May 22, 2013

TCG Wins Place on Inner City 100 for Fourth Year Running

Company Ranked as the 46th-Fastest-Growing Inner City Company in the United States

Washington, DC, May 22, 2013: TCG, a leading government technology strategy and IT advisor, has been named by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and Fortune Magazine as one of the 100 fastest-growing inner city companies in the United States. The Inner City 100 program recognizes successful inner city companies and their CEOs as role models for entrepreneurship, innovative business practices, and job creation in America’s urban communities. The full list can be viewed at www.fortune.com/innercity100.

[img_assist|nid=266|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=48]The Inner City 100 is important because it celebrates the vitality of areas that often are thought of as wastelands. “New firms in central cities have higher failure rates but faster rates of employment growth in advanced services,” according to recent research published in the Journal of the American Planning Association.

Yet the Inner City 100 competition and winners prove “that not only can companies thrive in inner cities, but that inner city companies enjoy unique competitive advantages,” according to the program description. Those advantages include innovative investment programs from sponsors (Bank of America, Chevron Corporation, Staples, and Goldman Sachs among others), and changes in local communities stimulated by the winning businesses.

TCG ranked 46th on the 2013 list, which was announced at the annual Inner City 100 Awards Dinner on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Boston, MA. The Awards marked the Inner City 100 program’s 15th year and launched a formal alumni network of Inner City 100 winners. Preceding the awards celebration, winners attended a two-day small business symposium featuring business management case studies presented by Harvard Business School professors and peer-to-peer learning sessions led by CEOs of fast-growing firms. Keynote speakers included Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter; Tim Westergren, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Pandora Media; Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle; and Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder, President and CEO of Chobani. This is TCG’s fourth consecutive appearance on the list having ranked 37th in 2010, 17th in 2011, and 23rd in 2012.

“We are elated to be recognized by ICIC and Fortune Magazine as an Inner City 100 company for the fourth year in a row,” said TCG President Daniel Turner. “We’re proud to be a forerunner in helping to revitalize Truxton Circle, one of DC’s long-neglected inner city neighborhoods. In the 7 years since we moved our headquarters here, we have begun to see many improvements already begin to take place. As we continue our rapid growth in revenue, clients, and employees, we’re looking forward to continuing to be a vital member of the DC business community and helping to accelerate the city’s economic growth for years to come.”

“We are excited to celebrate inner city businesses like TCG whose success stories are not told nearly often enough,” said Mary Kay Leonard, ICIC President and CEO. “These entrepreneurs are driving economic forces in America’s urban cores, growing their communities along with their businesses.”

The Inner City 100 list provides unmatched original data on the fastest-growing inner city businesses in the U.S. In the last 15 years, 750 companies have earned positions on the Inner City 100, collectively generating more than $2.1 billion in annual revenues and creating over 76,000 new jobs. Chevron Corporation, Staples and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses are long-time sponsors of the program.

For the 2013 list, winners represent a wide span of geography, operating in 48 cities and 27 states. The 2013 Inner City 100 winners grew at a compound annual growth rate of 36 percent and an average standard growth rate of 411 percent between 2007 and 2011. Collectively, the top 100 inner city businesses employ 10,391 employees and have created more than 5,863 new jobs between 2007 and 2011. Not only are the winners powerful job creators in their communities, but they also help grow their employees – 56% provide onsite training programs.

The list is proof of the concept that doing business in an inner city area holds a distinct competitive advantage.  ICIC has been studying the economic condition of the largest 100 American cities for more than a decade and is working to revitalize inner cities across the country.

Highlights of the 2013 Inner City 100 include :

  • Employ 10,391 workers (48% inner city residents; 20% immigrants; and 37% minorities).
  • Created 5,863 new jobs in the last five years.
  • 28% are woman-owned. Nationally, only 10% of companies with over $1 million in annual revenues are woman-owned.
  • 35% are minority-owned. Nationally, only 21% of all companies are headed by minorities.  
  • Median company age is 14 years.

To qualify for the Inner City 100 list, companies were required to have at least 51 percent of their operations located in an economically distressed urban area; have at least 10 full-time employees; and a five-year operating sales history that includes at least $200,000 in revenues in the first year of consideration, an increase in year five sales over year four sales, and fifth-year sales of at least $1 million. For the 2013 list, ICIC looked at total revenue growth from 2007 to 2011 and the specific rankings were based on these growth rates. An economically distressed urban area is defined by ICIC as having a 50 percent higher unemployment level, 50 percent higher poverty level, and 50 percent lower median income than the metropolitan statistical area.

About TCG
TCG (https://stage.tcg.com) is an award-winning small business that specializes in tailored information technology solutions and advisory services with a particular focus on grants management, collaboration platforms, and budget formulation and execution.  TCG transforms information technology infrastructures and inconsistent processes to integrated environments built on reusable functionality, consistent business processes, and interoperable infrastructures. The multiple awards that TCG and its clients have received demonstrate the benefits of using best practices such as CMMI, ITIL, and PMBOK to meet complex technology and management needs.

TCG’s company goal is to save the US taxpayer $1 billion by 2016. So far the company has saved the government in excess of $265 million by automating once-costly processes, using time-saving and money-saving processes in developing code, helping the government restructure its business processes, and paying careful attention to the company’s own expenses on contracts.

About ICIC
ICIC (www.icic.org) is a nonprofit research and strategy organization and the leading authority on U.S. inner city economies and the businesses that thrive there. Founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, ICIC expands inner city economies by providing businesses, governments and investors with the most comprehensive and actionable information in the field about urban market opportunities. ICIC’s unique knowledge and expertise about inner city success factors and thriving companies is developed from specialized urban networks and path-breaking research.

Inner City 100 Sponsors
Chevron Corporation, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, and Staples, Inc.

Contact:
David G. Cassidy
Vice President
TCG
Tel: 202–742-8471
david.cassidy@tcg.com
https://stage.tcg.com