From newly-minted and established business owners to White House policymakers, attendees of our Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo are fired up.
During my segment on Warren Ballentine’s nationally-syndicated talk show yesterday I talked about the steady stream of emails, tweets and calls I received describing our event’s game-changing potential. In fact, our conference brought more than 1,200 African American entrepreneurs to Atlanta last week for three days of instruction from brilliant strategic minds, inspiration from top business leaders and induction of new contacts into business networks. It was the only place on the planet you could have found MC Hammer, Angela and Vanessa Simmons, Carol Daughter‘s CEO Lisa Price, Professor Charles Ogletree, former Deputy Commerce Secretary Dennis Hightower, master dealmaker Magnus Greaves, investment powerhouse Eddie Brown, Deputy SBA Administrator Marie Johns and Publisher Earl G. Graves, Sr., to name a few, offering business counsel and camaraderie to attendees ranging from teenpreneurs to BE 100s CEOs.
For me, this gathering represents one of the high spots of my year. As Editor-In-Chief, it’s a gratifying and validating opportunity to meet scores of entrepreneurs who share stories of their trials and triumphs, many of whom thank BLACK ENTERPRISE for serving as their coach and champion. I’m always equally humbled and awed by how so many have built thriving enterprises with creativity and sheer will as their major resources.
As I shared with Warren, our conference offers education and renewal to our staff as much as it does our audience. This year’s theme was aptly-framed “Rethink Business,” which introduced new trends and innovative approaches for the 21st Century economy. Those who attended discovered some valuable lessons. Those who were unable to come to Atlanta can discover what they missed through videos here on BlackEnterprise.com this week. In any event, the following seven tenets I uncovered can place your business on the path to growth and prosperity.Â
- Look for sweet spots in emerging industries.
The panels I moderated on the green economy provides a perfect example. My panelists didn’t agree that the sector was “the next big thing,” they told conferees the time to pounce on opportunities is now. For instance, William S. Parrish, Jr., CEO of NobleStrategy, a thriving construction management firm, stressed that African Americans must learn about “green opportunities” and “legislation that is creating a new divide.” A professional with a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accreditation, he said Black firms must embrace sustainability as a means of enhancing their business model, distinguishing themselves from competitors and significantly reducing operating costs. Another panelist Warren Crawley, president and co-founder of Green Grease Inc., identified an exclusive niche. Based on advice from his 16-year-old son to collect cooking grease from residential homes and recycle the substance into biodiesel fuel, he launched a firm that now counts individuals, corporations and governments as clients. So your next big moneymaker may come from that can of bacon grease in your kitchen.
- Follow the new rules of business financing.
You can still find capital to expand your company–but it will cost. That message was delivered loud and clear during the jam-packed session on business financing moderated by Editorial Director Alan Hughes. Terry L. Jones of SyncomVenture Partners (No. 7 on the BE PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS list with $410 million in capital under management), said investors are willing to invest in viable companies with potential to produce huge returns–that is, if business owners are willing to give up more control. And even in this post-recession economy, bank loans are available to entrepreneurs willing to “put some skin in the game,” according to Leonard Walker Jr.
, Atlanta business banking division manager at Wells Fargo. Such funding, Walker said, may require as much as a 30% down payment though.- Go digital or die.
Our conference devoted a number of sessions and boot camp drills to web technology and social media. We placed such a strong emphasis on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn because they represent the best tools to reach new markets and target customers. In fact, during Multimedia Editorial Director Sonia Alleyne‘s one-on-one with rapper/entrepreneur MC Hammer, he said he viewed Silicon Valley as “the seat of power” in the “relationship-based economy” and maintains the current environment presents the best opportunity for tech start-ups. Hammer said he was developing an business incubator with Internet entrepreneur Wayne Sutton, another conference speaker, for African American entrepreneurs. Bottom line: Companies that ignore the digital space do so at their own risk.
- Know the terrain when pursuing contracts.
Many Black entrepreneurs miss their destination: gaining lucrative government and corporate assignments. Why? They don’t have the right map to begin with. At our session on doing business with government, Lourdes Martin-Rosa, president of Government Business Solutions, directed entrepreneurs to visit American Express OPEN’s website to access Victory in Procurement (VIP), an educational program designed to help small business owners boost their business as they navigate through the government contracting maze. (American Express Open served as the sponsor for that session.) During another seminar on supplier diversity, conference sponsors Nationwide Insurance and mega-retailer Walmart provided session attendees with a step-by-step process for getting passed the door of corporate purchasing offices: Be specific the products and service you’re offering; know the company’s priorities and supplier standards; and clearly distinguish your company from the pack. Says panelist Leon Richardson, CEO of Southfield, Michigan-based ChemicoMays L.L.C. (No. 88 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE COMPANIES
list with $28.5 million in gross revenues), a chemical management services company that serves automotive and pharmaceutical manufacturers: “Don’t use your minority status as your value proposition.”- You got to be in it to win it.
Entrepreneurship is about taking risks and pursuing every feasible opportunity. Sometimes failure provides the most valuable lessons. For those who dared to be involved with one our major attractions, the Elevator Pitch Competition, they came to grips with that philosophy on a public stage. In the contest, 10 companies battled for a cash prize using their best 60-second business spiel. Competitors included a women’s apparel rental company, a website repair shop, a healthy ice cream producer and a female valet service, among others. The entrepreneurs had to face a tough collection of judges: BLACK ENTERPRISE CEO Earl “Butch” Graves, Jr., attorney and TV personality Star Jones, comedian and radio personality J. Anthony Brown and Magnus Greaves of business start-up financing and consulting firms, The CASHFLOW and 100 Urban Entrepreneurs. Those eliminated by judges gained valuable advice on how to perfect their pitch, critical to engaging investors as well as the opportunity to gain a shot at a capital injection. And as evidenced by this year’s competition, it pays to take calculated risks: our judges selected three entrepreneurs to each receive the $10,000 cash prize and the 8-week mentorship program jointly operated by The CASHFLOW and100 Urban Entrepreneurs.
- Build your business network.
Dennis P. Kimbro, the Clark Atlanta University business school that conducted a seven-year study on millionaires, said the No. 1 stumbling block for Black entrepreneur is not money since two-thirds of the 1.3 million African American concerns borrow less that $10,000 dollars. The problem, he asserted, is “the team building stage, finding like-minded individuals who will give your
dream wings.” Solving that equation comes, in part, through solid management. The other aspect is building a solid business network. Our opening keynote speaker framed a primary objective of conferee when he said: “The reason why you got up at 6:00 and showered to get here at 7:00 to make sure that you listened to the speaker at 8:00 is to meet the individual in front of you, the individual behind you, the individual to your left and right. Networking is a critical skill. It’s not who you know, it’s what you know about who you know. People don’t care about you until they realize how much you care about them. It’s not all one sided.”- Learn to be a hustler.
In achieving entrepreneurial goals, Kimbro took a chapter from an old school text but the message was just as powerful in a new school era: “You got to hustle. Those who make things happen all share this quality. No matter how intelligent or able bodied you may be, if you don’t have a sense of urgency and the need to explore your potential, you will fall short of the mark. Hustle is doing something that everyone else is certain cannot be done. Hustle is getting the customer to say yes after he or she said no. Hustle is believing in yourself when no one else will. Hustle is winning and encouraging others to win. Hustle is heaven if you’re a hustler and hell if you’re not.”