Atlanta most popular among Black CEOs

Jet, March 22, 2004

Atlanta is the most rapidly expanding and beloved headquarters for Black-owned small businesses.

According to the ING Gazelle Index, a nationwide quarterly survey of 350 chief executive officers of Black-owned companies with 10 to 100 employees, some 27 percent of the respondents said the Georgia state capital harnessed the greatest chance for success.

They often cited the metropolitan areas' continued economic growth.

"[The CEOs] feel there is this possibility to be successful and get involved in business opportunities," Dr. Thomas D. Boston said to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution newspaper, regarding the city's popularity.

The Georgia Tech economics professor owns the Boston Research Group, which prepared the Index for ING U.S. Financial Services. "There's been a perception of opportunity, particularly for African-Americans," he said.

Behind Atlanta, CEOs favored Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Houston, Los Angeles and New York as prime business locations.