By Matthew Young
For HDMedia
Seven of West Virginia’s small businesspeople were honored in Washington, D.C., on Sunday as part of the Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week celebration. One national award winner was named West Virginia Small Businessperson of the Year, while six local winners were recognized for their various contributions to the state’s small business environment.
W.Va. Small Businessperson of the Year
West Virginia’s 2026 Small Businessperson of the Year is not your typical Mountaineer.
Born and raised in India, Madhur Bedre came to the United States in 2010 to pursue a master’s degree in chemical engineering. He was just 21 years old at the time and had his pick of schools from all around the world.
“I picked WVU,” Bedre said Wednesday. “Go Mountaineers.”
Bedre said he was surprised when, in 2009, he found an advertisement for West Virginia University in his mailbox. After doing some research, it didn’t take him long to make up his mind.
“It was: Leave [India], travel, get to experience a different culture and immerse in a different environment,” Bedre explained. “I would say it was a character-building and foundational experience, and I’m really glad that I came to the U.S. and came to West Virginia. It’s been all up since then.”
By 2012, Bedre had finished school and was working with Dow Chemical in South Charleston.
“That was a great experience,” Bedre said. “I would say it was one of the highlights of my professional career. It was something that really jived well with me. I was working with customers and solving their problems.”
In 2019, Bedre made the decision to leave Dow Chemical and establish his own business. Atlas Prediction Control officially became operational by the following year.
“I saw an opportunity, and I pitched it to the customers,” Bedre said. “Those customers took a chance on me, and we were off and running.”
As a specialized engineering and technology firm, Atlas focuses on advanced process control, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence applications for the chemical and plastics industries. After seven years in business, Atlas has gained notoriety around the world. Including Bedre, Atlas now employs 12 people, six of whom work in the South Charleston office and six work remotely.
“We’re playing with the giants,” Bedre said. “How Atlas distinguishes itself is we don’t focus on that one-time project and then get out of the plant. We live in big plant operations. We work with them on a day-to-day basis. We have a rapid response team, and we can be on a flight within 48 hours. That’s how we differentiate ourselves, and we’re doing it from rural West Virginia.”
“So much is said about small businesses,” Bedre continued. “They are the backbone of America. They not only provide economic stability in our communities, but they’re also involved in our communities in so many other ways. The importance of small businesses is enormous.”
With regard to being named the state’s Small Businessperson of the Year, Bedre stressed that he is by no means a one-person show.
“It’s such a great honor, and I cannot feel proud enough about the achievements and successes of my team,” Bedre said. “Even though I’m receiving the award, I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the team at Atlas. It’s a huge recognition for what we have done and achieved and continue to do with our long term vision to optimize chemical operations worldwide.”
Living in the United States, Bedre doesn’t get to see his family often. His father died in 2016, and his mother, brother and sister all still live in India.
“I was so excited and fortunate that my brother was able to come for the events in Washington, D.C., this week,” Bedre said. “My mom gets here in two weeks, and my sister will be here in a few months. My parents and my family, they taught me to dream and appreciate things.”
W.Va. Small Business Manufacturer of the Year
There also was another local SBA winner.
Kimberly Mack’s grandfather established Cyclops Industries in 1959. Now, 67 years later, Mack is the owner and the company was named West Virginia Small Business Manufacturer of the Year.
Cyclops designs and manufactures safety sight glasses and other glass products and accessories for industrial pressure vessels and pipelines.
“Kimberly is a great person, and Cyclops is just a very strong company that we’ve helped in the past,” Harold Patterson, business coach with the West Virginia Small Business Development Center, told the Gazette-Mail on Thursday. Patterson nominated Mack for the award. “We actually started working with them in 2015. They’re very proactive, they’re very persistent, and they’re always thinking about new ways of doing business and new ways of improving their business.”
“Whatever the SBDC has interacted with them on, they’ve been very proactive with implementation,” Patterson added. “It’s just a great pleasure to work with them.”
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