Entrepreneurs of the Year | Steve Schwartz

Why we chose Him:

Customers were hard to find in 1991 when Manny Schwartz and his son Steve Schwartz opened a business that manufactures and fabricates glass shower doors.

So father and son knocked on front doors. They pored through the yellow pages. They searched for customers from Venice to remote areas north of Tampa.

The persistence paid off.

Steve Schwartz, 42, has since taken over ownership of the Sarasota-based company, Quality Enclosures, and has led it through both a recession-survival period, and, more recently, an expansion era. Growth includes sales, locations and product lines. Schwartz likes to say the company, with $15.8 million in 2014 revenues, now sells everything but car windshields.
Schwartz's ability to navigate the downturn impressed industry peers. “He's always trying to find ways to cut costs out of his product to keep him competitive,” says Greg Burkhart,
president of Bradenton-based Key Glass. “He has the savvy to cut costs without cutting quality.”

Schwartz's entrepreneurial qualities also go beyond the day-to-day. For one, he will take risks in unusual ways. One standout example: In 2006 Schwartz, a longtime fitness buff, bought a martial arts academy in Sarasota where he had trained for years. The investment, more than $500,000 in total, is now a successful second business.

Another side of Schwartz's success, say several people who know him, is his humility. Schwartz will often hit up friends and business owners for advice, and he's eager to learn new ways of attacking challenges and problems. “He's not afraid of asking people for advice,” says Burkhart. “And he really listens.”

Growth
Revenues
2012: $7.54 million
2013: $10.97 million, Ç45.4%
2014: $15.8 million, Ç44%

Employees
2012: 76 2013: 94 2014: 120

— Mark Gordon