David L. Steward
Company: World Wide Technology Holding Co., Inc.
Position: Chairman
Industry: Technology
Country: United States
David Steward is Chairman and majority ownership of World Wide Technology Holding Co., Inc., which is a privately held company. WWT is the largest African-American owned enterprise in the United States. It had 2003 revenues of $1.1 billion and employes 450 people and help companies develop systems that create databases of virtually any type that their customers may require for tracking orders. He founded World Wide Technology in 1990 on a shoestring budget and 7 employees. It is only the second black-owned business to ever hit the billion-dollar mark(First, Reginald Lewis' TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc., in 1987 with revenues of $1.8 billion).
Steward grew up in the small town of Clinton, Missouri. He said he always had a dream of owning his own business. After college, he spent ten years in sales for three Fortune 500 companies. As the senior accountant for a major corporation, he was awarded Salesman of the Year and was made a member of the company's hall of fame. His reward for this, an ice bucket with his initials engraved inside. He looked inside the bucket and realized it was empty. "This was a defining moment," he says. "I asked myself, Is this what I want out of life?" At the time, he and his family were living paycheck to paycheck. But he had faith. "It was clear in my mind that my belief in God, coupled with the desire to work hard to serve others, meant I was destined to succeed."
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