Playing to win: these ventures are growing through innovation and dedication. (Eight Annual Small Business Awards).

Despite tough economic conditions, black-owned small businesses continue to grow--in fact, many are thriving. Each year; the editors of BE identify a dozen companies that have made a commitment to excellence regardless of economic woes.

The candidates for the BE Small Business Awards were selected from the following categories: Emerging Company of the Year, Business Innovator of the Year, Rising Star, and Kidpreneurs. The winners will be announced at the eighth annual Black Enterprise/Microsoft Entrepreneurs Conference to be held May 14-18, 2003, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee. Titled "New Rules, New Players: Changing the Face of Business," the event gives business owners the opportunity to identify capital sources, find vending opportunities, and, of course, network. Attendees will have a chance to meet this year's nominees--a group that can provide valuable lessons to entrepreneurs large and small.

EMERGING COMPANY OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

This award business that are poised for future growth they've carved out a special niche for their business or have adopted creative marketing techniques.

MadisonSmallwood Financial Group

TYPE OF BUSINESS Financial services PRINCIPALS Horace Madison, Solomon Smallwood LOCATION New York, NY

The disparity between the amount of money entertainers generate and the amount they actually keep inspired Horace Madison and Solomon Smallwood to help artists develop sound financial practices.

Launched in 2000, MadisonSmallwood Financial Group provides a range of financial services, including bookkeeping, accounting and tax preparation, estate planning, insurance coverage, and investment portfolios. The 20-person firm, which generated $2,1 million in 2001 and more than $2,2 million in 2002, has clients such as Usher, OutKast, Musiq, and T.J. Duckett, a running back for the Atlanta Falcons. All told, they manage more than $40 million in assets.

Synch-Solutions Inc.

TYPE OF BUSINESS Systems integration CEO John Sterling LOCATION Chicago, IL

Synch-Solutions Inc. is on the fast track to growth, but CEO John Sterling is looking to achieve that growth at a slow and steady pace.

The company provides systems integration solutions and implementation strategies, including business process design, application integration, project management, and training. Sterling's company, formed in 1998, has cornered a niche in the systems integration market. With 63 employees, the firm's revenues have grown from $1 million in 2000, to $6 million in 2001, to $13 million in 2002.

"We primarily do work in the public sector," explains Sterling, 38, who has a degree in computer science from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, and 12 years experience in the industry.

Total Service Solutions Inc.

TYPE OF BUSINESS Software design and engineering PRESIDENT & CEO John W, Chandler LOCATION Lanham, MD

John Chandler is going global. In the past year, Lanham, Maryland-based Total Service Solutions Inc. was awarded a $150,000 contract by the Department of Labor to install and develop a training center in Nigeria, West Africa, for the Armed Forces Resettlement Center. It will also provide the software to link computer systems to connect community resource centers in Western and Southern Africa with universities, colleges, and schools in the United States. With 95 employees, the business has been growing steadily. Revenues for 2000 totaled $7.5 million and grew to $8.9 million and $9.5 million for 2001 and 2002, respectively.

The company also provides IT training and customized software to the public sector.

BUSINESS INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

This award honors companies that have set trends and broken new ground in a particular industry.

Decision Information Resources Inc.

TYPE OF BUSINESS Research and evaluation services PRESIDENT Russell Jackson LOCATION Houston, TX

Laughed in 1984 by Russell Jackson, Decision Information Resources Inc. offers research and evaluation services to government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and corporations. The company's services include program and organizational assessment, survey research, data collection and analysis, and support services. Clients include the Department of Labor and the Department of Education. Decision Information Resources generated some $6,6 million in 2002.

Launched with "one contract and a tot of faith," according to Jackson, 55, the Houston-based company now employs 25 full-time employees. "It's an area of work that I've always done," explains Jackson. "I've always worked in policy research--initially as a municipal government employee."

Jackson, who has masters and a doctorate degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Michigan, has years of experience in research, including as a vice president and director of research for the Philadelphia correctional system and as Director of Research for Houston.

Jackson is laying a strategy for future growth by increasing the company's penetration into the private sector. "It's partially a focus of needing to diversify beyond the federal arena."

Metro Therapy Providers Inc.

TYPE OF BUSINESS Therapy services for children PRESIDENT Karen Bennett LOCATION Tucker, GA

Realizing there was a gap in home-health services in the Atlanta area, Karen Bennett, a physical therapist, decided to fill the void. Launched in 1990, Metro Therapy Providers Inc. offers physical, occupational, and speech therapy services to children and adolescents.

With a full-time staff of six and a cadre of 29 independent therapists, the firm provides services at the patient's home or., school. Patients are referred by private doctors, hospitals, or federal programs such as the Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities. Revenues for 2002 totaled a little more than $2 million. "I found there was nobody willing to come into the community and handle these underserved children," says Bennett, 47. "I was probably one of the lowest-paid therapists for the first couple of years since I didn't pay myself; [I] just built up the payroll."

The company plans to implement new technology to streamline the billing and documentation process. Bennett's goal is to equip each therapist with a PDA or laptop so that all billing and documentation can be handled electronically. "By utilizing technology, we will have the opportunity to provide services to children across the state and will also be able to venture into untapped arenas," she says.

Mobile Cardiac Imaging L.L.C.

TYPE OF BUSINESS Mobile medical imaging CEO Colleen Payne-Nabors LOCATION Tulsa, OK

Colleen Payne-Nabors knew her business was doing well when a competitor offered to buy her out. "I said, `Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not ready to retire yet.'"

Mobile Cardiac Imaging L.L.C. offers a slew of services, including mobile ultrasound and nuclear medicine, to rural and metropolitan hospitals, clinics, and private physician offices. Launched in t998 after Payne-Nabors, 39, a nuclear medicine technologist, decided to take the entrepreneurial route, the company now employs a staff of t3 and has four vehicles. The business generated about $285,000 in 1999, its first year; $1.2 million in 2001; and $1.6 million in 2002.

The company's high-tech medical mobile coach, which cost $654,000, serves approximately 1,000 people per year. "It's about 55 feet and has a full nuclear medicine department. We can took at the heart and determine if we need angioplasty or bypass," Payne-Nabors says. "We can also look at the skeletal system and the soft tissue and determine if cancer is in remission, if it has spread, or if it's localized." The company's other vehicles are small mobile vans that are used for transporting medical equipment to clients. "The mobile environment is the trend of the future. We took forward to continued growth due to the trend of outsourcing medical services to hospitals," Payne-Nabors says.

RISING STAR NOMINEES

This award recognizes individuals, ages 21-35, whose outstanding skills, professionalism, and perseverance have established them as future business leaders.

D&D Innovations Inc.

TYPE OF BUSINESS Engineering CEO Orlando Robinson LOCATION Southfield, MI

Orlando Robinson lost his fiancee in a fatal car accident in 1997. The tragic event inspired him to develop products to ensure that motorists use seatbelts.

Robinson's company, D&D Innovations Inc., manufactures the Seatbelt Shifter Lock, an electronic device designed to reduce fatalities by preventing drivers from taking a vehicle out of park until seatbelts are fastened. Robinson, 30, says the product is being tested for use in General Motors vehicles. The company also offers electrical, electronic, and software-engineering products and services to the automotive industry. "When a plant shuts down for whatever electrical reason, they'll give us a call and ask us to send engineers or techs to repair the problem,', he says. "We provide emergency response."

The firm's largest client is Lear Corp., a publicly traded supplier of auto components to automotive industry in which D&D provides electronic and software engineering services. The deal represents some $1,5 million in annual revenues.

Should Robinson land a deal with GM, he expects revenues at his Southfield, Michigan-based firm to grow exponentially. Deal or no deal, he projects 2003 revenues to exceed $2.5 million, compared with more than $1 million for 2002. In anticipation, he's moving his business to a 56,000-square-foot facility in the Detroit area.

TechnikOne

TYPE OF BUSINESS Website development PRESIDENT/CEO Martin J. McNeese, L. Kareem Geiger LOCATION Charlotte, NC

When Martin J. McNeese, 28, decided to form Website developing firm TechnikOne in 1998, he scraped together $1,200 for computing gear and software. Today, he and partner, L. Karim Geiger, 29, are at the helm of a fast-growing business that generated $450,000 in revenues for 2002, a sharp increase from revenues of $260,000 in 2001.

When the firm was in its infancy, Mc, Neese worked 9-to-5 as an accountant while devoting his remaining hours to the business, which he ran out of his home, routinely staying up past 3 a.m. Geiger, a 29-year-old network engineer, was brought onboard in 1999 for his business savvy. Duties at TechnikOne are now split between the two partners: McNeese handles the creative aspect of the agency, while Geiger concentrates on business development.

With clients such as Honda, New Line Cinema, IBM, and Universal Music Group, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based TechnikOne is one of the few technology-related firms to retain its original client list.

IBM selected Technik0ne, along with three other firms, to provide Website development. "We're in the midst of doing a pretty big usability project." says Geiger. "Basically, we're going to be the guys to write the blueprint." Geiger estimates the deal will add some 25%-30% to the company's bottom line.

Quintessence Entertainment Inc.

TYPE OF BUSINESS Film and video production PRESIDENT Melinda Emerson LOCATION Philadelphia, PA

Founded by 30-year-old Melinda Emerson in 1999, Quintessence provides promotional and production services, including script writing, film directing and editing, graphic design, and interactive media development (which includes Web design, animation, and multimedia presentations).

Boasting clients such as Verizon, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Citizens Bank, Comcast Corp., and the NBA Players Association, the six-person staff grossed $299,000 in 2002, $187,000 in 2001, and hopes to break the $1 million mark in 2003. "A lot of that has been built by word-of-mouth referrals and networking," says Emerson. "I really started networking through the national minority supplier development council. I [mailed] all the corporate members information about my company and [called] them and [reminded] them who I was."

Emerson plans to go into commercial film production, putting the company's Small Business Association 8(a) and Hub Zone certifications to good use. "Now we're going back to our corporate friends and telling them about our new status because a lot of these corporations that do business with the federal government have requirements they have to meet."

TEENPRENEUR NOMINEES

This award recognizes entrepreneurs under the age of 18 who serve as role models and are committed to advancing the rich tradition of black business achievement.

Alleyne Studio

TYPE OF BUSINESS Musical instruction INSTRUCTOR Monique Alleyne LOCATION Washington, D.C.

Monique Alleyne started taking piano lessons when she was six years Old. Now 17, she is teaching others to play. Founded in 2001. the Washington, D.C.-based studio has six students, ages5to 60, and generated $8,600 in revenues in 2002. in addition to piano lessons, AIleyne teaches music theory, music history, and ear training.

"I like to teach and I like children. It's a good way to make money and I get to teach from my own home," she says. "And it's an opportunity to share my talent and the gift of music with others."

To promote her business, Alleyne uses the word-of-mouth approach as welt as placing ads. "Half of the people / teach found out about my studio through my mother and other friends," she explains. "The other half found out because of my various advertisements at churches, schools, and recreational facilities."

Alleyne, a junior at the Duke EIlington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., where she undergoes intense training in piano, is hoping-to attend Florida A&M University and ultimately receive a doctor of music education degree. "I would tike to double major in music education as well as radio and television broadcasting," she says. "My ultimate goal is to have my own studio."

Blackgirl Magazine

TYPE OF BUSINESS Teen magazine EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Kenya James LOCATION Atlanta, GA

Kenya James may have started Blackgirl Magazine in mid-2002 at the age of 12, but she's a veteran when it comes to running a business. "1 had one business in third grade, and in sixth grade I started a cake business.

"I started the magazine because I'm an avid reader of magazines, and I wanted a magazine that reflected my generation. Since I didn't see that I decided to start one myself," James says. After five issues, James' bimonthly magazine has attracted top-notch advertisers including Phat Farm, UniverSoul Circus, and the Rev. Al Sharpton. To date, the business--which has 10 staff members, most of whom are teenagers--has generated $22;000-$25,000.

"I think the magazine will stilt be around when I'm 20 years old," James says. "It will bathe voice of black girls worldwide. That's what my ultimate goal is--for the magazine to develop and become a publication that reflects the African American teenager."

Legit Wear/Green by Nature

TYPE OF BUSINESS Customized apparel and lawn care CEO Jaren Kelly LOCATION Virginia Beach, VA

Jaren Kelly launched his companies in 2000. The 14-year-old Virginia Beach, Virginia, resident was inspired by a youth program his father was involved in that taught business skills to children.

The two-man operation provides a range of services, including printing custom apparel--such as T-shirts, sweat suits, and jerseys for community events and offers lawn-care services such as mowing, trimming hedges, mulching, raking leaves, and weeding. The businesses took in $2,700 in 2002. Kelly is responsible for day-to-day operations, landing new customers, organizing schedules, and balancing accounts.

Kelly has expansion plans. "Right now we're focusing on these two businesses, but I de have an idea for a third business--cleaning houses."

Alan Hughes
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