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St. Louis
Companies Selected for Fostering Inner
City Development
Left
to right: Dick Fleming, president & CEO of the RCGA; Vern
Wellington, president of Wellington/CPM; Earvin "Magic" Johnson,
NBA Hall of Famer and entrepreneur; and Phil Hoge, executive director
of the St. Louis Development Corporation were on hand at the Annual
ICIC-Inc. "Inner City 100" awards Entrepreneurship Dinner in Boston
last month. Wellington was ranked in the top 10 nationally and
was one of six local firms to be honored.
St.
Louis is home to six fast-growing companies named to the 2nd Annual
ICIC-Inc. Magazine "Inner City 100" list--second only to
Cleveland in its representation on the list. The St. Louis region
also was honored to have one of the award recipients make the
top 10 nationally in its role in inner city development.
The
six "Inner City 100" CEOs were honored at the Inner-City Entrepreneurship
Dinner in Boston in early April hosted by Harvard Business School
professor and ICIC founder Michael Porter, and Inc. Magazine
Editor-in-Chief George Gendron.
Also
attending the dinner were Dick Fleming, RCGA president and CEO;
RCGA Chairman John Bachmann, managing partner of Edward Jones;
St. Louis Mayor Clarence Harmon; St. Louis American Newspaper
publisher and president Dr. Donald Suggs; RCGA Senior Vice President
Ronnie Bryant; and Michael Holmes, principal of Edward Jones and
co-chair of the Initiative.
NBA
Hall of Famer and entrepreneur Earvin "Magic Johnson received
the National Inner-City Leadership Award for his role in inner
city revitalization. Theaters bearing his name have been pioneers
in bringing high-quality entertainment back to inner cities and
catalysts for broader inner-city retail development.
The
St. Louis companies recognized for their strong reliance on their
inner-city locations to attract workers are:
- August
Packaging -- CEO Daniel McSkimming notes that strategic
location is the primary reason why inner-city St. Louis is a
competitive location for his business.
- Janitron
-- Company partners John Boyce and Coby McGinty
cite their inner-city location to draw most of their 200 employees
from the immediate area or from a local bus route.
- St.
Louis Pre-Sort -- Owner Dan Francis relies on local
programs to find the workforce for his presort mail services
business. Eleven of his 14 managers started out in a high school
mentoring program.
- Titan
Tube Manufacturers and Triad Manufacturing -- Managers
at these two companies find that though many of their workers
may be qualified and learn the trade quickly, they are unable
to reach a suburban location due to transportation barriers.
Titan makes lawn, garden, and exercise products. Triad specializes
in custom metal and wood commercial fixtures.
- Wellington/CPM
-- this minority-owned construction company is focused on giving
opportunities to inner-city students. CEO Vern Wellington
notes that more than half of his employees are minorities and
live in the inner city. The company was recognized as one of
the top 10 nationally for its contribution to the inner city's
economy.
Bachmann
notes, "These six companies exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit
in St. Louis, and it's wonderful to be recognized nationally in
such a prestigious magazine as Inc. The CEOs of these companies
are proving that it's possible to run a growing, thriving business
in the inner city."
Fleming
further notes, "Inner-city development requires four primary ingredients:
Building on existing strengths; fostering entrepreneurship; focusing
on workforce development and recruitment; and retaining what we
have. These six companies on the "Inner City 100" list prove that
growth opportunities do exist in inner-city St. Louis.
They are succeeding not in spite of their inner-city location,
but because of it."
As
a major step in the RCGA's strategic initiatives to focus on "Community
Capitalism,"-- to stimulate for-profit, business-driven expansion,
job creation and investment in the urban core-- the RCGA, in partnership
with a host of St. Louis-area companies and civic organizations,
has engaged the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)
to focus on identifying market-based opportunities for increasing
jobs, income and wealth in inner-city St. Louis.
This
project identified four business clusters -- Metal Manufacturing,
Transportation and Logistics, Construction, and Commercial Services
-- as ones that provide opportunity for strengthening the competitive
position of inner-city St. Louis companies, while offering business
and job growth opportunities for inner-city residents.
The
RCGA and the St. Louis Minority Business Council are two of the
20 sponsors of the ICIC project. Together, they nominated 15 successful
inner-city companies for this year's "Inner City 100" list.
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