In a strange twist of fate:
- Chicago 2010 - there are calls for the National Guard to protect the lives of Black people
- Georgia 2010 - is the leading STATE for Black business ownership, only surpassed by the city of Washington DC
Are you sure that "progressive states" are best at delivering the "Black Permanent Interests"?
Laron Walker started his Web design and software business several years ago in Indiana, and it thrived.
He had contracts with the biggest firms, hospitals, churches and schools. His contact list was a who's who of the community, including friends from his alma mater, Purdue University.
But after a while Walker realized he had no room left for growth. So in 2006 he moved to metro Atlanta. The most obvious reason: A larger market meant new opportunities.
But he also wanted to become part of the explosion of African-American business people like himself.
"There were definitely not a lot of people who looked like me in Indiana," he said. "Atlanta offers a better networking base and resources that I can tap that weren't available to me in [Indiana]."
The U.S. Census Bureau reported recently that Georgia has the second-highest percentage of black-owned businesses in the nation at 20.4 percent. Only the District of Columbia, at 28.2 percent of the city's businesses, has a larger percentage of African-American ownership.
From 2002 to 2007, the number of minority-owned businesses in the nation increased by 45.6 percent to 5.8 million, more than twice the rate of all U.S. businesses, the bureau said.
Leaders in metro Atlanta's black business community said the list of attributes contributing to the state's success is long.
Georgia is home to some of the nation's top historically black colleges and universities. Fortune 500 companies have been training grounds for entrepreneurs. The African-American community itself has traditionally invested in startups when banks would not lend.
And, they said, don't forget Atlanta's reputation as a black mecca.
"When you look at Atlanta, it is seen as one of the top cities in the nation for young people to relocate," said John Grant, the executive director of 100 Black Men of Atlanta. "They bring a lot of creativity, energy and innovation."
Leona Barr Davenport, president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta Business League, said much credit should be given to the late Maynard Jackson. His push as mayor to have minority contractors included in bids to expand Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in the'70s opened doors to black businesses that had been closed.
"That is a success that has resounded across the country," she said.
Black-owned businesses in Georgia cover a wide range of industries, including risk management firms, clinics, hotels, telemarketing and data centers, and public relations and advertising agencies. Some are well-known, including construction giant H.J. Russell & Co. and Citizens Trust Bank.
Alice Bussey, who co-owns Bussey Florist in Atlanta, said the state's black business community grew because it filled a need. Her husband, James Bussey, for instance, started their business in 1962 while still a student at Morehouse College because the black community was underserved in the sector. Similar scenarios have played out statewide over the decades, producing black business leaders throughout Georgia.
Tony Morrow, owner and chef of the Pecan restaurant in College Park, is one of the entrepreneurs who took the skills he learned working for others -- such as local favorite Pano's & Paul's, as general manager of the Morehouse cafeteria and in corporate dining at Bank of America -- to make his own path.
"Atlanta is a mecca for us," he said. "It's a place anybody can stop working so hard for somebody else and do it for yourself."
4 comments:
CF,
I had a client who once recommended that I move to Atlanta. He suggested that whatever business I was doing here, I'd double it. Having made the move from Indiana to NJ and having gotten married with kids, I didn't have that sort of flexibility at the time. Strangely enough, I've picked up a few clients in the Atlanta area as the accounting business nowadays is one where you can basically operate from anywhere.
I'd like to see who's rounding out the rest of that list, but northern NJ, New York City and Philly can't be running far behind.
Those stats about the growth of black owned businesses are true and much of it is being driven by the same frustrations I had while I was on the "plantation". Moreover, with the economic environment being as it is, the reverse is now true--you're more at risk with a job than you are being self employed. Hence, downsizing and right sizing is driving a lot of this.
Come on down. There's plenty of room to succeed in the ATL. I've been at it for 10 years.
Actually, Brother Walker - they should come to Metro-Atlanta with qualifications that they must follow.
1) If you come from New York - please don't tell me how the nightlife in the ATL is dead as compared to NYC. Clearly there was something more important than night life that motivated you to leave.
2) Do not think that you are more enlightened than the "country" people of the South. In addition to the points in #1, these "country folks" have managed to snag several choice companies away from the "enlightened" North.
Bottom line - Instead of thinking that you are going to contribute your brilliance to the South as we desperately need it - you need to think about how wonderful the place that you departed did as they accepted your opinions.
CF,
I concur.
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