Montage Marketing Group, LLC founder and CEO, Mercedita Roxas-Murray, has been named the Maryland Women’s Business Center’s (MWBC) Entrepreneur of the Year 2018. Roxas-Murray received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award earlier today at MWBC’s Annual Awards Luncheon. The award honors one Maryland-based entrepreneur who demonstrates excellence in six key areas: 1) substantiated history as an established business; 2) growth in number of employees; 3) increase in sales for the last three calendar years; 4) innovativeness of product or service offered; 5) response to adversity; and 6) contributions to community-oriented projects.
Roxas-Murray founded Montage Marketing Group in 2014 based on her belief in a different way of marketing and a different approach to running a business. She drew on this vision and more than 20 years of experience in the marketing services industry when starting the company.
A marketing solutions company, Montage provides government and commercial clients with the opportunity to engage audiences, achieve increased results, and create passionate advocates through experiential marketing. Montage offers marketing communications, events, training, program management, mobile event, and brand experience services. Clients include the National Institutes of Health, the National Park Service, KinderCare, and Montgomery County, Maryland.
Founded on the principle of ‘more’, Montage exists to go above and beyond for its clients, partners and employees. From its start with two employees, the firm has grown 200 percent year-on-year. Montage also hires part-time labor nationwide to support its work. In 2017, Montage brought on approximately 200 part-time employees, a number expected to reach 500 in 2018.
Under Roxas-Murray’s leadership, Montage has also achieved impressive financial growth. The company strives to develop long-term client relationships versus transactional projects. Their strategy to facilitate continuity and stability has proved effective. Montage has more than doubled its revenues each year since 2014. From eight clients with a single project each, Montage has expanded to support nine clients and 15 projects.
Montage Marketing Group is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Like many female entrepreneurs, Roxas-Murray started Montage from her home before opening offices in nearby McLean, Virginia. She credits the Maryland Women’s Business Center and other local organizations for their leadership in support of women-owned businesses.
“Montage is, above all, a purpose-driven business. We support clients that contribute more to society than products and services alone. We believe in providing more than transactions to consumers. And we strive to empower our employees, partners, and other aspiring professionals,” said Roxas-Murray. “I am humbled to be recognized as MWBC’s Entrepreneur of the Year. It is an honor to represent the accomplishments of our entire team and our shared purpose.”
The Maryland Women’s Business Center works with women entrepreneurs across the state by way of three locations to start, sustain, and grow businesses. Through workshops, individual counseling, facilitated peer group support, special resources, and access to capital, MWBC annually helps more than 1,500 women gain the skills, connections, and confidence necessary to navigate entrepreneurship. Men are also welcome at workshops and training sessions.
At today’s National Women’s Small Business Month celebration, MWBC presented achievement awards to local women entrepreneurs representing management consulting, global exporting, the life sciences and marketing. The complete list of the awardees is available at http://marylandwbc.org/.
“The business owners we’re honoring this year, who represent such diverging industries, illustrate why Maryland is a top state in the country for women entrepreneurs. They are shining examples of what women are doing all over the state. Their success also confirms MWBC’s impact in offering education and training to up-and-coming women entrepreneurs,” said MWBC Managing Director Kiesha Haughton.
