The Inner City 100
100 street-smart companies.
71. Pinnacle Technical Resources
305%
9.6 million
150
A lot of companies shed IT talent between 2000 and 2002, and Nina Vaca snapped it up to help solve her clients' IT and payroll headaches. Vaca, a native of Ecuador, is proud that her staff is diverse: About 85% of employees are women or people of color.
72. Colorlab Cosmetics
303%
1.9 million
30
Rockford, Ill.
As a makeup artist, Mary Swaab received lots of requests for custom-blended cosmetics. So in 1996 she started Colorlab. The company makes private-label cosmetics for salons, dermatologists, and plastic surgeons, and does contract manufacturing for beauty companies. This summer, it will open beauty counters in Paris's Galeries Lafayette and London's Selfridges, where staffers will mix personalized lipsticks, foundations, and other products in under ten minutes.
73. A&A Contracting
286%
1.6 million
25
This company renovates historic buildings, meticulously restoring plaster and woodwork and buffing up worn exteriors. Most projects deal with pre-1920s structures; A&A recently transformed an old convent into a 22-unit apartment building.
74. ScriptSave
277%
23.4 million
128
ScriptSave connects customers of insurance companies, health care organizations, and HMOs in all 50 states with its network of 50,000 pharmacies to help them save up to 22% on the cost of their prescription medicines. Founder Charles Horn says 1.5 million ScriptSave subscribers saved about $175 million in out-of-pocket expenses last year and about 12 million subscribers have saved close to $1 billion since he started the company a decade ago.
75. Brightside Academy
270%
28.6 million
857
Brightside (formerly Allegheny Child Care Academy) runs 38 child care centers in inner city Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Cleveland. A few years ago the company began encountering serious financial troubles. The private equity firm that bought the business in 2003 put the company into bankruptcy, installed a new CEO, brought the company out of bankruptcy, and, in 2005, renamed it. Today, Brightside is growing again.
76. Automated Teller Accessories
265%
4.8 million
50
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