Inner City 100 List Celebrates 10 Years of Honoring Fast-Growth Business Stars

Business Wire,  May 2, 2008  

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BOSTON -- This year when representatives of the 100 fastest growing inner city businesses in the nation step to the podium at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center to accept their awards for being named to the Inner City 100 list, they will join a distinguished list of predecessors who over the past 10 years have, among other accomplishments, transformed perceptions about business opportunities in long-ignored low-income urban communities. Along the way the Inner City 100 event itself has gained momentum, adding partners and sponsors, inspiring research and building networks.

"ICIC and Inc. magazine launched the Inner City 100 a decade ago when popular perception was that low-income urban neighborhoods were dangerous and derelict and no place for a profitable business," said Michael Porter, Harvard Business School professor and founder of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City ((ICIC). "In fact, we knew there were thousands of profitable inner city businesses. The Inner City 100 was an attempt to bring attention to their existence by celebrating the fastest-growing inner city companies, businesses that compare favorably with the best-run companies anywhere in the country."

The 100 winners on the 2008 Inner City 100 list are on a par with the nine previous classes of winners in that they all post spectacular growth numbers. The average five-year standard growth rate for the 2008 Inner City 100 winners is 472 percent; the average compound annual growth rate is 47 percent; average revenue is $27 million; and the average estimated value of the 100 companies is $26 million. The companies collectively employ 21,488 workers and combined they added more than 15,000 new jobs between 2002 and 2006.

Thirty-two percent of the companies are owned by ethnic minorities, a figure 200 percent higher than the national average. Seventeen percent of the winning companies are owned by women, 89 percent higher than the national average. Inner City 100 winners have a long track record. The average age of Inner City 100 businesses is 18 years, and their bankruptcy rate is only 3 percent, equal to the national average.

The companies are nimble and innovative, and, according to David Latimore, CEO and president of ICIC, "their owners are savvy enough to discover profitable market niches that others overlooked and flexible enough to adjust their business plans to changing economic conditions."

Indianapolis-based CMR Construction and Roofing is the number one company on the 2008 list, reporting close to $28.5 million in revenue and posting a five-year standard growth rate of 3,590 percent. The number two company, Boston-based Roxbury Technology, which re-manufactures laser printer cartridges, was the top minority-owned and woman-owned business on the list. Beth Williams, an African-American woman, became CEO of Roxbury Technology in 2003 on the death of her father, the company's founder.

In all, 58 cities and 31 states are represented on the 2008 Inner City 100. San Francisco is home to six companies on the 2008 list, followed by Boston and Baltimore with five each, and then Detroit, Los Angeles, Oakland and Portland with four. California was the top state with 19 companies, followed by Texas and Massachusetts with seven, New York and Maryland with five, and Pennsylvania, Oregon, Missouri, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana with four.

Over the 10-year history of the Inner City 100 list, more than 138 cities across 43 states and all geographic regions have participated in the program. The broad participation, according to Latimore, is an indication that inner cities everywhere have the potential to produce companies that create jobs, pay livable wages and expand economic opportunities. "From Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon, owners of inner city businesses are thriving and their success is evidence that despite their well-publicized problems, urban neighborhoods have inherent competitive business advantages."

The notion that inner cities are competitive business locations, a theory supported by an annual list of 100 fast-growing businesses based in low-income urban locations, from the beginning had broad appeal, according to ICIC officials. The Inner City 100 event created a movement comprised of individuals and organizations eager to participate in programs that revitalize the inner city economy. Mayors across the country were early and enthusiastic supporters. Their involvement gained the attention of the U.S. Council of Mayors, which formed a partnership with ICIC to pursue joint initiatives. Mayors looked closely at businesses in their inner cities and nominated them for consideration. Nonprofit organizations joined in as well. The Center for Women's Business Research, New America Alliance, National Association of Manufacturers, Small Business Administration, and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition-Wall Street Project are among those who submitted nominations.

In addition, Fortune 500 companies such as Chevron, Merrill Lynch, and Staples have dedicated financial and pro bono support to the Inner City 100.