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Entrepreneurs

    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 15, 2008
TO WATCH (Lee-Collier): Arthur Allen

In the early days, Arthur Allen built his business on his house. In 1981, Allen sold his first software company for $18 million. He retired to Naples at age 34 and bought an oceanfront house on Gulf Shore Boulevard.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 15, 2008
TO WATCH (Lee-Collier): Tony Phelan

Restaurants are notorious for their short lives. In an economic downturn, their survival rates are even more dismal. Tony Phelan knows all about that, but he's not going to be one of the casualties this time around. Phelan owns a chain of seven seafood restaurants from Sarasota to Naples called Pinchers Crab Shack.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 15, 2008
TO WATCH (Lee-Collier): The Pena Sisters

The MTV Music Awards are later this month and you can be sure Erika Pena will be there to add to the bling.Pena is among a handful of jewelry designers invited to display her wares at an MTV Awards "gifting suite," where stars browse the offerings and take what they want as "gifts." There will be Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, Jessica Alba and a gaggle of other glitterati you've probably never heard of. "They all pretty much go," Pena says.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 15, 2008
TO WATCH (Tampa Bay): Arnie Bellini

Arnie Bellini appeared to be set. He had his MBA and CPA and a solid job as an IT consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. But when the first personal computers came out, he had a vision: They would remake the way business was done. And, companies needed someone to maintain them and their networks.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 15, 2008
TO WATCH (Tampa Bay): Mihir Taneja

Mihir Taneja, 33, is chief executive officer with GeoPharma, a Largo pharmaceutical and health care products company. He started GeoPharma out of college, with five employees in 1995 in Brandon.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 15, 2008
TO WATCH (Tampa Bay): Bob Johnston

Bob Johnston's best decision as an entrepreneur is one he admits he would never recommend to his children.The decision: At 21, dropping out of college, marrying his wife and moving from Tallahassee to Tampa to help run a little fondue restaurant business called The Melting Pot in 1985.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 9, 2008
Merchants of Hope

Providing death with dignity on the Gulf Coast is big business. It requires big-thinking executives.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 9, 2008
Miles ahead

A decision to pump $1.5 million into a company with declining revenues during a deep industry downturn can test anyone's resolve. "My instinct was to build," says Roger Miles.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 9, 2008
Precious and Private

In person or by mail, Suzanne Perry, a former cosmetics executive, sells jewelry to affluent clients, and she likes it that way.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 9, 2008
Building New

Is this any time to start a construction company? Two Gulf Coast entrepreneurs are betting it is.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 9, 2008
Calendar of Events

View business events from around the Gulf Coast for free.

  • Strategies
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 2, 2008
Sleep on it

Turns out that turnaround jobs of underperforming hotels is management- and labor-intensive work. And a slowing economy only means growing opportunities.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 2, 2008
Calendar of Events

View events from around the Gulf Coast for free.

  • Strategies
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 2, 2008
Smart Growth?

The slowing economy isn't the only worry facing business owners. Government growth decisionsare troubling some entrepreneurs, too.

  • Entrepreneurs
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 2, 2008
Relative Retirement

Promoting amusement parks in Dubai and China lured a Gulf Coast executive out of his boat.

  • Entrepreneurs
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