“Success is measured by the obstacles which we have to overcome to reach it,” said Booker Washington. But success also has another face in the dark, its called hard work and determination. With all these factors, it’s still not easy to be influential and successful, but David Steward has come all the way running towards becoming a successful man, and the second richest Black man in America.
Before David Steward became the second richest black man in the United States
David Steward was born in Chicago, in the year 1951. He grew up in Clinton, Missouri and attended Clinton Senior High School, where he received his diploma in 1969. In 1973, he graduated from Central Missouri State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management. David held various senior-level management positions with Wagner Electric, Missouri Pacific Railroad, and Federal Express Corporation.
David was brought up in a Christian home in the small city of Clinton, Missouri. As a teen, he has survived through the most racially tense ’60s and remembers visiting separated schools, resting in the terrace of the movies, and being banned from the public swimming pool. David doesn’t refuge any negative emotions about having to survive those days, particularly since his mother cautioned him against growing bitter and hard. “I lived on the other side of the railway tracks,” says David, “though I discovered that division doesn’t work.”
Though his parents had few material resources, David believes he inherited significant wealth from his parents because they showed him what was necessary: treating people right. David remembers homeless people standing by the house. “No one was ever wheeled away,” he says. “I saw faith in action.” David also remembers his mum putting her last dollar to the chapel. “I knew it was grain to be planted with the expectation of a yield,” says David. These foundations of planting and yeilding have stayed with him for his whole life.
David eternally had a lifelong dream of holding his own business. “It was a scorching desire inside of me,” he says. After college, David used ten years in businesses for three Fortune 500 companies.
Education
David Steward has a Bachelor of Sciences in Business Management with an importance in the Industrial Organization from the University of Central Missouri and nominal doctorates from both Lindenwood University and Harris Stowe University. His professional practice before founding WWT was in selling and marketing resulted in treating customers with credibility and trust. He brought that knowledge into WWT and feels it sets his business apart. He develops relationships and partnerships wherever he goes, and that has allowed World Wide Technology to be the company it is now.
Post Education
After graduating from college, Steward had worked as a substitute teacher and for the Boy Scouts of America while looking for a permanent job. He was a production supervisor at Wagner Electric but was put off. In 1976 Steward received a marketing and sales office in the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company.
Later Steward had worked for Federal Express as a senior account executive. As the superior analyst for significant business, David was awarded Salesman of the Year and was made a member of the company’s hall of fame.
They sponsored an ice bucket with his initials carved inside. David saw inside the bucket and understood it was empty. “This was a defining moment,” says David. “I questioned me, Is this what I need out of life?” At the time, David and his parents were surviving from paycheck to paycheck. But David had absolute faith in God. “It was clear in my brain that my belief in God, united with the will to work hard to serve others, meant I was dedicated to succeeding.”
Steward has done marketing work for the owner of a consulting firm that reviewed and reviewed freight-bill charges. Steward acquired the firm in 1984 and renamed it Transportation Business Specialists. In 1987, he established a sister organization, Transport Administrative Services. Steward first attended overcharges for train clients, asking refunds for consumers who were charged too much. Then he attained a new approach, auditing charges for the railroad companies. In 1987 Transport Administrative Services was commissioned by Union Pacific Railroad to audit three years’ value of freight charges for sells, which meant managing $15 billion of rate knowledge for a single client. Steward’s group built a local area interface to handle the data.
David Steward Founding WWT
World Wide Technology, Inc., was the authoritative name that Dave Steward gave his start-up group of five people located in 4000 square feet of area. His business is a “revolutionary knowledge technology and supply chain solution provider” and has remained up to its name. WWT now employs 1,381 employees in forty-eight states and six countries, including South Korea, Singapore, China, Germany, Brazil, and Mexico. Sales now top three billion dollars. WWT holds six buildings regionally and rents 30 more all over the globe. He credits WWT’s growth to getting help in the right place at the right time and business strengths. The group is described by Steward as “resilient, innovative, with an entrepreneurial vision, and the ability to increase the bar in delivering technical solutions and value that go above and beyond.”
When questioned about barriers, Steward listed the challenges such as studying how the government did business. He noticed a massive hurdle in picking the (D.C.) Beltway into the Midwest—before WWT all the high 8(a) organizations and almost all of the contractors were in Washington, DC. “Society has trouble believing this can happen in St. Louis,” according to Steward. His idea was “big and bold,” and he was never going to let pre-conceived opinions stop him. Steward says St. Louis is a world-class city whose information has been hidden under a “bushel basket” with big things to happen and a giving spirit.
Being a personality of color offers difficulties and opportunities, according to Steward. When his father was helpless to find jobs in several fields as a person of color, he reached out and created jobs pulling trash, mowing lawns, dragging coal, and managing a janitorial service. Steward’s father was his prime example of an entrepreneur. He says that his parents felt you could win anything and that you should do so with mercy—he was told “Get over it and get over it quick.” though some doors were closed to him, a lot of them have been unfolded to him by the SBA presentation that he might never have been able to drive through otherwise.
The company’s decrease in General & Administrative expenses is a direct result of increased revenues coupled with operational productivity gains. Throughout 1995, David ensured significant monetary investments in our infrastructure (40,000 square foot facility) and benefits package (100% paid medical & 100% 401K match). WWT has also implemented a state of the art financial, accounting, and project management software system. WWT’s executive management team is currently deploying field offices throughout the United States to facilitate its long term business plan.
WWT today
Based in Missouri, WWT is the best U.S. reseller of Cisco solutions and second in the whole world. The organization has more than 40 Fortune 100 companies as clients as well as several major federal purchasing contracts. WWT also has much more than 3,000 employees across 20 offices across the globe.
In 2000, the company was named by Black Enterprise Magazine as the #1 African-American owned business in the United States, marking the first time a technology company had ascended to the top of that list. Besides, during 2000, WWT also earned national honors from Federal Computer Week and Washington Technology as the top minority technology contractor. WWT also became the first company to earn consecutive honors in Washington Technology’s publication. Mr. Steward was recognized in the May 2002 issue of Ebony in their article featuring “The 100 Most Influential Black Americans.”
Today, WWT and subsidiary Telcobuy.com, with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, are the leading electronic procurement and logistics companies in the information technology and telecommunications industry. With over 500 employees, 750,000 sq. Ft. of facilities, and over $750 million in sales, WWT specializes in helping its customers to rapidly build and deploy their I.T. and network infrastructure in an on-time and cost-effective manner.
WWT was recommended for NMSDC’s Corporate Plus program by GTE (now Verizon Communications) and is capable of doing business on a national basis. The company’s other clients include Boeing, Lucent Technologies and SBC. Telcobuy.com is also a Corporate Plus member.
Mr. Steward serves on numerous committees and boards that include: Civic Progress of St. Louis; BJC Health System; the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association and the Missouri Technology Corporation, appointed by the Governor of Missouri; Webster University; First Banks, Inc.; St. Louis Science Center; United Way of Greater St. Louis Board; The Greater St. Louis Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Harris-Stowe State College African-American Business Leadership Council.
Awards of David Steward
David was a Five-time winner in the Fast 50 Awards. He also won the Granville T. Woods Award for Outstanding CEO in the year. In 1997 he won the Minority Small Business Person of the Year and the Small Business Administration in consecutive years 1997, 1998 and in the same year, he received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, 1998. Steward also won the 14th Best American Entrepreneur by the Success Magazine too, in the year 1998. He was one of the Top 100 Industrial/Service Companies, Black Enterprise, also the 11th in 1998, he climbed to the 6th position in 1999, and finally, he was the1st in 2000 and even in 2002. Black Enterprise awarded WWT the Company of the Year in the year 1999 and a Phoenix Award by St. Louis Minority Business Council in the year 2000. He was the Entrepreneur of the Year which was named by Black Enterprise in the year 2000, and he was in the Top 100 List of St. Louis Leaders, 2002.
Hence, hard work and constant hustle have made David steward the man he is today, and a great inspiration to thousands of people in the world.
