BYRON, Ga. — The owner of a metal manufacturing business here in Central Georgia was just named the winner of a special award.
Unified Defense is a metal manufacturing company here in Central Georgia.
CEO Eric Williams just received the 2024 Small Business Person of the Year Award for Georgia from the U.S. Small Business Association.
Unified Defense is off Highway 224 in Byron and equipped with certified welders.
Williams started unified defense in 2016, initially doing government contracting and making steel equipment.
Two years ago, he bought Prince Service and Manufacturing, and now his workforce is booming.
"I'm really looking forward to reaching our goal of being a preeminent employer of middle Georgia," Williams said. "We've come a long way from the start. From 5 to 220 employees is hard to fathom in the short amount of time we've been in business and it's a massive testament to how hard middle Georgians work where it's a tight-knit community and people are resilient."
Williams said he was nominated for the 2024 National Small Business Week award by the Small Business Development Center in Macon.
When he got the winning email, he thought it was spam. Then, he quickly realized that not only is this a win for him as a business owner, but it's a win for the city.
"We focus on buying local, employing local and keeping all of our businesses local and then supporting the local community," Williams said. "It's really important that owners like me in the area support each other and support our community through our co-workers who make this business what it is."
Miguel Garcia is the Government Contract Manager for Unified Defense.
Garcia says although Williams is from Ohio, after being in the business, he's the proudest Georgian he's ever met.
"He is fully sold on our community and it is kind of wild to go to shows and be present with him all over the county or where we're trying to sell products and meet customers and he is over there advocating for middle Georgia."
Anna Martin has been the Office Administrator for the past few years.
"If he sets his mind on something, there's nothing he can't achieve. To see him recognized by other people too because we all feel that way about him but to see it on such a large scale, I believe that one day he will be one of the biggest employers in middle Georgia."
Williams along with the 50 other businesses throughout the U.S. including Guam and Puerto Rico, will be awarded and honored from April 28 through April 29th in Washington D.C. at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.