[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 3, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1084-E1087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENTREPRENEURIAL EXCELLENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 3, 1997

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the African-
American entrepreneurs featured in ``Black Enterprise'' magazine's June 
1997 cover story honoring six ``Marathon

[[Page E1085]]

Men,'' who have lead their companies to perennial presence on that 
magazine's list of the top 100 black-owned businesses nationally. They 
include Nathan Conyers of Detroit, a Ford dealer; John H. Johnson of 
Chicago involved in publishing, cosmetics and broadcasting; Herman J. 
Russell, a general contractor from Atlanta; Edward Lewis and Clarence 
Smith, New Yorkers engaged in publishing, licensing and entertainment; 
and Earl G. Graves, Jr., a magazine publisher also of New York City. 
All have demonstrated a unique blend of faith, determination, patience, 
perseverance, and just plain guts that have made their businesses 
successful through the years.

            The 25 Years of Black Entrepreneurial Excellence


       nathan g. conyers, president, conyers riverside ford, inc.

       When auto industry executives at Ford Motor Co. in Detroit 
     went looking for a few good men to start a dealership to 
     quell an economically disenfranchised, predominantly black 
     inner-city, they found one in the Conyers family. The 
     patriarch, John Sr., had spent his working life along the 
     Chrysler assembly line, and his successful lawyer sons, John 
     Jr. and Nathan, were ready to plunk down the needed capital 
     to get the cars rolling.
       But willingness isn't enough. When Conyers Ford appeared on 
     the original BE 100, then comprised of both industrial 
     service companies and auto dealers, it was one of 13 
     dealerships. Today, it's the only one left from that first 
     list, making it the oldest black-owned auto dealership in the 
     country. It has been a school of hard knocks, pings and 
     repairs, but the engine is still running strong.
       Conyers, who assumed responsibility for the dealership in a 
     coin toss with his brother John Jr., the congressman, says 
     there are four vital elements that will give a business, any 
     business, better opportunities for success: location, 
     capitalization, an understanding of the business and a 
     commitment to becoming part of the community you serve.
       ``For many black dealers, the location was not viable and 
     the auto manufacturers put them in ares that they couldn't 
     put whites,'' he says of the black dealers lost over the 
     years. ``It was a problem to get capital at competitive rates 
     25 years ago, and it's still a problem today. And, if you're 
     not in the right location, that's compounded.'' Also, many 
     dealers go through a manufacturer's dealer development 
     program, ``often coming from other businesses,'' only to be 
     offered a store in a locale that they know little about in a 
     community that knows little about them--points three and 
     four.
       Conyers admits his company started at a time when 
     government entities were more inclined to promote minority 
     businesses. He fears those days of government support and 
     private partnership are limited.
       On the flip side, he explains African Americans can do very 
     well under that kind of pressure. ``If you increase the odds, 
     it increases the will to succeed.'' But he cautions this will 
     come at a price: more successful black-owned businesses in 
     the future, but fewer of them.
       Conyers has mastered the ``art of the soft sell.'' It is 
     just those qualities that have helped him build a loyal 
     clientele. Part of our mission statement says, ``We're here 
     to serve and earn the business of our community and 
     customers.'' It's a credo he stresses to everyone keep before 
     them.
       Conyers says the other part of his corporate mission is to 
     train new dealers. To his credit, that mission has spawned 35 
     African American dealers, many of whom are women, who've 
     moved out of his shop and into their own dealerships.
       Besides those 35, he's training five children, two sons and 
     three daughters, to take over all facets of the business. His 
     eldest son, Steven, is general sales manager. Daughter Nancy 
     is the business manager for new cars, and son Peter is 
     business manager for used cars. Another daughter, Susan, is 
     the former Quality Commitment Performance manager. Daughter 
     Ellen is an attorney, handles contracts and collections and 
     is currently waiting to get into a dealer training program to 
     buy her own store.
       A quiet pride exudes from his eyes; the legacy continues. 
     ``The issue of succession is a whole new issue for black 
     businesses now that we have them in some number.'' Conyers 
     says he and his family have been working on a plan for the 
     past five years. ``I have qualified one of my children to be 
     on the dealer agreements so that if something happened to me, 
     they could step into the business,'' he explains.
       He has also virtually ruled out selling the business. 
     `We've always said no because we've put too much of our 
     blood, sweat and tears into this,'' he asserts.
       Equally important to Conyers is that more African Americans 
     pick up the banner of entrepreneurship moving into the 21st 
     century. `We need to convince our best and brightest that 
     getting into business for themselves is the thing to do. 
     Before, it was getting a factory job, then into the 
     professions--teachers, government workers--then into the 
     corporate world. Now we need to look at the entrepreneurial 
     world.''


              john j. johnson, ceo, johnson publishing co.

       When John H. Johnson started the Negro Digest 55 years ago, 
     it was the predecessor of what would become Ebony magazine, 
     which would spawn Jet, and this would lead to other, now 
     defunct, spin-offs. But those failures would lead to his most 
     recent successes--Ebony Man, and Ebony South Africa, which 
     marked the company's foray into international publishing. 
     Along the way, Johnson bought and sold three radio stations, 
     started a book publishing division and produced the former 
     syndicated television show, Ebony/Jet Showcase, and now 
     produces the annual American Black Achievement Awards for 
     television, which first aired in 1978. Johnson also created 
     two beauty care lines--Supreme Beauty Products and the world-
     renown Fashion Fair Cosmetics.
       While he is loath to consider himself an old man at 79, 
     Johnson had run the gauntlet for some 30 years before the 
     first BE 100s list was ever published. When it was, he was 
     listed second only to Motown Industries. For that, he's the 
     veteran iron man in black-owned business--always fighting, 
     always finishing at the top among the BE 100s companies. But 
     like most, he's faced his share of hurdles.
       ``The first 25 years were difficult, trying to get 
     circulation and to break through in advertising to get large 
     companies to recognize that black consumers had money and 
     would respond to advertising directed to them,'' Johnson 
     says. `The first 20 years or so in business, we couldn't get 
     a bank loan. Even the largest businesses in the world need 
     bank loans at some time or must have some other way to access 
     capital.''
       The second 25 years have been easier. Johnson has seen the 
     company mature, circulation double, start new businesses and 
     change the method by which its flagship properties are 
     handled. `You have to meet the new challenges [of the 21st 
     century], so in 1993, we took all three magazines--Ebony, 
     Ebony Man and Jet--desktop. Now we can send them to the 
     printer via e-mail, and in South Africa, it's the same 
     thing,'' explains Johnson.
       The legendary publisher says the hurdle for black 
     businesses in the next 25 years will continue to be the 
     same--``money, money, money,'' he scoffs. But if you have the 
     staying power and wherewithal, that is assuming you have a 
     good product and market to sell to, you'll be successful.'' 
     Johnson's mission over these next years is to see the company 
     survive and grow. To do so, he says that he will take 
     advantage of all new opportunities and embrace new technology 
     to get there. ``Never say never about new things,'' advises 
     the venerable publisher.
       Johnson has no plans to retire. ``I enjoy myself, I don't 
     work. When you love something, it's not work. I don't know 
     anything that gives me the same amount of pleasure.'' But he 
     began putting a succession plan in place when he brought 
     daughter Linda Johnson Rice on board. ``I see her playing an 
     increasing role in the management of the company and myself, 
     a lesser role, but never disassociated,'' says Johnson of his 
     daughter who is now president of the company. ``Parents never 
     give up their children, and this is my child,'' he adds.
       He also has no plans to sell his company or take it public. 
     And he says his daughter couldn't agree more. ``I could sell 
     it and get a lot of cash, but I don't see that I could do 
     anything else that would bring me as much fulfillment as 
     this. I've spent 55 years being my own boss; I'm too old to 
     have another.
       ``If you go public, the stockholders, the board of 
     directors, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) are 
     all your bosses and you've got to listen to them,'' he says. 
     ``We only have three board members: Linda, her mother [Eunice 
     Johnson] and I. Linda will succeed me. Even now, I don't do 
     anything that she doesn't agree on, and she me. There's a 
     mutual love and respect, so it's a joint venture now.''


               herman j. russell, ceo, h.j. russell & co.

       Herman Russell says he started on the entrepreneurial path 
     as an eight-year-old shining shoes. He has his own paper 
     route by 10 and bought his first piece of real estate for 
     $125 at 16. That real estate deal became the base of the H.J. 
     Russell Construction Co., buying and developing real estate 
     and working as a major minority contractor on most projects 
     built south of the Mason-Dixon line. Post-'60s and after the 
     hotbeds of the riots, there were 10 construction firms on the 
     original BE 100s list. Forty years later, Russell's company 
     is the only one left from the original list, one of the few 
     black-owned construction firms on the current list, and the 
     largest minority-owned general contractor in the U.S.
       ``You must make a decision early about what you want in 
     life,'' says Russell, whose dad taught him to save something 
     out of everything he made. ``The competition is keener now 
     and you have more qualified people competing for the jobs,'' 
     he explains.
       Russell says the biggest hurdle to staying in his line of 
     business, ironically, has not been capital, but training and 
     developing the people he needed for the jobs, and then 
     getting them to stick around. ``Most people are not willing 
     to wait or to pay the price as an individual to develop. When 
     you do, you have more to bring to the table,'' he explains.
       Russell has spent the time developing both his company and 
     his craft. But even when the first list was launched, Russell 
     Construction was a seasoned business. Many of Atlanta's 
     neighborhoods have residential homes and commercial buildings 
     that Herman Russell has worked on. And when it came time to 
     build a new municipal airport under then first black mayor, 
     Maynard Jackson, Russell, a neighbor, was poised and primed 
     for the roughly $19 million job. He was also a primary 
     subcontractor on projects during last summer's Olympics in 
     Atlanta.

[[Page E1086]]

       It's these blue-collar jobs that proved to be the 
     foundation of black middle-class America and the early source 
     of black economic progress. Russell says that emphasis is now 
     missing--to African Americans' detriment. ``There's a 
     generation now that when they were coming along, we didn't 
     emphasize the trades, only white-collar jobs, and we missed 
     the boat. You don't have to have a white-collar job to be 
     successful in life,'' he adds. ``When I walk out on a 
     construction job and it's 25% Latin Americans working all 
     phases of the job, I'm concerned. I remember when I was 
     serving my apprenticeship, most were black Americans, but we 
     don't see that today.''
       Going forward, Russell has tried to prepare his children, 
     H. Jerome Russell, president/chief operating officer and head 
     of the housing and property management division, and Michael 
     Russell, vice president and manager of the construction 
     division, to take over the company's reigns. But he says 
     they're not quite ready to take on the challenges of a firm 
     with international projects and consulting on many more. To 
     wit, he's brought in an outsider to get the firm over his 
     progeny's learning curve. In November 1996, Russell appointed 
     R.K. Sehgal chief executive officer and vice chairman to 
     report to him as chairman of the board.
       ``They're working me harder, and there's more to do now 
     with the new CEO getting lots of my input, but as the months 
     go by, I'm hoping to go from 14- to eight-hour days and have 
     more time for myself,'' Russell says.
       Like his CEO/chairman counterparts, Russell says he 
     wouldn't sell his company outright, but confesses that one 
     day, it will go public, probably soon. ``I'm almost sure the 
     family will keep the majority share of it, but we'll probably 
     go public within five years.'' With its diversified holdings, 
     including construction and management, property and real 
     estate management and development, and airport concessions, 
     it would make an attractive IPO. But whatever happens, 
     Russell says ``whoever becomes the next CEO must be prepared 
     to take on and carry on the business.''


    edward lewis, ceo, publisher clarence smith, president essence 
                          communications inc.

       When the Hollingsworth Group (now Essence Communications 
     Inc.) launched its magazine for black women in May 1970 with 
     a portrait-sized closeup of a brown-skinned woman wearing a 
     high, round 'fro, nothing could have shaken the publishing 
     world and white and black America more. Twenty-seven years, 
     two less partners and four editors-in-chief later, co-
     founders Edward Lewis and Clarence Smith have pushed Essence 
     Communications Inc. (ECI) from a magazine to a diversified 
     brand name synonymous with African American womanhood.
       On the publishing front, there's its flagship property, 
     Essence magazine; then there's Income Opportunities, a 
     general market magazine targeted to start-up businesses; and 
     two years ago, it started Latina, a magazine aimed at the 
     Hispanic women's market. There's a licensing division with a 
     collection of items from eyewear and hosiery to children's 
     books and a mail-order catalog. Finally, there's its 
     entertainment division, which once produced a weekly 
     syndicated television program and now focuses on an annual 
     awards show and three-day festival.
       Success has been manifest, but not without a tough start. 
     ``We thought we'd be a lot further,'' says Smith, president 
     of ECI. ``We didn't anticipate how much resistance there 
     would be by marketers to an African American women's 
     magazine,'' he says. Just getting out of the starting block 
     posed challenges. ``We had a business plan that called for 
     $1.5 million in capital; we opened with $130,000,'' adds CEO 
     Lewis.
       Smith says they underestimated the struggle it would take 
     for not only cash and advertisers, but even newsstand space. 
     ``We also had to overcome the inexperience of not running our 
     own businesses before. We learned that we could do with 
     less,'' explains Lewis.
       Start-up pains and racism aside, the key to the company's 
     growth has been its diversification, pushing the balance 
     sheet upwards. But to remain successful into the next decade, 
     the company ``must be leaner, nimble and able to take 
     advantage of opportunities globally to continue to grow,'' 
     says Lewis. ``There will be more opportunities to expand this 
     brand, especially in West and South Africa, and this will 
     continue to be the direction the company heads in,'' adds 
     Smith.
       To that end, ECI still faces a number of challenges, namely 
     financing for future projects. ``There are absolutely more 
     avenues, but it is still difficult for small and minority 
     businesses to get the capital they need. And with the mergers 
     taking place in banking, these banks are not geared to small 
     business; we're going to have to seek out other banks and 
     venture capitalists for money,'' Lewis says. While neither 
     partner has plans to sell the company, neither would rule out 
     that option. ``Anything's possible,'' added Lewis, ``but we 
     have to see how the world is conducting business and be 
     mindful of our shareholders' interests.''
       The other cornerstone is developing the company's next 
     generation of leaders. While neither partner would say 
     whether they have a succession plan, Lewis has no children 
     and Smith's two sons are not involved in the day-to-day 
     affairs of the company. But that has not stopped them from 
     tapping the talent of the company's limited partners and 
     employees, most notably, its highly recognized and respected 
     editor-in-chief, Susan L. Taylor.
       Lewis says he doesn't see himself running the magazine 
     daily in 25 years. ``We intend to encourage others and 
     prepare middle managers to move forward and run this 
     business. Black women will continue to be in the forefront.''
       Adds Smith: ``I think we have one of the best-known brands 
     in the world and the future for our shareholders, associates 
     and employees is very, very good.''


                earl g. graves, ceo, earl g. graves ltd.

       Imagine--or remember--the surprise many Americans, black 
     and white, got after the disturbances of the '60's when they 
     opened their mailboxes during those hot, hazy summer days of 
     August 1970 and found a copy of Black Enterprise magazine. 
     Inside, publisher Earl G. Graves had assembled a prestigious 
     board of advisors made up of black leaders in business and 
     politics of the day addressing the question, ``Why Black 
     Enterprise?'' It put the civil rights movement into 
     perspective--now that we've got the right to vote, would we 
     be free to pursue a slice of the American economic pie?
       Fast forward three years. Graves decided it was time to 
     quantify and qualify the kind and size of black businesses in 
     America and produced the first Black Enterprise 100, listing 
     the top 100 black-owned businesses in the United States.
       In a letter to his father on the Publisher's Page of the 
     June 1973 issue, Graves wrote: ``We have arrived at a point 
     in history where we can identify thousands of black-owned and 
     black-controlled businesses--many still embryonic and still 
     struggling for survival--that have been and are being 
     established across this country. These are humble beginnings. 
     But they are significant.''
       Fast forward again to 1997 and Graves, now older and a lot 
     wiser, reflects on the early years. ``I was trying to run a 
     business myself, while telling others what they needed to 
     know about trying to start or run their businesses,'' he 
     says. ``It was like being the teacher and reading five 
     chapters ahead of the class, like a student-teacher.''
       Assisting him in the process was his wife Barbara, who gave 
     up her job as a teacher to help her husband pursue his goal. 
     The magazine set out to tell readers ``how to'' do it. In the 
     process, its circulation has grown from a controlled 
     subscriber base of 100,000 to a current list of 300,000 and 
     3.1 million readers.
       Along the way, Graves bought and sold two radio stations 
     and a marketing research firm, and established another 
     division of the company, Black Enterprise Unlimited. This new 
     brand is responsible for the Entrepreneurial Conference and 
     the B.E./Pepsi Golf and Tennis Challenge. He also entered 
     into partnership with PepsiCo to purchase Pepsi-Cola of 
     Washington, D.C., L.P., a soft drink bottling franchise, and 
     is a general partner of Egoli Beverages, L.P., a Pepsi-Cola 
     franchise in South Africa.
       In the process, the magazine has set standards of 
     professional and entrepreneurial achievement with its lists 
     of the 25 Best Places for Blacks to Work, 40 Most Powerful 
     Black Executives, and Top 25 Blacks on Wall Street, while 
     coining vernacular like BUPPIE (Black Urban Professional) and 
     Kidpreneur TM.
       But many of the challenges posed to black businesses and 
     professionals in 1972--access to capital, corporate glass 
     ceilings, disparities in service and the perceived value of 
     the African American market and its dollars--remain in place 
     today. ``Since I wrote that letter to my father 25 years ago, 
     we've made enormous progress, but not enough has changed,'' 
     Graves points out.
       For the man with the signature mutton chop sideburns, 
     knocking on closed doors and inviting himself in, much like 
     Fred. ``The Hammer'' Williamson did in his films, Graves has 
     called on corporate America to give equal access to African 
     Americans in banks, boardrooms and businesses.
       ``The challenge in the next 25 years is to eradicate the 
     stereotype of us as the underclass,'' he says. ``America is 
     the greatest country in the free world. Our best history is 
     in front of us if we are willing to accept the reality that 
     African Americans must share in its bounty.'' To wit, Graves 
     has served on many corporate boards, most recently, AMR (the 
     corporate parent of American Airlines), Aetna, Chrysler 
     Corp., Federated Department Stores Inc., and Rohm & Haas 
     Corp.
       Unlike some of his entrepreneur peers who have not outlined 
     a clear succession plan for their businesses, Graves has, 
     ``The future bodes well for us because business is really 
     people--the people you have handling it--and our young people 
     are good,'' he says, referring to a list that includes his 
     three sons, Earl ``Butch'' Jr., executive vice president/COO 
     of Black Enterprise magazine; John, senior vice president 
     business ventures and head of B.E. Unlimited; and Michael, 
     vice president/general manager of Pepsi-Cola of Washington, 
     D.C.
       Graves anticipates developing more new lines of business. 
     He foresees Kidpreneuer TM, a development program 
     for budding entrepreneurs ages five to 18 held during the 
     annual Entrepreneurial Conference, growing into something 
     significant that might lead to other lines of business. ``We 
     are also looking at a line of financial services that will 
     assist in the growth and development of black-owned 
     businesses,'' he says. ``And, I hope to see the expansion of 
     the Pepsi franchise, which is doing very well, through

[[Page E1087]]

     more franchising area contiguous with where we are or 
     somewhere else.''
       While he hasn't relinquished his seat yet--``retire,'' he 
     laughs, ``I'll never be fully retired''--day-to-day 
     operations have been turned over to his sons and other senior 
     officers. Instead, Graves plans on continuing in a broader 
     fashion by shifting his attention from running his businesses 
     to focusing more on his corporate and volunteer activities. 
     Currently, he serves as a trustee on the board of Howard 
     University, the board of directors of the Associates of 
     Harvard University's Graduate School of Business, and as vice 
     president of relationships/marketing on the executive board 
     of the National Office of the Boy Scouts of America. He also 
     helped to raise $1 million for his alma mater, Morgan State 
     University, which has renamed its business school the Earl G. 
     Graves School of Business and Management. And, says the 
     grandfather of six, ``Barbara, my wife of 37 years and former 
     vice president/general manager, and I will be spending more 
     time with our grandchildren and skiing six months a year.''
       But asking an activist to stop being active for the causes 
     he believes in--education, enterprise and opportunity--is no 
     easy feat. ``Some of our businesses are reaching a level 
     where we'll be overcoming just basic business obstacles--
     developing a market and building market share. Getting these 
     economic business issues resolved in another 25 years will be 
     a struggle, but we must make it happen.''

     

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