Wellington Management, Inc.

The Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce recognizes the importance of small businesses. In honor of their outstanding contributions to the Saint Paul/East Metro area business community, five businesses were honored with the Deubener Award on May 22, 2003 during the annual Small Business Awards of Excellence Luncheon at Prom Center in Oakdale.

Award recipients are nominated from the Chamber’s membership and selected based upon the following criteria: growth, excellence, risk, diversity, and innovation. Additionally, the Deubener is awarded to businesses in the categories of service, family/minority-owned, emerging, non-profit, and manufacturing.

The following small businesses are recipients of the 2003 Deubener:

• Service: Wellington Management, Inc.
• Family-Owned/Diversity:University Bank
• Emerging Business: Manley Group, Inc.
• Manufacturing: Ideal Printers, Inc.
• Non-Profit: Minnesota Computers for Schools

These businesses are innovators. They start with an idea for a better product or service, and make that idea a reality with a certain amount of economic risk. Adequate performance is not good enough and excellence is an endless pursuit. Entrepreneurship is the path to prosperity for many Americans, including minorities and women.

Cyndi Lesher, Xcel Energy Inc. and Chair of the Chamber’s Board of Directors said the Saint Paul/East Metro area business community strongly supports small businesses. “We’ve seen the benefits that small businesses provide to the economic climate. With more than 90 percent of our members considered small businesses (250 employees or less) and small businesses providing approximately 75 percent of the net new jobs in this country, it’s vitally important to recognize and celebrate their success. Congratulations to all of the award winners!”

Created 22 years ago, the Deubener Award is presented in memory of a couple who are the embodiment of a small business success story. Walter and Lydia Deubener took an innovative approach to make a difference and the presentation of the annual award continues to honor them today.

Proprietors of a grocery concession on Seventh Street in Downtown Saint Paul in the early 1900s, Walter & Lydia Deubener are credited with creating and patenting the first shopping bag with handles. As an increasing number of packaged goods were introduced, the Deubeners noticed their customers purchases were limited not by their pocket books but by how much they could carry. After a few months of thought and experimentation, Walter came up with an idea: he took an ordinary paper sack, punched four holes in each side, reinforcing the bottom with string, looped the string through the holes and over the top to form handles. This was the birth of the first shopping bag. Their business increased overnight. The couple eventually sold their store to go into the shopping bag business. In 1919, they sold nearly one million bags and the business continued to grow steadily. Eventually they established manufacturing facilities in Saint Paul.

The Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce is proud to represent the area's small businesses and provide programming, marketing and networking opportunities to support, and more importantly, grow the area's diverse and innovative small businesses.

The Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce is the largest local and regional chamber of commerce in the State of Minnesota, representing nearly 2,100 business members in the Saint Paul/East Metro area.