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ICBO
INTERRACIAL COUNCIL FOR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
ADDRESS BY DAVID MAHONEY
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Norton Simon Inc.

It's an honor to attend the annual dinner of the ICBO--a dinner to pay tribute to the vision, courage and just plain hard work of minority entrepreneurs.

Minority business has come a long way since the first ICBO dinner sixteen years ago--thanks in large part to the energy and perseverance of the many people in this room.

This progress hasn't been easy.  It has taken place in a period of severe economic stress and against great odds.  Business, and especially small business, has had to cope with double-digit inflation, high interest rates, mushrooming regulations, increased imports, the energy crisis and the worst recession in forty years.

Despite those obstacles, minority business has enlarged its beachhead in the economy.  Many minority-owned firms have prospered.  Many others are starting up with bright hopes.  The inspiring growth of the minority business sector is the result of a fierce struggle for survival, a struggle that continues today.

Black business is beautiful but it is also fragile.  It needs broadening, strengthening and a good bit of support.  Consider these facts:

-- Only two percent of black-owned business is incorporated.

-- Only a fifth has salaried workers.

-- Its revenues are estimated at about $15 billion, less than one percent of the total revenues of all American business.

-- The overwhelming majority of black businesses are in their early, most vulnerable stage.  Eighty-five of the top hundred non-financial black businesses are less than twenty years old, and 63 of those are less than ten years old.

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Mahoney; Smith; Howard; Corrin

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Corrin; Mahoney; Jordan; Heilmann

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Sengstacke; Hatcher; Martin

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Buford; Mr. and Mrs. Edley

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Corrin; Beekman; Watkins

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