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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmers Insurance, in partnership with Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE), and the California Latino Legislative Caucus, has begun accepting nominations for its Extraordinary Entrepreneurs Awards which honor diverse women business-owners who have demonstrated extraordinary success in the areas of innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

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"Farmers has a proud history of supporting local entrepreneurship and has been able to help thousands of women and men across the nation become small business owners," said Mhayse Samalya, president of Farmers Business Insurance and executive vice president of Farmers Group, Inc.  "Additionally, as one of the nation's leading insurers of small businesses, we are proud to be able to offer state-of-the-art tools that help entrepreneurs manage their risks so they can focus on assuring their long-term success."

The awards will be presented to the winners at a special ceremony in Sacramento in mid-February.  Official entry/nomination forms can be downloaded at www.eventsatfarmers.com/nominate and must be received by January 23.

"Entrepreneurship among women is alive and well in California and we want to do our part to recognize the accomplishments of these outstanding business-owners," said Helen Torres, executive director and chief executive officer of HOPE. "Supporting the success of women entrepreneurs is a critical component of a revived economy, for as these businesses grow, their ability to hire additional Californians increases, which in turn, improves the economic environment in the state and the nation."

Nominations will be accepted in the following three categories:

Start-Up:  This category recognizes achievement – especially in the areas of profitability and sustainability - by businesses between three and five years of continuous operation

Trailblazer:  Recognition will be given to a trendsetter who has capitalized on a new markets, products and technology and has exhibited visionary leadership

Community Commitment and Excellence:  This award will be presented to the small-business owner who has demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to helping others – via community involvement, serving on non-profit boards and committees, etc.

"Supporting this award program just makes sense for us since encouraging small business ownership and recognizing their success is part of the corporate culture at Farmers," said Luisa Acosta-Franco, vice president of multicultural marketing at Farmers. "The 17,000 Farmers agents across the country are successful entrepreneurs in their own right and are leaders in their communities who not only run their own businesses but also dedicate countless volunteer hours helping local groups and schools."

Farmers manages small business premiums of over $2.2 billion with more than 600,000 business insurance policies and is rated among the top-tier commercial insurers in the United States. Its highly-trained and experienced agents can help business-owners create a customized insurance solution tailored to meet the needs of most small businesses. Farmers agents can also work with business owners to develop insurance plans to complement their personal insurance plans.

Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is the country's 3rd largest insurer of both personal lines passenger automobile and homeowners insurance, and also provides a wide range of other insurance and financial services products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with more than 20 million individual policies across all 50 states through the efforts of over 50,000 exclusive and independent agents and nearly 24,000 employees.

Farmers is a trade name and may refer to Farmers Group, Inc. or the Farmers Exchanges, as the case may be. Farmers Group, Inc., a management and holding company, along with its subsidiaries, is wholly owned by the Zurich Financial Services Group. The Farmers Exchanges are three reciprocal insurers (Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange and Truck Insurance Exchange), including their subsidiaries and affiliates, owned by their policyholders, and managed by Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. For more information about Farmers, visit its Web site at www.farmers.com or at www.Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

SOURCE Farmers Insurance