Inside this issue:

• Nine winners receive Greater Baltimore Committee's 2009 'Bridging the Gap' minority business awards
  Five Baltimore-area companies, a majority-minority partnership, and two individuals were named winners of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s 2009 Bridging the Gap Awards.
  
  
• Interview with an Entrepreneur - Robert L. Wallace, President & CEO, BITHGROUP Technologies, Inc. - "Pain Imbalance - Motivation for Entrepreneurship"
  How did Robert Wallace, founder/ CEO of BITHGROUP Technologies, know when it was time to venture out on his own? “When the pain of the present became more than the pain of the unknown,” says Wallace.
  
  
• Perspectives
  Kenneth R. Banks, president, Banks Contracting Company; Franklin M. Lee, partner, Tydings & Rosenberg LLP; and Mary C. Slicher, executive director, Project PLASE, Inc. are asked about strategies that businesses can use to get through this recession.
  
  
• Practical steps to surviving a recession
  Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. Add a recession to the equation and you get business owners that are pushed to the breaking point.
  
  
• Featured Company - Neo Technologies, Inc.
  Neo Technologies, Inc., is a computer hardware maintenance firm specializing in office equipment, network and graphic printers, and document management solutions.