Xtra 21 Express Trucking LLC, Among Fortune’s 2013 Inner City 100 Winners from ICIC

DALLAS - May 23, 2013 - PRLog -- Dallas, Texas, May 23, 2013 -- Xtra 21 Express Trucking LLC, was 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/

Xtra 21 Express Trucking, President Braylon Lester has received numerous awards but The Inner City 100 is important because it celebrates the vitality of areas that are often thought of as underserved or impoverished. Mr. Lester is a small business owner representing Dallas, Texas and has achieved a 51% growth in the last five years.  He recognizes the need to give back and generate revenue to increase global visibility of the city.  Texas' representation in the 2013 Inner City 100, an annual ranking of the fastest growing urban businesses in the U.S., is larger this year than at any other point in the program's 15-year history.

"If you look at the 11 companies on our list from Texas, you can almost track that to the growth industries," says Mary Kay Leonard, the president and CEO the Boston-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), which annually amasses the collection of dynamically performing urban firms. "They're a great case study about how a regional or state economy can actually be leveraged by, and for, inner city firms."

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 unique 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 full list can be viewed at www.fortune.com/innercity100.