FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2014

Annual ranking showcases the 100 fastest-growing urban businesses in America.

Newark NJ – The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and FORTUNE announced that Sabre88 was selected for the 2014 Inner City 100, a list of the fastest-growing inner city businesses in the U.S. This year, for the first time in the list’s 16-year history, the Inner City 100 consists of 10 fast-growing businesses from 10 industry categories. The 10 industry categories are: Construction; Manufacturing; Professional Services; Food and Beverage; Retail; Media and Communications; Software and Information Technology; Transportation and Logistics; Healthcare and Biotechnology; and Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation. Applicants ranked according to revenue growth against their industry peers, as well as overall.

Sabre88 ranked 5th in the software and information technology industry category and 32nd overall on the list of 100. The Inner City 100 program recognizes successful inner city businesses and their CEOs as role models for entrepreneurship, innovative business practices and job creation in America’s urban communities. Sabre88, a global consulting firm applying capabilities in financial services, billing support, FOIA, IT Help Desk Support, Data Entry and Document Scanning, reported a growth rate of 364.77 percent from 2009-2013.

The list of winners can be viewed at  http://fortune.com/inner-city-100/sabre88-32/

The rankings for each company were announced at the Inner City 100 Awards on Thursday, October 16, 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts. Preceding the Awards celebration, winners attended a two-day small business Symposium designed exclusively for urban firms 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 and ICIC Founder and Chairman, Michael E. Porter; Honest Tea Founder and CEO, Seth Goldman; Rapid7 President and CEO, Corey Thomas; Communispace Chairman, Diane Hessan; and Launch Co-Founder and CEO, Ben Fischman.

The Inner City 100 list provides unmatched original data on the fastest-growing inner city businesses in the U.S. In the last 16 years, 805 unique companies have earned positions on the Inner City 100 list, representing 183 cities and 41 states. Chevron Corporation and Staples, Inc. are long-time sponsors of ICIC and the program.

The 2014 Inner City 100 winners represent a wide span of geography, hailing from 53 cities and 23 states. The winners grew at an average compound annual growth rate of 39 percent and an average gross growth rate of 336 percent between 2009 and 2013. Collectively, the top 100 inner city businesses employ 8,276 people and have created 5,119 new jobs between 2009 and 2013. Not only are the winners powerful job creators in their communities, they also help develop their employees 73% provide business skills training and 69% provide professional development training to all full-time employees.

“It’s important to recognize businesses like Sabre88 that are truly driving economic growth and job creation and America’s urban cores,” said Matt Camp, President, ICIC. “We believe that inner cities hold unique competitive advantages for business and the success of these firms underscores that market opportunity.”

Highlights of the 2014 Inner City 100 include:

• Employ 8,276 workers (approximately 35% are inner city residents).
  
  
• Created 5,119 new jobs in the last five years.
• 25% have woman CEOs. Nationally, only 10% of companies with over $1 million in annual revenues are woman-owned.
• 35% have a minority CEO. Nationally, only 21% of all companies are headed by minorities.
• Average company age is 17 years.
• 39% average compound annual growth rate.
• Companies generated $42.2 million in 2013 revenues on average and $4.2 billion in the aggregate.

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To qualify for the Inner City 100 list, companies are required to be an independent, for-profit corporation, partnership or proprietorship that is not a public company, bank, or a holding company; headquartered 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 2014 list, ICIC looked at total revenue growth from 2009 to 2013 and the specific rankings were based on these growth rates. ICIC defines an inner city as an economically distressed urban area that has a poverty rate of 20% or higher, excluding currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students; or a poverty rate of 1.5 times or more than that of the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and a median household income of 50% or less than that of the MSA an or an unemployment rate of 1.5 times or more than that of the MSA.

 

Company description

Sabre88 is a global consulting firm applying capabilities in financial services, billing support, FOIA, IT Help Desk Support, Data Entry and Document Scanning to government and commercial clients. With more than twenty years of combined personnel experience offering strategic solutions, Sabre88 staff advance the firm’s mission to provide civilian and defense agencies of the government with the necessary tools to address emerging challenges. Sabre88 was formed in January of 2008, with a mission to serve both civilian and defense agencies of the federal government. The founder, Robert Cottingham, Jr., started the firm out of a government need for innovative small businesses which provide a 100% customer focused service.


Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)

ICIC is a national nonprofit founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter. ICIC’s mission is to promote economic prosperity in America’s inner cities through private sector investment that leads to jobs, income and wealth creation for local residents. Through its research on inner city economies, ICIC provides businesses, governments and investors with the most comprehensive and actionable information in the field about urban market opportunities. The organization supports urban businesses through the Inner City 100, Inner City Capital Connections and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programs. Learn more at www.icic.org or @icicorg.

Contact:

Benjamin Bratton

(973)321-6939
bbratton@sabre88.com

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, introduced legislation in late July that would make it easier for women-owned businesses to get loans and to secure federal contracts. With loans providing companies the means to expand, the committee views lending to small businesses as a key component in job creation.

Women currently own a third of all businesses in the United States, yet their companies receive only 4.4 percent of loan dollars according to the committee’s report 21^st Century Barriers to Women Entrepreneurship: State of Washington Edition.

Women make up half of the population, and we have a lot of ideas that could become great products and spur our economy, Cantwell said. This legislation will help ensure women entrepreneurs get the right tools they need to turn those ideas into new businesses and create jobs.

The legislation implements recommendations from the committee’s report that showed significant barriers for women attempting to start or grow their own businesses. The Women’s Small Business Ownership Act of 2014 (S. 2693) seeks to improve the accessibility of lending and increase business counseling and training services for businesswomen. Additionally, the legislation could give women owned businesses the same level of access to federal contracts as other disadvantaged groups. To address the gaps the legislation would:

• Expand the and improve on the SBA’s Microloan and Intermediary Lending programs
• Allow sole source contracting for federal contracts awarded through the Women-Owned Small Business Federal contract program
• Expand the Women’s Business Center program to expand and improve training services in an attempt to connect with more female entrepreneurs particularly from low income areas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Newark, New Jersey, August 24, 2014  Sabre88 has been awarded a contract, the company’s third, with the Nuclear Regulatory. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for the protection of the public health and safety in the civilian use of nuclear power and nuclear materials. The contract will require Sabre88, a global consulting firm in Newark, New Jersey, to provide a variety of support tasks associated with the Agency’s mission.

The scope of this partnership includes work associated with data entry, switchboard operations, ADAMS scanning and profiling, and various backup administrative duties including, reception duties/message taking for Information Management Center staff, copying, metering out-going mail, creating overnight express mail labels, and other related support functions.

Sabre88 has been awarded this opportunity for a period of one year plus three options years and as Sabre88’s third contract with the NRC, continues to expand the company’s relationship with the agency. We are elated to have been commissioned by the NRC to fulfill this opportunity, said Chairman and CEO Robert Cottingham, Jr. Sabre88 was founded upon the core values of: service, quality and integrity, which we believe allows us to build firm, long lasting relationships with our clients. The extension of our work with the NRC corroborates this vision.

About Sabre88, LLC.  Sabre88 is a global consulting firm applying capabilities in technology, public policy, international affairs, healthcare and education to government and commercial clients. With more than twenty years of experience offering strategic solutions, Sabre88 staff advance the firm’s mission to provide civilian and defense agencies of the government with the necessary tools to address emerging challenges and pursue global opportunities.

 

CONTACT:

Benjamin Bratton

Sabre88, LLC.

Tel.: (973) 321-4886

Fax: (973) 833-0286

info@sabre88.com

www.sabre88.com

President Obama unveiled a $3.9 trillion budget request on Tuesday that many view stands as a platform for Democrats to run on this election year, with policies intended to invite contrasts with Republicans rather than offer compromise. Republicans were quick to condemn the Obama budget for its proposed spending and tax increases. They will most likely succeed again in blocking much of it in Congress appropriations process, though Democrats have typically been able to salvage some of their initiatives.

Nonetheless, the proposed budget signals the administration’s shift in attempting to work across party lines to reign in spending and trim the national debt, the president is renewing his push to invest more money into programs he believes will jumpstart a sluggish economic recovery.

Our budget is about choices, it’s about our values, Mr. Obama said as he visited an elementary school in Washington, DC. As a country, we’ve got to make a decision if we’re going to protect tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans or if we’re going to make smart investments necessary to create jobs and grow our economy, and expand opportunity for every American.

Small Business which traditionally generate a majority of the nation’s new jobs have been repressed by weak consumer spending, along with increasingly complex tax systems and regulations. The proposed 2015 budget, which would take effect October 1, 2014 takes aim at alleviating some of those barriers to economic growth, however, not every enterprise stands to benefit. Below are some of the proposed changes that start-up and small businesses should expect to see under the proposed plan:

Lower tax rates  President Obama’s plan intends to not to add to lower the national debt, so in order to pay for increased spending, the President has focused on decreasing tax breaks and corporate loopholes which benefit large businesses. For example, the budget would eliminate regulations that are commonly exploited by hedge funds and private equity groups and it will also end tax evasion tactics used by corporations that store profits overseas. Subsequently, some of the money saved would go toward the administration’s new spending initiatives including pullbacks on sequestration cuts and offsetting the nation’s corporate tax rate.

While many small businesses support the initiative to close loopholes long benefitting large enterprises, it is the lowering of the corporate tax rate where many have shown dissent. Most small businesses are structured as pass-through entities so that their owners pay the company’s taxes at an individual rate, not corporate. Consequently, many advise that lowering solely the corporate rate will put many small businesses at an even greater disadvantage because some entrepreneurs may lose access to certain tax breaks without seeing a reduction in their base.

Reductions in Spending for the SBA  President Obama’s plan calls for $710 million to run the Small Business Administration, a $100 million decrease from the SBA’s operating budget for 2014 and $200 million decrease from 2012. For the second year in a row, the Obama administration explained the decrease by pointing to improved economic conditions for commercial borrowers, which it expects to bring down default rates and lower the cost of the agency’s lending programs. As a result, the budget only provides $47.5 million to subsidize the departments loan programs, less than half it proposed to cover the programs in 2014.

Increased Federal Spending  the proposed budget asks Congress to approve an additional $56 billion in stimulus spending beyond the $1 trillion that House and Senate leaders have settled on in the budget deal struck last year. This additional capital is expected to expand early education and job-training programs and finance infrastructure projects over the next four years across the country. The increased spending in these areas could potentially provide opportunities for small businesses; particularly those connected with the transportation and construction sectors.