New York elected officials and foreign dignitaries from the Caribbean and Africa among them were state Sen. Johns Sampson, Assemblymen Clarence Norman Jr. and Nick Perry, Councilwoman Una Clarke, Comptroller Alan Hevesi, Councilman Ken Fisher as well as Jamaican Consul General Dr. Basil Bryan and former Trinidad and Tobago Consul General Babooram Rambissoon. CACCI's founder and president, Roy A. Hastick Sr., said those honored as year 2001 visionaries were "recognized for their willingness to take the risk and accept the challenge to start and operate a small business in today's economy."