Below are the key characteristics attributable to winners of the 2003 Inner City 100 Index

Succeeding in the inner city

• Average 5-year growth rate of Inner City 100 winners was 575%
• Inner City 100 winners have created a total of 5,417 jobs in the past five years.
• Despite extraordinary growth rates, only 8 firms return a loss. The combination of fast growth with profitability underlines the long-term sustainability of firms

Profile

• The typical firm has an average sales turnover of £7.4 million, 82 staff and was founded 10 years ago.
• The Inner City 100 cover a broad range of industry sectors, from food manufacturers Bighams of Park Royal, London to Soup Ltd, an interactive communications consultancy from Norwich . Manufacturing is represented (7% of the list), as is construction (10%). Wholesale and retail (15%) and business activities (27%) are the two most commonly occurring sectors.
• 3 of the top ten firms on the Inner City 100 Index were founded and are managed by ethnic minority entrepreneurs.
• 35% of firms on the Inner City 100 Index have female founders or co-founders.
• 40% of firms’ managing directors had immediate family members that owned and ran their own business.

Location, Location, Location

• 83% of Inner City 100 firms rate their location as a good or excellent place to do business.
• 96% of the Inner City 100 are involved in their community for example, through mentoring of at-risk young people, sponsoring local events, clubs and charities as well as supporting staff in their community activities.
• 97% of the Inner City 100 are positive or very positive about the outlook for their firms over the next five years