This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR Contributor Renita D. Young speaks with Stephen L. Hightower, the founder and CEO of Hightowers Petroleum Co. Based in Franklin, Ohio, the petroleum products distribution company earned revenues of $157 million in 2010 to land at No. 25 on the Black Enterprise 100s list of the nation’s largest Black-owned industrial/service companies.
Hightowers Petroleum, the second largest minority-owned company in the Cincinnati area, is a full-service, licensed motor fuel dealer which transports fuel, gasoline and other petroleum-related products to clients, including General Motors and Delta Airlines, nationwide. The company
has been recognized as a 2010 Regional Minority Supplier of the Year by the National Minority Supplier Development Council. Hightower joins the Roundtable to share how he launched his company and the growth strategies he used to build it into a regional powerhouse.Also, UBR Contributor Samantha Pass speaks with Diversity City Media CEO Dante Lee, author of Black Business Secrets: 500 Tips, Strategies and Resources for the African American Entrepreneur (SmileyBooks). Diversity City Media’s clients include Nationwide Insurance, McDonalds, BET and NASCAR. Lee, a 2006 Black Enterprise Small Business Awards finalist, takes a seat at the Roundtable to deliver hard truth about the entrepreneurial path for African Americans, along with growth strategies to ensure a successful journey.
In addition, in my “Alfred’s Notepad” segment, I ask a key question of entrepreneurs who intend to grow their businesses in 2012: How healthy are you? Are you thriving, or just surviving from day to day? Let’s face it: You’re business won’t be healthy enough to grow if your own health and fitness is at risk. For more tough questions for entrepreneurs, check out “5 Questions to Ask Yourself as You Grow Your Business in 2012” by Felicia Joy.
And finally, every week on UBR, you’ll get motivation and inspiration from author and entrepreneurial icon Farrah Gray, a weekly wrap-up of business news from USA Today business correspondent Charisse Jones, our Patient Investor Report from Ariel Investments and key economic intelligence for small business owners from our UBR economists Derrick Collins and Rasheed Carter.
If you have a question you want answered or a topic you want addressed on The Urban Business Roundtable, connect with me at BE Insider, the social media network for people who are serious about Black Enterprise. You can also find me on
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Alfred Edmond Jr. is the senior VP/editor-at-large of Black Enterprise and the host of the Urban Business Roundtable, a weekly radio show, sponsored by Ariel Investments, airing CST Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on WVON-AM 1690, the Talk of Chicago. You can also listen live online at WVON.com. Check back each week for UBR Spotlight, which features additional resources, advice and information from and about the topics, entrepreneurs and experts featured on the show.