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The Inner City 100

The fourth annual Inner City 100.

By Mike Hofman |  @mikehofman   | 
 

The Inner City 100, year four. The fastest-growing businesses based in some of America's poorest neighborhoods continue to fascinate us. Members of this year's list, compiled in collaboration with Boston-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, grossed $1.9 billion in 2000 and employed 15,571 people. Hailing from cities ranging from Denver to San Francisco to Wichita, they fix generators, maintain networks, and sell carpets, khakis, cookies, beef, and yachts.

In spite of the presumed drawbacks of urban business -- taxes, competition, and crime, to name a few -- these companies cite their milieu as a real competitive advantage, replete with abundant workers, affordable real estate, and proximate customers. And metropolitan commerce also has an appealing, dynamic tempo -- one set by these 100 shrewd and charismatic entrepreneurs.


The Inner City 100

Emotional Branding
Market Makers
The 2002 Inner City 100 list

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    • Mike Hofman

    Mike Hofman was previously editor of Inc.com and a deputy editor at Inc. magazine, which he joined in 1996. The site was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Digital Media in 2010, and was named the best business website by Folio Magazine. In 2006, Hofman was part of a team of writers nominated for a Webby Award for best business blog. He lives in New York City.


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