In the days leading up to our “Summit on the New Green Economy,” which will be held June 2-3 in Durham, we’ll be highlighting our portfolio companies taking part in the event. Our investments vary widely in terms of services and products offered, but all match our mission of promoting sustainability and many are models of high quality green collar job creation. As more and more enterprises ride the green business wave, entrepreneurs can look to these companies as models for high-quality sustainable development.
Ryla
In the global economy, it is crucial for companies to have state-of-the-art telecommunications services. Today’s featured portfolio firm, Ryla Teleservices, Inc., marries business acumen with a proven track record of providing solid, good-paying jobs and, in effect, helping build quality communities. SJF began investing in Ryla, a minority-owned call center business, in 2002. Since that time, the Atlanta-based company has exploded from less than 30 workers to more than 1,700 employees. Mark Wilson is the company’s CEO and a speaker at our Summit on the New Green Economy in Durham June 2-3. In a statement on the firm’s Web site, he says the company’s model “combines the business mission of excellent interactions in multiple channels of communication and creating an atmosphere where our people feel it’s the best job they’ve ever had.” These are strong words from a company that invests in its employees, and that’s just the type of firm that SJF supports. Ryla has an 89-percent minority workforce and is on the path to reach $95 million in revenues for 2009. We’re glad Mark will be speaking at our summit. He will be participating in a CEO session on workforce engagement strategies. Expect Mark to share tools and techniques for employee investment drawn from his own successes launching and rapidly expanding Ryla. For more on Ryla, visit the company’s Web site at www.ryla.com. And check back here for more news on the Summit.
