Eddie G. Davis wants to see at least five to 10 black-owned businesses in the St. Louis metropolitan area generate more than $10 million a year each in revenue by 2011.
The goal is anchored in reality as he works to empower and strengthen black-owned businesses in his professional and volunteer work.
It is this relentless effort that got the attention of the White House.
Davis was honored at the White House recently for his entrepreneurial spirit and his commitment to supporting minority-owned businesses.
Davis, president of DaLite and Associates, received the 2009 National Minority Champion Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration this month.
“The SBA is proud to honor these men and women as true champions of small business, whose tireless efforts have provided tangible and significant support to small businesses and to their communities,” said Karen G. Mills, of the Small Business Administration.
“They provide the counseling, advice and support that small business owners need and foster an environment in which the spirit of entrepreneurship can flourish.”
At DaLite and Associates, Davis serves as a business consultant for small and mid-size businesses. His volunteer work mirrors his work at DaLite, he said. He works with 52 black-owned businesses as the director of the Center for the Acceleration of African-American Business (CAAAB), which is an initiative of the St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable.
One of the goals of CAAAB is to create those $10-million businesses Davis mentioned. The goal was set in 2006, and Davis said the center is moving toward that goal.
In a sampling of the members of the center, Davis said the businesses had generated $7 million in revenue in 2007. The economic climate caused that number to drop to $4.5 million. But he said all the member businesses are small business that are growing.
In addition to assisting business owners with financial management issues, accessing capital, marketing and sales strategies, he also offers technical assistance and provides mentors.
“It is important to me because African-American businesses are at the bottom of the economic totem pole,” Davis said, adding that CAAAB is the only support group that focuses on helping African-American businesses.
He said strengthening black-owned businesses helps the community and the region overall.
“When businesses here aren’t doing well, the St. Louis metropolitan area is not doing well,” he said.
“If you strengthen African-American businesses within the region, then the St. Louis region cannot help but do better. When the St. Louis region catches a cold, African-American businesses catch pneumonia and that is what we are trying to reverse.”
In addition to these efforts, Davis serves as volunteer chairman of the Economic Development Committee. Davis said he is humbled that his work has been recognized by the White House.
Davis said when he and 15 other awardees arrived in Washington, D.C., there was a reception for them at the State Department and afterward there was a meeting with President Barack Obama in the East Room of the White House. The president spoke with them about the importance of small businesses in America.
Both his visit to the White House and winning the award were awe-inspiring experiences, he said.
“I didn’t have an appreciation for this level of government before going there,” Davis said. “It gives me a level of appreciation for the significance of the award.”
Winning the award is a long process that begins with a district-level award. If someone receives the district award, he or she competes for the state award. And if he or she wins the state award, they become the state’s representative for the national award.
“It was quite a humbling experience,” he said. “At that level there are some very sophisticate business owners.”
For 26 years, Davis was employed by Union Electric Company, which is now Ameren UE. He started as a car washer and worked his way up through the company, serving as a meter reader and meter installer and helper to supervisor of the community relations department.
He finally served as the company’s minority business developer in the purchasing department. In 1996, he became president of the St. Louis Minority Business Council and worked there until 2001 when he formed DaLite and Associates.
