PAGE A2 Winston-Salem Chronicle THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1988
Enterprise
BUSINESS PROFILE
Council hosts Investment Fair
By ANGIE MARTIN
Chfonide staff Writer
The Executive Investment CouncU
of Winston-Salem has existed for less
than two years and continues to give the
public access to the financial "how-tos"
on everything from "How to Be Rich
By Age 30" to "What To Do When The
Stock Market Crashes."
The CouncU is composed of mem
bers from six local Afro-American
investment companies. It recently held
its second Investment Fair hosting a
variety of business workshops.
The Executive Investment Council
was founded in June 1986. It is com
posed of local Afro-American investors
from six investment clubs. The invest
ment clubs are: The Winston Group;
The Up and Coming Investment Club;
Lime Investment Group; Visions Invest
ment Club; Investment Ventures Unlim
ited and Forsyth Investment Farmers.
Consultants from Legg, Mason,
Wood and Waller; H«feR Block and
Dean Witter were among those conduct
ing the mini-seminars last Saturday at
First Baptist Church.
Investment Fair keynote speaker,
John Winters who has been featured in
""Money” magazine, entertained and
educated participants with his rags-to-
riches story. As one of the foremost
real estate developers in the country and
the first Afro-American elected to the
Raleigh city council. Winters shared
insights on financial savvy and also
spoke on the racism he encountered in
the business and political arenas.
When he was a teenager he applied
business acumen by seUing sandwiches
to rail customers for a small commis
sion. However, he said that when he
began to collect significant profits he
had to usurp the railroad station cater
ing services profits by producing a
competitive sel^on ofc sandwiches on
his own.
The young entrqireneur began his
first business venture in retaliation of a
white man's remark. Winters said the
train station pay master told him "this is
too much money for a nigger to be
making."
"A man should be judged on his
industriousness and rewarded accord
ingly," Winters told the audience. Win
ters was also elected to the North Car
olina state senate in 1974.
But befrae becoming an elected offi
cial, Winters had learned the hard way that
the cola of his skin was a barrier. He said
he hated to tell his children that they were
not allowed to sit in certain seats at the
theater in North Carolina because they
were Afro-Americans.
John Winters: "A man should be judged on his industriousness and
rewarded accordingly" (photo by Santana).
"I learned Spanish on the streets
of New York," said Winters, so he used
that to his personal advantage. Winters
entertained the audience when he
described how he handled the
encounter. Winters said he telephoned
the manager of the theater and, speak
ing in broken English seasoned with a
heavy Spanish flavoring to his speech,
he was able to convince the manager
that he and his "ninos" were Puerto
Rican, thereby gaining access to the
choicest movie house seats.
"Si, senor, the manager, he say it
okay for us to see movie," Winters said..
Alderman Virginia Newell, a lopg^tifii^ '
friend of Winters, and about 30 others
present roared with laughter when Win
ters shared his account.
He applauded the efforts by the
East Winston Development Corporation
to address the economic needs of the
city's predominately Afro-American
areas.
Winters, who at one time was a
milkman, said it is possible for individu
als to start sound financial futures even
with meager beginnings. At one time.
Waters lived in public housing units. In
later years, he received recognition for his
Biltmore apartment complex.
Tb Afro-Americans, Winters said,
"traditionally, we as a people have been
consumers, and what is the opposite of
being a consumer? It's being a produc
er! This is what black Americans have
to do!"
He said that the same kind of
"wheeling and dealing" that goes on in
politics must be used as financial strate
gies as well.
He said parents should send their
children to school to "learn how to put
the numbers together."
Winters said that Afro-American
business people must not limit their
marketing goals. "You cannot be a suc
cessful businessman when you only
offer your services to depressed mar
kets, That's .where you get experience,"
Newell presented an appreciation
award to Winters saying that the spon
soring group couldn't afford to give him
any money but wanted to thank him for
his involvement. "Money cannot lake
the place of this," Winters said in hum
ble acceptance.
Elwanda Ingram, co-chairman of
the CouncO, said that the Council want
ed to educate the Afro-American com
munity about long term investment.
She said the Council hoped to consider
real estate ventures in the community
soon.
'The purpose of the fair is to edu
cate people about investing opportuni
ties," said Ingram. "Our goal is to pool
resources so that we can get involved in
economic ventures."
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