Business Briefs
BUSINESS COMMENTS
Minority businesses complain of roadblocks to success
By JEFF DONN
Assoaated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) ?
He totes a power briefcase, wears a
monogrammed shirt, and supplies
corporate clients like Digital and
Coors. So why is Lennox D. Bundy
angry? Like many blacks climbing
the business ladder, he says he has
fought harder to achieve and pro
long his success than white com
petitors. His business is headquar
tered in Merrimack, N.H.
"If you're in a Communist
country," he says, "they tell you,
'Don't cross the fence!' At least they
tell you. Here, they tell you you can
cross the fence ? and then they
shoot you."
He spoke recently during a
break at a Springfield trade show
that brought together major corpo
rate buyers with minority-owned
suppliers.
The keynote speaker was
Wayne Budd, the associate attorney
general running the federal investi
gation of the beating of Rodney
? King, a Mark, by white Los Ange
les policemen. Budd set the tone by
saying, "All people have an equal
opportunity under the law, but you
know as well as I that has not been
true as a matter of practice."
Representatives of minority
owned companies say they need
such trade shows to help to make up
for their lack of access to cash,
, social pressures and other road
blocks to riches for them and their
businesses. "Traditional financial
institutions redline minority com
munities and businesses," said Har
riet R. Michel, president of the New
York-based Minority Supplier
Council.
Indeed, the progress of minori
ty-owned businesses has been slow
by some measures. Such companies
provided about 1 percent of the
needs of corporate purchasers 20
years ago. They still represent only
1 percent to 2 percent, Michel said.
Yet the difficulties have not
discouraged blacks, Hispanics and
Asians from trying. The number of
minority-owned businesses in this
country has swelled to more than
15,000. Their ranks grew by 12 per
cent even in the year that ended in
June 1991 during the recession,
according to director May Ling
Tong of the New England Minority
Purchasing Council.
Suppliers at the Springfield
trade show were selling everything
from bookends to space shuttle
pans, security services to sophisti
cated money management
Bundy, 59, founded his busi
ness in 1979 to distribute and
design specialty promotional prod
ucts ? key chains, pen and pencil
sets, T-shirts, awards, balloons ? "
for businesses.
He started with firsthand
knowledge of the business because
he used to buy such products when
he worked for 12 years in product
quality at Honeywell, the computer
maker. But even that familiarity
with personalities and practices has
not put him squarely on an inside
track, he says.
He said neither government
agencies nor skeptical banks wanted
to help him raise the $20,000 he
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needed to launch his business, which
is based in Merrimack, N.H. Like
other minority businessmen, he says
he was forced to offer most of his
worldly possessions as collateral.
"Minorities cannot get any capital,"
he says. "I mortgaged everything I
had ? house, kids, car ? every
thing 1 could get my hands on."
His company now has two
offices, six employees and
$900,000 in annual sales. His cus
tomers include Coors Brewing Co.,
Digital Equipment Corp., and
Raytheon Co.
He sports the personal trap
pings of success with a shirt and
sports jacket that bear his. own
< name, as well as a business card
that says "Bundy Associates:
Lennox D. Bundy, President-CEO."
Charles S. Warner, who runs
Raytheon's minority business pro
grams, says the electronics compa
ny did about $80 million in business
last year with such companies. The
purchases helped Raytheon meet
federal requirements of 5 percent
minority involvement in contracts
over $500,000.
But Warner says Raytheon is
acting for other reasons too. "Part of
it is being a good corporate citizen,
but we also need to find suppliers
who can provide good products and
services," he said.
Warner, who is black, also
serves as president of the New Eng
land Minority Purchasing Council.
But Bundy feels his corporate
customers are the exceptions, and
he worries that his success could
slip away at any time. "I definitely
have to work harder to get new
accounts. I have to work harder to
maintain accounts/' he says. "If we
folded or went bankrupt, the first
thing they'd say is, Those guys did
n't know what the hell they were
doing."'
Yet the desire to rise in the
business world remains strong
among many blacks and other
minorities. "If I have a lot of
money, I know white people are
going to hide their racism," said
Fred Swan, who runs an African
American book store and education
al consulting service in Springfield.
Business Promotions
Gerl L. Hampton
Thomas L. Richardson
Wachovia makes new appointments
Geri L. Hampton has been
elected data processing officer at
Wachovia Operational Services
Corporation in Winston-Salem.
Thomas L. Richardson has been
elected systems officer.
Hampton is distribution/control
supervisor and Richardson is a senior
analyst programmer in the Information
Services Group. She is a native of
Charlotte and a graduate of the Uni
versity of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
V. Wayne Hampton of Charlotte.
Richardson is a native of
Queens, N.Y., and received a bache
lor's degree fropn City College of
New York.
The- 1992 "Annum Edition ?
of the ~ ?
Minority Business Directory
Now Available!
i
Over 400 minority-owned
businesses in the Winston-Salem
area, complete with names,
addresses, telephone numbers,
products and services. A valuable
resource for the entire community ?
use this guide to locate and
patronize minority- and female
owned businesses.
Order yours now while the
supply lasts! Only $3?? plus postage
and handling.
Fhhmm^M
JHdjrectoryI
imtMttWSMESS
Volume 4 No. 1
Carotin*
j I I W C Q f Please send my
j I ? I ? tvJ ? Minority Business Directory
j Name:
j Address:
City, State, Zip: w
Directory %3?? plus postage and handling M47 Total *487
-j- Make check or money order payable to:?
Winston-Salem Chronicle
and mail to: P.O. Box 1 636
Winston- Salem, NC 27102
.........
Can also be purchased at the
following locations:
The Reading Station (Marque Hotel)
W.H. Smith Concessions (Stouffer Hotel)
Special Occasions (MLK Drive)
S&W News (Jonestown Road)
Rainbow News (Brookstown Ave.)
Winston-Salem Chronicle
K&S News (Parkway Ptaza)
K&S News (Thruway)
K&S News (Pavilion)
K&S News (Sherwood)
K&S News (Hanes Mall)
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