Black Entrepreneurial Business of America (BEBA) features profiles of black business leaders, entrepreneurs, and people from all walks of life, who are looking to bringing about a change in their lives. We are building the most comprehensive database of successful black entrepreneurs, black CEO's, black executives and black business leaders from around the world. Our focus is on success and inspiring success. Our wish it that, this database will serve as an inspiration to you in your daily life. Your only limit in achieving success is the limits you place on yourself. So be inspired by the achievers on Black Entrepreneurial Business of America (BEBA).

During Slavery

Paul Cuffe (1759-1817), a free black man, operated his own successful shipbuilding company in Connecticut in the late 1700's and early 1800's. He used the wealth he accumulated to help other blacks.
William Johnson, freed in 1820, earned a modest fortune operating barbershops in Natchez, Mississippi in the 1830's and 1840's. He kept detailed records of his business and personal life.
James Forten (1766-1842) sail maker, abolitionist and inventor made a fortune in the maritime industry, in which blacks were represented at every level.
Cee McCarty ran an import and dry goods business in New Orleans which operated throughout Louisiana. She owned thirty-two slaves and accumulated a fortune of $155,000 (about $2 million in today's dollars.)
According to local tax records, before 1855 there were twenty-one black businessmen in New York City who made more than $100,000 per year.

Late 1800's Early 1900's

Arthur George Gaston formed the Booker T. Washington Burial Society in 1923 in Birmingham, Alabama. Operating on a subscription basis it offered a decent burial at a reasonable cost. In 1939 he founded the Booker T. Washington Business College, offering courses in bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing for blacks who could not attend white business schools. Also started the Gaston Motel, and Citizens Federal Savings and Loan Association in 1957. In the 1960's he founded the A.G. Gaston Boy's Club.
Maggie Lena Walker (1867-1934) the daughter of a poor washer woman, started the black-owned and operated Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia in 1903, becoming the first American woman to found a bank.
Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker (1867-1919) known as Madame C.J. Walker, invented a treatment for straightening hair and began a million-dollar business promoting and selling her hair care products.

~Build a Database
~Feed it every day
~Communicate with it in a systematic way
~Service all the leads & referrals that come your way

Allied Resource Referral Generating Program

The 3 Principles of Referrals

~Educate
~Ask for Help
~Reward

Repeat these three simple steps over and over.

Treat the referral source better than the referral. Always show appreciation at every point – when you take the referral call, when you meet with the referral, when you do business with the referral and when the transaction is complete.

The Five Systems of Referrals

*Establish a Database of your Allied Resources (Make a List)
[Types: Public, Partners & Vendors, Realtor Peers].

*Make Systematic Personal Contact (Stay Close with 33 ‘Touches’ a year)
[Actions: Direct Mail, Dial, Drop By, Do Lunch, Throw a Party]

*Systematic Follow-up with Special Communications (Cultivate the Relationship) [Options: Handwritten Notes, Items of Value, Endorsement Letters]

*Provide Exceptional Customer Service (Develop their Loyalty)
[Plan: Caring attitude, Communicate, Consistency through Systems]

*Implement a Client Appreciation Program (Go the extra mile every month)
[Surprise & Delight: Do something special systematically]