PROVIDENCE – Steve Rosa, the founder, president and CEO of (add)ventures in Providence, will be honored as the 2008 Rhode Island Minority Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) during Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week in October.

“Steve Rosa is a tremendously successful business owner who is an inspiration and mentor, especially to minority and women entrepreneurs,” said Mark S. Hayward, director of the SBA Rhode Island District Office. “Steve is truly deserving of recognition.” Rosa’s company is a full-service advertising and public relations firm.

The Rhode Island MED Week celebration, from Oct. 14 to Oct. 17, is co-sponsored by the SBA and the Rhode Island Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce. Rosa will be honored at an Oct. 15 awards dinner at the Crowne Plaza at the Crossings hotel in Warwick.

Rosa founded (add)ventures in 1989 and, from an initial investment of a $289 typewriter purchased on a credit card, the company has grown to become a multi-disciplinary communications firm with a global reach, the SBA said. The company has been honored four times as one of the nation’s fastest-growing businesses by Inc. magazine.

A Boston College graduate and an active alumnus of LaSalle Academy in Providence, Rosa has been featured in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Boston Globe. He is a board member of City Year.

More information about the awards dinner and Minority Enterprise Development (MED) week is available from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Rhode Island office by visiting www.sba.gov/ri or calling (401) 528-4561.

Providence-based (add)ventures Inc. – founded 19 years ago as Advertising Ventures Inc. – is a multicultural, multidisciplinary communications consultancy that provides marketing, branding, public relations, advertising, and corporate, cause and employee-communication services. It has about 25 full-time employees at its headquarters in Providence and branch offices in Miami Beach, Fla., and Tallin, Estonia. To learn more, visit www.addventures.com.