CEO URGES MINORITIES TO ‘PARTNER UP’

Minority firms are urged to merge for shot at gov’t contracts

Earl “Butch” Graves Jr., chief executive of New York-based Black Enterprise, offered toughlove advice Tuesday to minorityowned businesses seeking government contracts in Memphis.

“You can solve many of your own challenges by simply reinvesting in yourselves,” Graves told an audience of more than 300 who signed up for the city of Memphis’ “We Mean Business” symposium.

Graves, son of the founder of Black Enterprise magazine, acknowledged that black-owned firms traditionally have had more difficulty getting access to capital to finance businesses.

However, he said that the greatest challenge for the firms is not access to capital, but scaling up to be large enough to compete for corporate and government contracts.

Corporations and governments want to do business with fewer suppliers, not more, said Graves, a board member of Memphis-based AutoZone Inc.

In metropolitan Memphis, almost half the 1.3 million residents are AfricanAmerican. Black entrepreneurs number 55,159, although only 993 black-owned firms employed at least one paid worker in 2012, compared to 12,792 white-owned firms with at least one paid worker, the latest U.S. Census business data show.

Like corporate America, minorityowned firms should partner and merge to scale up, said Graves, who has expanded Black Enterprise into a multimedia company and co-founded a private equity firm.

“To improve black business development in this country, either we have to partner up or we will forever be relegated to micro business status with micro business growth and, correspondingly, micro profits,” he said.

Graves also said that minority-owned firms must invest in technology to survive as undercapitalized businesses

in a global economy. He pointed to the publishing industry, a shrinking number of black-owned car dealerships and a funeral industry where caskets can be ordered online as examples.

“If you’re not having some infrastructure in technology, you will quickly be passed, and it impacts minority-owned businesses disproportionately,” Graves said.

He also urged AfricanAmerican entrepreneurs to practice “conscientious consumerism” by seeking out black-owned firms for purchases and services. He called it “nothing more than self-preservation,” and said people of other ethnicities do so, citing Jewish people as one example.

“How can we expect others to invest in and support our businesses when we are essentially unwilling to do it for ourselves?” asked Graves, a graduate of Yale who holds a Harvard MBA and played in the NBA.

“You can solve many of your own challenges by simply reinvesting in yourselves.”

He also said he includes FedEx, a sponsor of the symposium, among the companies he exclusively partners with.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland spoke to the luncheon crowd briefly before Graves’ keynote address. He urged advocates for small, minorityowned and female-owned businesses and owners themselves to ensure that they are certified to bid for upcoming large city projects.

“This morning you business owners heard about those projects coming up,” Strickland said. “Now we need you to take action.”

PHOTOS BY MIKE BROWN/THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL Earl Graves Jr., president and CEO of Black Enterprise, tells minority business owners to join forces and reinvest in themselves to compete for government contracts during his keynote address at the “We Mean Business” symposium Tuesday. Memphis Mayor...

Christina Stevison, president of Sisterhood Showcase, joins the standing ovation for Earl Graves Jr. following his keynote address at the “We Mean Business” symposium at Cook Convention Center. A crowd of more than 300 attended the event.