North Carolina's recipe for growth: regional profile

Black Enterprise, June, 1996 by Bridgette A. Lacy, Majorie Whigham-Desir

But unlike many corporate workplaces of its size, Sara Lee is run like a small, family-owned business, says Lewis. To ensure that young, black professionals are "groomed" to understand the corporate culture, senior black execs founded their own support network, which is called Esteem. "Higher-level black managers saw the need to facilitate interactions with younger employees coming out of business school. They 'hip' you to the work culture, who people are in the organization and forge mentoring relationships to help give you the training you need as a black manager," explains Lewis.

This kind of networking and team-building propelled Charlotte Farrior, in 12 years, from a marketing assistant at L'eggs Hosiery to Wharton's B school and now to the post of vice president of warehouse teams for the Sara Lee Personal Products division. Farrior points to the company's minority efficacy program as key to fostering black talent within the company. The program was designed to help African Americans understand their corporate role, clarify goals and discuss work issues.

"The seminar brings out a better understanding of what it means to be African American in a corporation," says Farrior of the informal but intense three-day support group. "The people in your work environment may not be familiar with working with a minority member, so there's a lot of learning going on, on both sides," she adds.

Edward Dolby, executive vice president for consumer banking for North Carolina at NationsBank, also extols the value of such corporate seminars in putting managerial employees on the right track. Dolby, who started in the company as a credit analyst in the corporate loans division, participated in such a program when he started at NationsBank 25 years ago. Geared for those interested in joining the bank's managerial ranks, it is called the "PQ," or promotions qualification, program.

While the bank has a system in place to pull talented African Americans through the ranks, Dolby also has his own plan. "If you have a vision, you have to be willing to work toward that vision and be proprietary," advises the 51-yearold Raleigh native.

North Carolina, with 3 million-plus workers, has one of the 10 largest workforces in the nation. And, if its textiles and tobacco industries are stagnating, the state is staking its future growth on medical and automotive products and manufacturing telecommunications, according to Watts Carr, president of the North Carolina Partnership for Economic Development in Raleigh.

Through Research Triangle Park, known locally as RTP, manufacturing is linking arms with universities and research and development organizations to forge exciting new industries for the future. RTP is a self-contained economic and research community spread out over 6,800 acres of wooded tract. It is home to 94 research and development organizations, including corporations, federal agencies and private institutes, and 38 service industries and professional buildings, including law offices, banks and hotels. An aerial view of RTP has an eerie Pentagon-esque resemblance--and a comparable level of security.