Business success by 30 - young entrepreneurs who have made early breakthroughs

Ebony, March, 1991 by Douglas C. Lyons

Within six months, his immediate boss opened his own contracting firm, Vel Enterprises, and took Lewis with him as a project manager. "I was doing everything, from sales to project manager, to marketing to running the job," Lewis says. "Vel gave me an opportunity to do it all. At a young age, I was cutting $20 million deals."

Despite some early successes, the venture folded in 1988. Lewis returned to his old job at Herbert, determined to strike out on his own. Three months later, he started out with small painting and carpentry work to build his cash reserves for larger jobs.

His firm grew and Lewis borrowed $90,000 from his father to buy and rehab a decaying six-unit apartment building in East Orange, N.J. The building, the contractor's first major rehab project, is now a beautifully renovated structure and profit-making asset. Its value has skyrocketed to about $360,000, and the rent from tenants helps support the firm's cash flow. Lewis repaid his father's loan - within three months.

Today, Lewis Contracting Corp. is a thriving enterprise. It has several corporate contracts and municipal jobs with the cities of East Orange and Newark, N.J., and Lewis wears the blue-collar label proudly. "I happen to like the down-to-earth people in construction," he says. "You have a lot of people who work hard, simple people. That's not to say the corporate structure doesn't have that. But, carpenters are different from corporate people."

Taking a different approach, Lorenza P. Butler made his mark on the corporate world with a simple business philosophy: "Buy low and sell high," he says. "I'm not an operator. If I operate something, I'd run it into the ground. I learned that lesson a long time ago."

Butler apparently learned his lesson well. He is only 30 years old and the principal owner and chief executive officer of WLTH-AM radio in Gary, Ind. He plans to buy more radio stations in Arkansas and Louisiana.

A native of Marshall, Texas, Butler attended Clark Atlanta University on an exchange program from Wiley College. He went on to take a marketing position with Miller Brewing Co. in Washington, D.C. The job put him in contact with several leading business and civic leaders and spurred his interest in becoming an entrepreneur. "To make a long story short, Jesse [Jackson] was boycotting," he says. "So I took the opportunity to learn about developing franchise proposals."

Following Jackson's lead, Butler sought information on owning franchises from two firms that had been targeted for economic boycotts - Burger King and The Southland Corp. By 1983 he was a finalist for franchises at both firms. But he suddenly changed directions, deciding to pursue a Houston beer distributorship, partly to be closer to his mother.

The beer venture cost about $2 million. Butler, armed with only a $5,000 loan from his parents, began approaching several local banks for financing. He was turned down by six banks before two others agreed to lend him the money. The 23-year-old marketing rep was now the owner of his own company. "It was persistence," he says, downplaying the complexity of the sale. "There was a deal, it was available and it made good sense. I showed them how it made sense and it didn't take a damn genius to do it. Beer distributorships are not made for geniuses."