Via: defendernetwork.com
Over the past dozen years, if you looked at the circumstances surrounding New Orleans-based architecture and contracting firm Perez, the only reasonable forecast you could generate would be failure.
Six years ago, Hurricane Katrina decimated the city. In 2008, the financial downturn not only stopped the construction industry in its tracks, but it also cut off the lines of credit that many small businesses needed to survive.
Then, in 2010, BP began gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico just off the coast of Louisiana, punishing the local economy even more. But over the past five years, Perez not only survived these onslaughts, the 54-person company experienced a year-over-year growth rate of 102%.
As exceptional as Perez’s story is, their performance is on par with other companies listed on the Inner City 100 list, an annual ranking of the fastest growing small businesses in America’s urban centers. Compiled by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), the list is now in its 13th year and gathers insight not only about what makes these firms successful, but also about what competitive advantages they have by setting up shop in inner city neighborhoods.
“These are incredibly successful businesses with products that are crucial to today and tomorrow’s economy, and with business models that are run efficiently and well,” says Mary Kay Leonard, the president and CEO of the ICIC.
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