Contest Honors 10 as Year’s Top Entrepreneurs

Ten Los Angeles area small businesses and their owners were honored Thursday as part of the “Entrepreneur of the Year” program sponsored by the accounting firm of Arthur Young and Inc. magazine.

The winners, announced shortly after Mayor Tom Bradley declared June 15 “Entrepreneur’s Day” in Los Angeles, will compete in a national competition for entrepreneur of the year.

EPI Products, the Culver City maker of Epilady personal care products, won the competition among companies less than 5 years old. Arlene Krok is president. John Paul Mitchell Systems, a Beverly Hills hair products company, won the category for companies more than 5 years old. John Paul Jones DeJoria is founder and chairman.

The winner in the manufacturing category was ORCO Block Co., a Stanton maker of concrete blocks and other construction products. Peter Muth is chief executive of ORCO.

Two Real Estate Winners

Bugle Boy Industries, a Chatsworth clothing manufacturer, and its chairman, William C. W. Mow, won in the merchandising/retail category. AmericanTours International, a Westchester tour company founded by chief executive Noel Irwin-Hentschel, won in the minority and women-owned business category.

Two firms shared the honors in the real estate/construction category. Cusumano Development of Burbank and its founder and president Charles P. Cusumano and RWR Development of Van Nuys and president Bill Rheinschild were the winners.

Woodland Hills-based Compex Systems, which provides photocopying and other document services to medical and legal firms, won in the non-financial services category. Lewis Handelsman is president and chief executive of Compex.

The technology honor was given to Mobile Technology, a Los Angeles medical imaging company headed by Ronald D. Van Horssen.

The Foothill Group of Century City, co-founded by chairman and chief executive Don L. Gevirtz, was chosen as the winning supporter of entrepreneurship. Foothill is a publicly held company involved in asset-based financing.