SBA recognizes North Carolina sweet potato exporter

Steven Ceccarelli, owner of Faison, N.C.-based sweet potato company Farm Fresh Produce Inc., has been named the Small Business Administration North Carolina Small Business Person of the Year.

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(Courtesy Farm Fresh)

Steven Ceccarelli, owner of Faison, N.C.-based Farm Fresh Produce Inc., has been named the Small Business Administration North Carolina Small Business Person of the Year.

Ceccarelli founded Farm Fresh Produce in 2010. The company, which has a new 20,000-square-foot packing facility and curing barn, focuses on sweet potato exports, which make up 95% of the company’s international business, according to a news release.

“We’re considered a small business, but Farm Fresh Produce works with numerous large global clients,” Ceccarelli said in the release. “In addition to our North American distribution center here in North Carolina, we have a second center and sales team in Amsterdam, and we do a tremendous amount of business in Europe and are growing our clientele all over the world.”

The awards will be presented May 5-6 during National Small Business Week in Washington, D.C., and one recipient (from each state, Washington, D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico) will be chosen as Small Business Person of the Year.

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