tKIje Cljarlotte ^osit
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 1997
6A
STRICTLY BUSINESS
Faith and
finances
together
CHARLES ROSS
Your
Personal
Finance
Metro Express expands its services
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
A Gastonia-based company is
making major changes in its
10th year of operation.
Metrolina Courier Inc.’s
biggest change is its name, now
Metro Express. The change,
according to president Joseph
Greene, reflects the company’s
shift in focus toward expansion.
In addition, there are several
management
changes.
Greene, who
co-founded
Metrolina
Courier in
1986, wfll con
tinue as presi
dent and
CEO, but two
Greene
new senior
managers assuming day-to-day
responsibilities for the company.
Barry McNaughton, a former
Spartan Express executive, has
been named executive vice presi
dent and will oversee Metro’s
overall management. Another
Spartan Express executive, Rick
Wyatt, was named vice presi
dent of operations. He vriU over
see management of Metro’s vehi
cles, employees and facilities,
including new facilities in
Charlotte and Durham. R.A.
Bell, who has been with the
company since its founding, will
continue as operations and fleet
maintenance
supervisor.
Jackie
Gardin, anoth
er 10-year
employee, .will
oversee all
administrative
functions,
including the McNaughton
Durham and
Charlotte terminals.
Metro’s growth started with
the acquisition and renovating
Many churches are offering a
variety of support groups, pro
grams and seminars to their
members to help cope in a com
plex society. One topic that is
becoming popular personal
finance. Congregations around
the country are teaching bibli
cally based principles to money
management.
The Bible has hundreds of
verses that deal with handling
money. Subjects covered include
debt, investing, budgets, insur
ance, charitable giving and
teaching children wise money
management skills.
Many people are turning to the
scriptures out of frustration of
seeing their own finances
impacted during challenging
times. They are looking for
sound advice that is divinely
inspired.
Debt
One subject that is covered
very well is — debt. There are
many warnings about the mis
use of debt. The Bible never
mentions that it is wrong or sin
ful to use debt, but cautions that
debt is a kind of slavery and that
being overextended without a
means for repayment can mean
the loss of your possessions and
more importantly your reputa
tion.
One clear direction is given
and that is if you borrow money,
it must be repaid. The biblical
financial advice shared is that
bankruptcy is not an alternative
to working out a plan vrith your
creditors.
Investing
Saving and investing always
seems to be an area of much con
cern for many people. ’There is,
of course, the encouragement to
save money on a regular basis,
but there is also a recommended
amount. We should save 20 per
cent. 'This is revealed in the book
of Genesis.
One basic advice from scrip
ture deals with diversification,
spreading your money among
different types of investments
since you never know which
investment will prove profitable.
The bible also warns against
investing in speculative, get
rich-quick schemes and says
that it's wiser to put your money
in investments you are familiar
with.
Charitable giving
As far back as Sunday School
you probably remember the
verse: “It is better to give than to
receive.” In the biblical sense,
giving is recognized as an admis
sion that there is a higher
authority that governs the uni
verse. Giving to support the
work of the church and those
who are less fortunate is an
acknowledgment of that divine
See FAITH on page 9A
Northwest entrepreneurs
PHOTO/PAUL WILLIAMS 111
Northwest Enterprise Community Empowerment Center executive director Rock Johnson, president Jim Ross and administra
tive assistant Bettye Clark talk about the future during Tuesday’s open house at the West Charlotte Business Incubator.
Program to boost westside businesses
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Another city-sponsored effort
to boost black entrepreneurship
in west Charlotte has started.
The Northwest Enterprise
Community Empowernient
Center, operational for several
months, officially opened
Tuesday at the West Charlotte
Business Incubator. C.R. ‘Tlock”
Johnson is executive director at
center, one of three in the city.
The centers are funded
through the Charlotte City
Within a City program, which
seciu-ed a federal grant to set
up enterprise zones which are
targeted for economic develop
ment assistance.
Johnson said the Northwest
Enterprise Center will focus on
fostering black entrepreneur
ship and helping establish and
sustain small businesses in the
Statesville Avenue, RozzeUe’s
Ferry Road, Trade Street
(between Johnson C. Smith
University and 1-77) and
Beatties Ford Road areas.
“The Enterprise Community
will help revitalize communi
ties by encom-aging businesses
to move into the enterprise
zone and attracting businesses
by showing them tax breaks,”
Johnson said.
“We are working to bring
resources together with ideas.
The money we have is seed
money from the federal gov
ernment.”
The other enterprise zones
are the west, made up of
Wilkinson Boulevard and the
Wilmore area off West
Boulevard, and the east, which
includes Cherry and
Griertewn.
Charlotte applied for the
enterprise community grant
three years ago and decided to
have three distinct zones to
reduce competition among the
different areas.
“We are working and serving
as brokers for resources in this
area,” Johnson said. “We are
See PROGRAM on page 9A
Texaco tries to repair image
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -
Texaco Inc. said Monday it will
sell $150 million in corporate
debt securities through a minor
ity investment firm, trying to
enhance its image after the
recent race-discrimination
embarrassment.
The company selected
Blaylock & Partners L.P., a
New York firm formed in 1993,
as the lead underwriter for the
10-year note sale. Texaco hasn't
borrowed money from investors
through a debt offering in about
four years.
Texaco acknowledged it chose
Blaylock & Partners as part of
its efforts to reach out to minori
ties following the recent $176
million settlement of a race dis
crimination lawsuit by black
employees.
“We are saying it is consistent
with our plans,” said Cynthia B.
Michener, a Texaco spokes
woman. “But we were also
impressed with Blaylock’s track
record.”
Michener said Texaco selected
Blaylock after careful studies,
but she could not say how many
other firms were considered and
how many were minority
owned.
She said Texaco was
impressed by the company’s
successful underwriting of a
See SAVINGS on page 9A
BUSINESS TO BUSINESS
of a terminal facility on Piper'
Lane near Charlotte/Douglas'
International Airport. The facUi-.
ty has 12 employees and covers
10,000 square feet.
“With this new terminal,
Metro Express will be delivering '
to several large retail chain'
stores in the greater Charlotte’
area,” Wyatt said. “We opened
the facility already handling up
to 9,000 pieces a week. We
expect the facility to reach
See METRO on page 9A
Diversity
going
abroad
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - When Julie
England, a quality manager for
Texas Instruments, visited a
plant in the Philippines two
years ago, a local supervisor
approached her. He’d read of a
seminar she’d attended in the
States and was baffled.
“He asked, ‘What is sexual
harassment?”’ she recalled. “I
could tell by the look on his face
he was dumbfounded.”
After spending years working
to first bire and then better uti
lize a more varied work force at
home through non-discriminato-
ry and other programs, U.S.
companies and managers like
England are setting their sights
on “diversity” abroad.
They’re dispatching more
women and members of ethnic
groups overseas. They’re trying
to sensitize foreigners about
American concerns such as sexu
al harassment and hiring
minorities.
Yet they’re not exporting diver
sity just because it’s the right
thing to do. Companies that
adopted such programs at home
for ethical reasons have also
found that diversity makes good
business sense.
When gaps are bridged,
diverse workers inspire more
creativity in the workplace, com
panies have found. And with the
growing global economy, U.S.
firms are finding they have more
incentive than ever to get diver
gent employees to work togeth
er.
That doesn’t make it easy. In
many countries, equal opportu
nity (jobs for both sexes and all
etlmic groups) is not respected.
“We can’t go in and say, ‘Your
culture has been doing this for
40 centuries and effective
Tuesday, you’re going to
change,”’ said Bob Hamilton, a
diversity consultant at Dupont
Co. “It takes time and steady
work to get past some of this.”
Nor is the learning one-way.
Americans are also trying to
drop their once-prevalent
assumptions that Yankees know
best.
Beth Bull, director of finance
for Texas Instruments in Asia,
said that since moving to
Taiwan she’s had to adjust her
attitudes about one of the funda
mentals of business life - meet
ings.
Americans readily offer sug
gestions during meetings, but
Asian employees usually defer to
See DIVERSITY on page 9A
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