Small business meets a need, thrives in Texas City

The Daily News

Published December 8, 2011

TEXAS CITY — It’s a far cry from working in sales for one of the pioneering personal computer firms in Austin to running an occupational testing center that serves the industrial base of Texas City, but Doreen Hughes, founder of Mainland Testing, made the jump from the PC world to the industrial world four years ago.

In that time, she has grown from a small operation near downtown Texas City to the main drug and occupational testing center for the Safety Council Texas City, which provides training and testing for all of the contractors who work at the city’s petrochemical facilities.

Hughes, who got help with starting her business through the Galveston County Small Business Development Center, did her legwork to find a business that would not only meet a need but also thrive. Sales for the four-year-old company are up 35 percent in year-over-year growth, Hughes said, and there are plans to expand the business in 2012.

Along the way, Mainland Testing has won several small-business awards, including the 2011 Small Business recognition by the Galveston County Economic Alliance, the 2011 Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year, 2011 Better Business Bureau Service Excellence Award and the 2010 Better Business Bureau Pinnacle Award for Service Excellence.

The company was a Texas City-La Marque Chamber Business of the Month in 2010, and in 2009, the Small Business Administration recognized Mainland Testing as Business Champion of the Year.

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