by Kasey Hariman
Chicago’s Biggest Minority-Owned Businesses 2019
According to Crain’s List, enterprise software company Vistex is at the top of the 2019 list of Chicago’s biggest minority-owned businesses. Vistex has the top spot with both the highest revenue and the largest total full-time employee headcount.
Crain’s List has the following minority-owned businesses in the top seven spots.
- Vistex, Inc. – 85% Asian
- Tyson Motor LLC – 100% Hispanic/Latino
- Cardenas Marketing Network Inc. – 100% Hispanic/Latino’
- Powers & Sons Construction Co. – 100% African-American/Black
- Loop Capital Markets – 89.9% African-American/Black; Asian; Hispanic/Latino
- Aakash Chemicals & Dye-Stuffs Inc. – 100% Asian
- Ariel Investments LLC – 678.8% African-American/Black; Asian; Hispanic/Latino
Kasey Kariman writes, “Other standouts include: Power & Sons Construction, reaching the No. 4 spot from its headquarters across state lines in Gary; SCR Medical Transportation, which has the second-largest headcount at 850 full-time employees; and Ardmore Roderick, which has the biggest revenue growth percentage outside our top 10.
Growth may in fact be a common theme among the companies on our list. Only three—Taylor Electric, Elston Materials and SCR Medical Transportation—saw declining revenues from 2017 to 2018, and even then, the biggest loss (Elston Materials’) was only a 4.5 percent drop.
A 2019 fact sheet from the U.S. Small Business Administration, based on the Census Bureau’s Survey of Entrepreneurs, shows an 11 percent increase in the total amount of minority-owned businesses with employees between 2014 and 2016, and notes that black/African American-owned businesses had the largest percentage of female owners. Our list includes four female majority owners, all of whom are African American and/or black-identified.
For the full print version of this list, as well as an Excel file with additional minority-owned businesses, join Crain’s as a Data Member and click over to the Data Center. The full list includes data on employee headcounts, 2018 revenues, minority ownership percentages and group(s) represented, as well as the names and titles of majority owners and other company execs.”
Source: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-list/chicagos-biggest-minority-owned-businesses-2019