Pipeline to Power: BE’s Industrial Service Company of the Year

Excerpt

Purchasing his father’s janitorial business in 1981 and then selling it two years later, Hightower, who attended Wright State University, also powered his entrepreneurial ambitions by building businesses in construction, industrial materials, and the fuel industry. Although his construction company took off immediately, years went by before Hightowers Petroleum broke even, a luxury he was able to indulge in since it wasn’t his only source of income. He was a quick study, discovering that fuel is a commodity producing razor-thin margins while at the same time requiring a heavy outlay in capital.

“I had business sense and an ability to articulate it at a very young age,” says Hightower, who had been selling contracts through his father’s janitorial service firm from the age of 18. He used that competitive advantage to help gain his first wholesale fuel contract through a set-aside program that allowed Hightowers an opportunity to enter what was a closed market.

Three years later, in 1985, BP took Hightowers from dealer to distributor status, when the oil giant selected Hightowers to carry jet fuel to various government installations such as the Ohio National Guard.

Read more at BlackEnterprise.com.