Five Detroit companies nominated for Inner City Awards for growth prospects

Five Detroit firms made the Inner City 100 List this year. The companies are being honored for making their mark in the Motor City and helping the community.

To make the list companies must be located in an economically distressed urban area, have at least 10 employees and a five-year sales history that rises each year with a fifth year of at least $1 million in revenue. The rankings were based on total revenue growth over the five-year period.

The Detroit-based companies include:

• FutureNet Group is an IT consulting firm on the city's far West Side. It's one of the top government contractors in the U.S. working in the environmental and construction industries. The business' founder, Perry Mehta, calls it a “recession-proof company,” and thinks that it will grow significantly over the next five years.
• VisionIT, an IT staffing business, got its start when its CEO David Segura saw a lack of minorities working in the IT field and wanted to do something about while starting his own business. The firm, based out of New Center, specializes in things like webside development and technical infrastructure and looks to continue its "tremendous growth" for the foreseeable future.
• National Logistics Management, or more recently known as NLM, started out managing freight logistics in 1991 and has since expanded to a wide variety of services. Those include web-based event management, sourcing, methods for bringing client and carrier together, and performance benchmarking. The West Side business on Joy Road hopes to enhance its global services and provide the most comprehensive transportation management solutions and software solutions services possible.
• Aluminum Supply Company manufactures and distributes architectural building materials and customizes related metal components for the construction industry from its location on Meyers Road on the city's West Side. The family business, founded 1948 and now headed up by Nancy Marshall, has more than $5 million in annual revenues.
• White Construction is renovating a building a stone's throw from TechTown as its base. The construction company, founded in 1989, has done work for the Ford Motor Company and various healthcare facilities. It expects to continue its growth and add jobs as work comes in.

The awards are being presented between 8:30 and 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 8 at the NextEnergy headquarters, 461 Burroughs St., in Detroit's TechTown. For information, call Bob Rossbach at (313) 402-9831.

Source: Bob Rossbach, spokesman for the Inner City Awards
Writer: Jon Zemke