Brady Keys, Jr. 1970

Keys wrote those words in the epilogue of his book, From Football to Finance. Although there are any number of black owned enterprises in 1997, there is still much to be done. According to Keys, few African Americans are able to maximize the potential of their own businesses because they start and remain undercapitalized. “Don’t get me started on bankers,” he says.

“They deliberately keep Blacks from borrowing significant amounts of money to go into business.” However, Keys uses his success to demonstrate to bankers the need to become more receptive to loaning money to other minorities. He urges them to recognize that minority ownership of businesses is critical to the survival of urban communities.

The Keys Group Company has been ranked by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the nation’s 100 owned black businesses over several years. Even as The Keys Group Company’s sales hovered above $15.5 million, Keys insisted, “It’s not how much money I can make. It’s how much business I can do, how many young people I can hire, and how many can become successful.”