INC Magazine Ranks CrunchTime! on Top 100 Inner City Companies

The results of the Sixth Annual ICIC-Inc Magazine Inner City 100 have been announced, and Boston has the greatest number of companies on the list in the nation. The 2004 Inner City 100 winners in Boston are City Fresh Foods, City Lights Electrical, Commonwealth Worldwide Chauffered Transportation, CrunchTime! Information Systems, Global Protection Corporation, and Shawmut Design and Construction.

In Boston, the six Inner City 100 winners boasted an average annual growth rate of 300 percent over five years from 1998 to 2002. Nominations for this year's list were received from 155 cities, with the winning companies based in 55 cities. Boston and Chicago have the most winners with six, followed by Rochester with five and El Paso and New York with four.

"The Inner City 100 really have a profound, broader impact. We find that these companies pay higher than average wages. They disproportionately offer health care, retirement benefits, life insurance, and home ownership incentives. Some of them actually insist that their employees go back to school part-time as a condition of employment. We also find a very large portion of them, like almost 50% have considered starting their own business as a result of working in the company. So we're finding that these companies are incredible social programs," said Michael Porter, Harvard Business School Professor and ICIC's founder and CEO. "I think it's not understood how powerful business is in addressing the social agenda."

The list, a ranking of 100 of the fastest-growing businesses in inner city areas around the country, reveals that virtually all of these companies are profitable and planning to expand their workforces. The 2004 Inner City 100 showed an astounding average annual growth rate of 872 percent for the five-year period 1998-2002, up from last year's rate of 647 percent. This impressive list received over 7,000 nominations. These companies have created almost 11,600 new jobs in the past five years.

Merrill Lynch, the international financial management and business advisory services company, returns for the 2nd year as national sponsor of this year's program. "In our 20 years of providing lending and cash management to small and midsize businesses — many of which reside in the inner city — Merrill Lynch has seen a shift toward entrepreneurs choosing to grow their businesses in inner city communities, ultimately shaping the fabric of these communities," said David W. Tralka, Chairman, Merrill Lynch Business Financial Services. "Merrill Lynch applauds the Inner City 100 program in its championing of inner city businesses that ultimately have a tremendous impact on the economy."

Highlights of Inner City 100 company profiles include:

• Twenty-three percent of the list is minority-owned and thirteen percent of the list is owned by women;
• Eighty-one percent of business owners have considered expanding or relocating their company, but virtually all are considering doing so in an inner-city area;
• Fifty percent of company employees live in the inner city, of which all but 10% are mid-level employees and senior management;
• Ninety-three percent said they were planning to hire for new positions in the next six months, and 26 percent said they planned to hire for more than ten new positions;
• The average age of a CEO at the time their company was founded was 33; 56 percent of all CEO's have completed at least four years of college; and 81 percent live or have lived in an inner city;
• Close to a fifth of the owners say they intend to sell part or all of their company to their employees.

The companies will be honored in Boston on April 12-13, 2004, at the Inner City 100 Summit in Boston. The Summit is a two-day event that this year features seminars for Inner City 100 owners and managers at Harvard Business School, a reception at Fenway Park, and culminates in a gala awards dinner at the Westin Copley Plaza, where more than 1,000 guests are expected. In addition, Mayor Thomas Menino will receive the 2004 Inner City 100 City Award at the City Luncheon on April 13, 2004.

For more information about the 2004 Inner City 100 list contact Deirdre Coyle at 617 292-2363 ext.242.

Editor's note: The Inner City 100 winners are based in 55 cities. Inner City 100 companies were selected from a pool 7,000 companies nominated from 155 cities compared to approximately 5,000 last year and fewer than 250 in 1999, the first year of the award was given. Criteria for the award include having at least 51 percent of operations located in economically distressed urban areas; having sales of at least $150,000 in 1998 and at least $1 million in 2002. Average annual sales for the 100 companies in 2002 was in excess of $26.5 million. Collectively, sales totaled more than $2.6 billion.

About Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) is a national, non-partisan, not-for-profit organization founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter, following several years of pioneering research on inner-city business and economic development. With affiliates in three cities and significant on-the-ground activities in many others, ICIC has rapidly established itself as a national force in inner-city economic development. By identifying the competitive potential of inner cities; strategic location, local market demand, growth opportunities via integration with the regional economy and availability of labor, ICIC aims to build the business case for doing business in America's inner cities. ICIC's mission is to spark new thinking about the business potential of inner cities, thereby creating jobs and wealth for inner-city residents. For more information, please visit our web site at www.icic.org.