surprised that he earned a position as finalist,” Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce President Rex Hammond said in an e-mail Tuesday.
A native of Ghana, Johnson emigrated to the U.S. in 1993. The trained carpenter attended Liberty University and started building custom furniture in Lynchburg.
He and his eight employees make furniture in a shop near the James River. Some furniture is made to order, while some is sold in a retail showroom by the woodshop.
Johnson’s company doubled its revenue from 2008 to 2009, helping it rank as a finalist for a business award sponsored by the business school at University of Virginia last year.
When the U.S. Chamber asked Johnson to apply for yet another award, he wasn’t interested in the paperwork.
“I was going to call and say, why don’t you find someone else to give it to,” Johnson said.
Then he learned that the top award has a $10,000 prize.
“I said okay, I’m interested in that.”
As a Blue Ribbon award winner, Johnson is in the running for two higher awards.
The Community Excellence Award winner is decided by popular vote online.
The Small Business of the Year Award is awarded by a panel of judges. The judges will name 14 finalists later this month and will announce the winner in May.
The prize could be seed money for growing his business more, Johnson said.
Johnson wants to expand his company into a building he owns on Mayflower Drive. He also hopes someday to start two woodworking schools — one in Lynchburg and one in Ghana — to teach people how to make furniture and run businesses.
Johnson believes a resurgence in manufacturing would help boost the U.S. economy more than an increase in service jobs.
“To continue to create wealth, we need to tap into our natural resources and add value to it,” he said. “... That’s the only way we’ll compete. That’s why I think what I’m doing is exceptional for today’s economic growth.”
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