Baltimore, Md. – April 25, 2006 – Planit, the Baltimore-based advertising and communications agency, today announced that it has ranked number 77 on the prestigious ICIC-Inc. Magazine Inner City 100 list. The annual ranking recognizes the fastest growing inner city companies in America.
Now in its 8th year, the Inner City 100 list provides unmatched original data on the fastest growing inner-city businesses in the U.S. More than 4,500 new nominations were received in 2006. Winners grew at a compound annual growth rate of 53 percent and an average rate of 655 percent between 2000 and 2004. Combined, the winning companies have created more than 10,381 new jobs between 2000 and 2004.
Baltimore was home to five of the winning companies including: Ascellon Corporation, Barcoding, getintegrated, Planit and the Visionary Marketing Group.
“This year’s Inner City 100 winners are located in inner cities, but their performance ranks them among the best-performing companies operating from any location, including central business districts,” said Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) President and CEO Dorothy Terrell. “For more than a decade at ICIC, we have insisted that inner cities encompass multiple competitive business advantages. This year’s Inner City 100 winners have identified and leveraged every one of them and added variations of their own. Inner City 100 2006 is truly the Year of the Savvy Entrepreneur.”
Sixty-five cities and 30 states were represented on the final list. Baltimore, Boston, Denver and Detroit had five winners apiece; California had the most winning companies of any state with 12.
To qualify for the Inner City 100, companies must 1.Be an independent, for-profit corporation, partnership, or proprietorship; 2. Be headquartered in or have 51% or more of its physical operations in economically distressed urban areas; 3. Have 10 or more employees; 4. Have a five year sales history that includes an increase in 2004 sales over 2003 sales, sales of at least $200,000 in 2000 and at least $1 million in 2004.
