I recently published an article in the Banner Biz section of the Boston Banner entitled the School of Hard Knocks. In this article I make the point that an entrepreneur does not have to have graduated from a top business school in order to grow a substantial business and I use the example of Wayne Huizenga, the founder of Blockbuster Video, Autonation, and Waste Management. In all three businesses Mr. Huizenga started with a plan to build a large national enterprise in an already existing industry. The question I raise is, if he can do this why can't more minority entrepreneurs also make the move to consolidate or simply build major minority enterprises in some existing industries. We now have MBEs who have the skills to manage multi-billion companies. I am a firm believer that if you can manage well a million dollar company, you can manage a billion dollar company, or at least manage a billion dollar company as well as some of the CEOs who currently do. So I implore our MBEs to manage what they have excellently, but think big.
May 10, 2010
