Driven to Succeed.

These companies emerged as B.E.'s 1999 Small Business Award winners. Here's why.

CERTAINLY THE PROSPECT OF STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS may seem daunting, but each year men and women pursue entrepreneurship with determination and a will to succeed.

According to the Office of Advocacy's Small Business Administration (SBA), 628,900 new employer businesses were started last year (up from 628300 in 1997). And 9.7% of the 3.6 million new self employed firms were black-owned.

New and existing business owners are faced with many challenges, among them obtaining start-up and working capital, competing with other firms, keeping abreast of technology and maintaining profitability.

This year, we pay tribute to four tearless entrepreneurs who embrace their challenges and continue forging ahead. They were honored at the Fourth Annual Black Enterprise/ Bank of America Entrepreneurs Conference last May in Orlando, Florida, during the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Awards Dinner. These businesses are clearly in the forefront with regard to innovation, professionalism and growth.

EMERGING COMPANY OF THE YEAR

The Emerging Company of the Year Award recognizes businesses that are poised for future growth. They have adopted creative marketing techniques and carved out a niche for themselves.

Kathryn B. Freeland CEO RGII Technologies Inc.

In the fiercely competitive information technology arena, Kathryn Freerland has to be creative to attract and retain the best employees and clients. Freeland is CEO of RGII Technologies Inc. Her firm, which is based in Annapolis, Maryland, provides information technology, systems integration and engineering support services to federal, state and local governments.

"We want employees to come tip with better ideas and help our clients achieve their missions and goals better," says Freeland, 36. "I try to attract them with benefits [that make them want] to stay with a growing company. Our competition is fierce from [both] small and large companies. What sets RGII apart is our ability to personalize our services to our clients and to provide a quality support staff at reasonable prices."

To the astonishment of most clients, Freeland meets with each and every one of them on a quarterly basis, even if it means she has to be on the road for an entire month.

"I want to know personally from clients how we're doing, directly from them," says Freeland. "If there are issues, we can resolve them before they get out of hand. When these pieces are in place, revenues don't matter. I know we've been successful."

Freeland started her company in 1990 in the basement of her home with a desk and a computer. With $3,000 saved up, she worked at her company (previously named Freeland and Associates) and a full-time job as a program analyst manager at Cost Engineering Research in Alexandria, Virginia, while trying to get a business and strategic plan together. In 1992, tragedy struck. Freeland's first son, Richard Gregory II, was born but lived just 50 days before succumbing to an illness. As a memorial to her son, she incorporated the business as RGII Technologies in 1994.

Business picked up, and in 1995, Freeland secured her first major client, the Department of Commerce, with a five-year, $10 million contract.

Today, the firm has 250 employees (her husband, Richard, is COO), and clients that include the Department of the Navy and the Slate Department. In 1998, revenues were $10.4 million. The firm has tripled in size in the past three years.

"My goal is to become a $100 million company by 2003," says Freeland, the mother of six-year-old twins. "We'll achieve that goal with aggressive marketing, by challenging employees to do above and beyond what is expected of them and by forming strategic alliances with partners."

BUSINESS INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

The Business Innovator of the Year Award recognizes individuals who have successfully set trends and broken new ground in their respective industries.

Donald Snider President and CEO Paper-Plas Converting Inc.

Donald Snider is quite familiar with the term "going out on a limb."

During his lifetime, the 47-year-old has been a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee, a science teacher, a gas station attendant and an account manager for Randolph-General Medical, a medical supply company in Livonia, Michigan. In 1992, he was introduced to the paper conversion business as a consultant for Midwest Paper in Detroit, and was soon on the road to owning his own business.

Snider became interested in manufacturing, and learned that Midwest Paper had gone into bankruptcy in 1994. He attempted to purchase the converting division of the firm, but the selling price was too high. One year later, Snider made a successful bid, but he didn't have the capital to purchase the company Undaunted, he changed his strategy; if he could convince one of the. Big Three auto makers that he could produce packaging paper (used to protect auto glass during shipping), one of them would finance his new business. As it tinned out, Midwest had supplied most of its paper to Chrysler, which was looking for another minority firm to take over the contract.

"You have to sell yourself to those automotive companies you want to do business with," Snider says. "If you fail, they don't want it to come back on them. It prevents them from giving other opportunities to other minorities."

After many months of wooing, Snider landed a five-year contract worth $750,000. But one problem still remained. He didn't have a facility or the equipment to fulfill Chrysler's contract. Through loans and borrowing against his credit cards, Snider was able to finance a building himself and equip it with the machines he needed to produce automotive packaging materials. Paper-Plas Converting Inc. was born in 1995.

"I had a card table for a desk, four employees and my sister Valerie typed my invoices," recalls Paper Plas' president and CEO, who today heads up a $3 million, 40-employee firm with facilities in Michigan and Wisconsin. The Michigan facility provides conversion of paper products for shipping and packaging, customized chipboard, corrugated sheeting, coated papers and other paper products. It is Michigan's only minority-owned Tier One supplier in the paper conversion business. In Wisconsin, the firm packages after-market auto service parts and electronic components.

Clients include DaimlerChrysler, PPG Glass and Dana Corp. The firm also has strategic alliances with Packaging Corp. of America and xpedx, two of the top packaging and distribution companies in the world.

"My goal is to expand into automotive glass plants and make this my niche market," says Snider, who owns the only African American paper converting firm serving glass plants. "There are only six in the world. If I get [three of them], I'll be in good shape. But you have to have a good track record. We focus on this and satisfying our customers."

RISING STAR AWARD

The Rising Star Award acknowledges exceptional achievement by an individual who is under 35 and in the early stages of his or her business or professional career. With outstanding skills, professionalism and perseverance, this entrepreneur has established him- or herself as a future leader.

Francine Gray-Holt
President
Holt Computer Training &
Consulting Services Inc./
Holt Creative Solutions

Francine Gray-Holt was working as an executive secretary for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida in Jacksonville when a business idea hit.

"I needed to start a company because I realized there was a lot of demand for secretaries, but people didn't have word processing skills," says Gray-Holt, 36, "I wanted to make sure low-income people were marketable and had the necessary skills to gain high-paying jobs."

Gray-Holt had previous experience as a supervisor in the word processing division of Coopers & Lybrand in Jacksonville and had also trained co-workers at Blue Cross/ Blue Shield.

"To earn extra income for my family, I trained temporary clerks [in my laundry room] in word processing to turn them into secretaries," Gray-Holt says.

Her husband, Darryl, who served in the Navy, was transferred to New York City in ]991, where she worked for Citibank for six months as a secretary before opening her corporate and individual computer training business, Holt Computer Training & Consulting Services Inc. (HCTC), in 1992 in the heart of New York's financial district.

Her client base grew as a result of newspaper advertisements, and soon she received referrals from temporary agencies. She also found success developing employees who provide legal and financial services and, five years later, added Holt Creative Solutions (HCS) to provide computer training and temporary and permanent job placement services. With 89 employees, the $2.25 million firm has trained about 3,000 people and boasts a 99% placement rate.

Based on this stellar track record, HCS has attracted such heavyweight clients as Credit Suisse First Boston and Salomon Smith Barney. The firm also has a successful Workforce 2000 program that enables unemployed job seekers on public assistance to be trained in word processing and placed in jobs. The training program lasts four to six months.

"We had bike messengers who are now word processing managers," says Gray-Holt, who plans to open locations in Connecticut and New Jersey next year and expand corporate training and job placement services. "My expectations are so high. I just want to make a difference and help people who are poor to change their economic condition and self-esteem."

KIDPRENEURS[TM] AWARD

The Kidpreneurs Award honors a young entrepreneur or group of entrepreneurs, 18 years and under, who embodies the entrepreneurial spirit and is committed to advancing the rich tradition of black business achievement.

Anisah S. Rasheed
CEO
Sister Clowns

The fact that 14-year-old Anisah S. Rasheed has owned a business since age nine isn't surprising when you consider that entrepreneurship runs in her family. Her mother owns a financial services franchise; her father owns a computer consulting business; her grandfather owned a shoe shop; her grandmother owned a hat shop and her aunt owns a beauty salon.

As a youngster, Rasheed's two older sisters, Ameenah, 17, and Syiisha, 20, volunteered through the Red Cross to entertain--as clowns--children in hospitals and adults in nursing home facilities.

Since Rasheed was too young to accompany them, her mother, Valerie, suggested that the three siblings start a business in clown entertainment. The three started Sister Clowns in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1994, and Rasheed took over when her sisters felt they had outgrown the business.

"I liked being with children and making them laugh," says CEO Rasheed, who now has two employees and generated $2,050 in revenues last year.

To help ensure customer satisfaction and referrals, Rasheed has devised a system to manage her business from the first handshake with her clients to the last. For example, clients of Sister Clowns receive a needs assessment form, a formal contract, pricing structure and a thank-you note with five business cards to pass out.

"I like to make things simple for clients so they can be happy and just call to order the service," says Rasheed.

This business dynamo, who is a ninth-grade honor student and in the student government at William Fleming High School, also finds time to volunteer her entertainment services for numerous community service projects and play on her school's volleyball and basketball teams, just to name a few of her activities. After attending the BE Kidpreneurs[R]. Konference in 1998, she designed and facilitated a workshop to encourage other children to start their own businesses and is writing a book on becoming a young entrepreneur.

As part of her business plan, Rasheed plans to franchise Sister Clowns nationally, develop a Website and advertise her business in the local media. Rasheed also plans to copyright and trademark her business and patent the clown costumes.

"I like being an entrepreneur because I don't have to work for anybody and can do things on my own time," says Rasheed. "The money goes where I want it to go and I have a lot of freedom."

BLACK ENTERPRISE is accepting nominations for its Fifth Annual Small Business Awards. For criteria, an application and award information, contact BLACK ENTERPRISE, Attn: Small Business Awards Committee, 130 Fifth Ave., New York, New York 10011; fax: [phone]; e-mail: beunlim@blackenter prise.com.3