Perseverance, determination, and resilience are attributes that entrepreneurs have had to wear as armor to get through this year and last. Our 2009 Small Business Award winners are no exception. Refusing to allow the economy’s turmoil to deter their ambitions, this prized group–announced at the black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo, hosted by General Motors and ExxonMobil in Detroit–bested their competitors by seeking innovation, streamlining strategies, and, above all, refusing stagnation.
Add to those qualities the commitment and compassion shown by our Community Champion Award recipient to help the underserved and you have award winners deserving of praise. But while we applaud their determination in the midst of chaos, we’d be remiss if we did not ask, “‘How’d you do it?’†To that end, be’s 2009 Small Business Award winners and Community Champion Award recipient delve into the challenges overcome, reveal the motivation behind their efforts, provide guidance on how they surpassed expectations, and share lessons about winning in spite of the new business reality.
Teenpreneur Award Winner
Jordan Culpepper, Founder/CEO
Buttons by Jordan
Hazel Crest, IL
Promotional buttons and badges manufacturer
Homework Helps
Before starting his business, Culpepper did two things:
1] Made sure it would be feasible
2] Identified markets to sell to
Unlike his peers who rely on allowances for spending money, 13-year-old Jordan Culpepper started a business instead. In 2006, he borrowed $500 from his parents (which he paid back) and launched Buttons By Jordan (www.buttonsbyjordan.com) to sell customized promotional buttons.
His first and biggest client remains author and television host Tavis Smiley, who last year ordered 5,000 buttons to distribute at his State of the Black Union national conference. In addition to political functions, celebrations, and school activities, Culpepper also sells buttons to businesses for advertising and other purposes. Last year, gross revenues were $15,000.
By now it’s clear that Culpepper isn’t the typical eighth grader. When faced with a slowdown in customers, he lowered prices and offered discounts to friends and family. “I realized everyone’s money is tight, and some have to worry about food instead of buttons.†And he admits that his youth often gets him in the door, but it doesn’t make the sale. “Most people say it’s a cute business, because I’m a kid. But once they see the product and clients I’ve sold to, they take me seriously.â€
Culpepper is looking ahead to high school and eventually college, where he plans to study the sciences. When he started, his goal was making money; today, Culpepper is more focused on helping people express themselves. “My business ties into customers’ personal feelings,†he says. “I help them wear a button for all to see.â€
–Tamara E. Holmes
The Teenpreneur Award recognizes a young entrepreneur or group, age 19 or younger, committed to advancing the rich tradition of black business achievement.B.E. Next Award Winner
Selena & Khary Cuffe, Founders/CEO&CFO
Heritage Link Brands L.L.C.
Los Angeles
Wine importer and distributor
SAVORING SUCCESS
The Cuffes’ believe no venture will work without:
1] Understanding the Âfundamentals of the business
2] Belief in your Âmission
3] Working with Âpeople who have the same level of service and standards
Heritage Link Brands L.L.C. (www.heritagelink brands.com) created a mission to “invite people to taste the very best of the African Diaspora showcased through the medium of wine,†says Selena Cuffe, 33, the company’s CEO. Selena and her husband, Khary, 30, who is CFO, founded the Los Angeles-based wine importing and distribution company in 2005.
With the U.S. economy in a slump, Heritage Link Brands still raked in revenues of $1.06 million in 2008, up from just $42,000 the year before. With $1.6 million in sales projected for this year and eight employees, the importer is poised to turn a profit well ahead of the six-year wine industry standard. The Cuffes have scored recent deals with 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Inc. and major commercial airlines, American and United Airlines.
And let’s not forget taste. Environmentally friendly farming methods allow the imported wines to retain more of the distinctive qualities of the soil where the grapes were grown.
Overseeing some 16 different brands, Heritage Link Brands imported close to 17,000 cases of wine last year. U.S. retailers such as Whole Foods, Albertson’s, and Biggs carry a variety of their brands including the award-winning M’hudi and their most popular brand, Seven Sisters. “It’s who we are as people: committed to the development of people who look like us,†says Khary. “And it provides us with a unique point of difference from our competitors.
The Cuffes credit their success abroad to the relationships they have developed with their producers, distributors, and customers. They travel to South Africa several times a year to manage quality control and meet with partners; they plan to eventually open an office there.
“These brands, the families, the people trust us to represent it as if it’s our own,†says Selena. “It’s about more than the wine.â€
–Maya Payne Smart & Tennille M. R
The B.E. Next Award is presented to the fearless young entrepreneur age 21-35 tapped to be a future business leader.
Innovator of the Year Award Winner
Felix Ejeckam, Co-Founder/CEO
Group4 Labs Inc.
Menlo Park, CA
Semiconductor manufacturer
FROM THE BOTTOM UP
What Ejeckam says it takes to grow organically:
1] A strong business model
2] Acquiring top talent
3] Choosing work strategically
You don’t have that sense of entrepreneurship being risky if your parents were already doing it,†observes Felix Ejeckam.
Though he may have followed a family tradition, what Ejeckam does is definitely the future. Launched in 2003, his Menlo Park, California-based company, Group4Labs Inc. (www.group4labs.com), builds energy-efficient diamond-based semiconductors for wireless products.
Clients immediately bought into the idea, with funding coming from corporate and government clients such as the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health. The company also received grants ranging from $100,000 to $750,000 through the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Innovation Research Program. Though it may seem like everything simply fell into place, Ejeckam says perseverance was as vital then as it is now. “You’ve got to hang in there and stick to it,†the 38-year-old urges other entrepreneurs. “Be a good listener, but don’t be drowned by other people’s dogma.â€
Last year, the 12-person firm had revenues of $1.25 million. And while Ejeckam does not rule out raising money through venture capital in the future, he credits the company’s ability to grow organically as a testament to its strong business model. “The nature of our growth has been entirely about money made the old-fashioned way,†he says.
Because of this, the company has learned to work within its means so to speak. “Developing two technologies at the same time was too expensive, inefficient, and unsustainable for a very tiny startup of five,†recalls Ejeckam. “We needed to step back and rebuild the core elements of our business plan. Along the way, we found out that one idea lacked one key ingredient that the other did have–a sustainable cash flow–which is a positive business model for a small company. We elected to leave that product idea for another, larger company. Had we not invested in the strategic planning process early on, we would have learned some very expensive lessons rather late.â€
–T. E. H.
The Innovator of the Year Award is given to a business flourishing in an innovative industry or approaching business/entrepreneurship in a groundbreaking manner via their products and/or services.
Small Business of the Year Award
Valerie Phillips, Owner/CEO
The Phillips Co. Inc.
Columbus, IN
Machining, assembly, subassembly, warehousing, distributing
PEOPLE MATTER
Phillips’ keys to standout performance:
1] Create the right workplace
environment for employees
2] Reward positive behavior and
recognize disengagement
Twenty-five years in the management ranks at an engine manufacturer company, Valerie Phillips likes to think she was content in corporate America. Around this same time, her father, Sam Phillips, co-founder of Columbus, Indiana-based assembly and warehousing company PDI, was considering retirement. Recognizing that their goals were complementary, the father and daughter agreed in 2006 that Valerie would buy the company for $380,000. “I thought at some point I might join the company but only if it made sense, because I had some very good opportunities at my former employer, such as leading the startup of a corporate diversity procurement initiative and managing a plant in the U.K.,†admits Phillips.
After changing the name from PDI to The Phillips Co. Inc. (www.thephillipscompany.com) and acquiring Edinburgh, Indiana-based manufacturing company Maximum Spindle Utilization Inc., Phillips saw TPCI revenues increase from $2.8 million in 2007 to $6 million in 2008.
Phillips attributes the company’s standout performance to internal catalysts. “I believe if employees are happy at work then they’re going to produce a quality product, and in the end the customers are going to be happy with our service,†says Phillips. And handling her employees with kid gloves is exactly what it took to survive the financial downturn.
“We saw it coming last November and then the orders kind of fell off in December,†recalls Phillips. “So, we quickly did the right things to get our costs in line.†To counter the slump, work hours were cut from 40 to 30 per week, resulting in a 25% decrease in salaries.
“The employees at first were skeptical, but they know that working 75% is better than not having a job at all. So, even though their personal finances are less, I feel that I gained respect,†says the 50-year-old. “We took the across the board approach: Each and every employee would be impacted, including me.â€
Phillips looks to buy yet another company in the near future that will help TPCI grow to be 100s proportions. She adds,
“It’s about being financially strong so that I can give to employees and give to the community.â€
–T. E. H
The Small Business of the Year Award is presented to the small business owner whose efforts and/or entrepreneurial pursuits exemplify the passion and commitment needed to overcome adversity as well as attain success.
The Community Champion Award
Jalen Rose
The Jalen Rose Foundation
Detroit, MI
Education and sports-related grants benefiting underserved youth
SHOOTING FOR SUCCESS
Building a winning foundation:
1] Do it from the heart
2] Get people involved
3] Recruit passionate,
professional people
Retired 13-year NBA veteran Jalen Rose will never forget the day basketball icon Earvin “Magic†Johnson came to speak to his high school class. “I remember feeling like I would love to be in a similar position to help kids taste their dreams,†says Rose. And he’s done just that.
The Jalen Rose Foundation (www.jalenrose.com/philanthropy.html) works to assist individuals and families in underserved communities and disaster-stricken areas here and abroad. But the emphasis is on helping young people in Rose’s hometown of Detroit. With his help, more than 30 high school students have received college scholarships of $10,000 each. The foundation also provides grants to nonprofit organizations that develop unique programs centered on sports and education. “Hope is the biggest thing that some of these kids have, and they need people willing to aid and push them,†says Rose, who started the foundation in 2000. “That gives them the fuel they need to excel.â€
The foundation hit an important milestone in 2007, distributing more than $1 million to charities, including a children’s hospital in the Congo as well as victims assistance programs for those still affected by Hurricane Katrina. Now a sports broadcaster and analyst for ESPN-ABC, Rose has an endowed scholarship at the University of Michigan, his alma mater.
Rose’s motivation stems from his own upbringing; the 36-year-old credits neighborhood programs such as the Police Athletic League and the Amateur Athletic Union, both of which kept him off the streets. Knowing firsthand the important role they play, Rose is focused on making sure his foundation adds to their number, noting, “These kids just need an opportunity.â€
–LaToya M. Smith
The Community Champion Award recognizes individuals working to promote volunteerism, business development, minority empowerment, education, wealth preservation, and leadership in their hometowns.
This article originally appeared in the August 2009 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.