Florida Governor Charlie Crist presents the award to Xcavate President Robbie Ropella, along with Robin Klempa and Patrick Ropella.

XCAVATE has been awarded the Governor’s Business Diversification Award for the Entrepreneurship category, mid market. The company was judged on Contribution to Florida’s Economic Growth, Entrepreneurship, and Corporate Citizenship. Recipients of the Entrepreneurship award must be less than five years old and set the standard for entrepreneurship and creativity. This is the second consecutive year in which a company based in Santa Rosa County Florida has won this award. AppRiver, an email security solutions business, won just last year.

XCAVATE was founded to organize, maintain and expand an established database of people and companies working in the chemical and consumer products industries. XCAVATE found it necessary to accommodate its workers who had a need or desire to work from home. To make work a more flexible and family-friendly environment, XCAVATE uses state of the art technology to connect virtually with all of its employees. The company uses web-based software to enable information sharing from anywhere. XCAVATE has contracted with Nortel Systems on a VoIP system that allows seamless connectivity and very smooth customer interfacing. While it started as a beta test development in early 2005, XCAVATE has since tripled its employment and more than quadrupled its revenues. XCAVATE now works with numerous fortune 500 clients.

“We do believe that commitment to our employees plays a large part in our success as a company. We are enthusiastic to not only have the ability to make a difference in our own city, but can also make a strong impact across the state of Florida.”—Robbie Ropella.

XCAVATE received backing from Florida’s Great Northwest WIRED initiative and plans to hire 10 to 15 new employees over the next two years and will also provide skill upgrades to all current employees.

About Enterprise Florida

Enterprise Florida Inc. (EFI) is a public-private partnership serving as Florida’s primary organization devoted to statewide economic development. EFI’s mission is to diversify Florida’s economy and create better-paying jobs for its citizens by supporting, attracting and helping create business in innovative, high-growth industries.