NYC biz owner honored for supporting 35K Asian-American-owned small companies during COVID pandemic

A Big Apple business owner was honored Thursday night for his role in supporting and stabilizing more than 35,000 Asian American-owned companies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saint Hung, CEO of Universal Processing, and his team were recognized by about 200 government officials and community leaders for providing protective gear, financial guidance, digital tools and multilingual resources to struggling small businesses at the height of the deadly crisis.

“Saint helped us so much,” restaurateur Katrina Liu, 35, told The Post at the event, noting that Hung’s guidance enabled her to open a third and fourth restaurant in the aftermath of the outbreak.

“He hosted a lot of Zoom meetings and helped us apply for loans, grants and showed us how to do marketing during the pandemic. He also gave us point-of-sale systems for free.”

Michael Min, owner of South of the Clouds rice noodle restaurant in the West Village, said Hung’s resources were a “huge, huge help.”

“A restaurant owner doesn’t understand that much, you know, like with these applications, what to you say, what not to say, that’s a huge thing, basically,” the 36-year-old explained. “So you needed a professional company who’ll work with the government to help you navigate through those things.”

Asian-owned establishments nationwide suffered plummeting sales of as much as 60% during the initial wave of lockdowns in 2020, with entrepreneurs also struggling to access government aid, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, meant to keep them afloat, according to reports.

Hung expressed gratitude for the “social safety net” that allowed his thriving financial tech company to not only support local businesses in need but also open a new Manhattan office, where the celebratory event was held.

“If not for the ability for us to navigate through those first months of COVID, we probably wouldn’t be able to flourish and grow and expand and definitely wouldn’t be able to provide services and help to the 35,000 and more in the future, small businesses that we are fortunate to provide support for today,” he said.

“I just feel like small business owners have to navigate so much uncertainty, and even our role was uncertain a few years back.

“We provided a lifeline for many businesses.”