"American Dreamers"-William Mays, Chairman and CEO of Mays Chemical
Monday, January 21, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: William Mays is one of the nation's most successful black entrepreneurs. He's the chairman and CEO of Mays Chemical, the Indiana company he founded nearly 30 years ago. It's a $180 million business that services the food, pharmaceutical and auto industries. Over the years, he's mentored many young business people on how to launch and sustain their own operations. I recently spoke with Mays about entrepreneurship and began by asking him, what's the key to his success?
WILLIAM MAYS, CHMN & CEO, MAYS CHEMICAL: Well, I think in addition to just determination to make it successful, it is the access to capital, of course. It is retaining and getting good people and I think that developing kind of contacts that -- with industry, with people in the industry that want to help you become successful.
GHARIB: Mr. Mays, when you talk about capital, it was very difficult, I'm sure, when you started your company in the 1980s to getting access to financing. As you look at the situation today, do you think it's easier for a minority-owned business to get financing or is it just as hard?
MAYS: I think it's more difficult today than even when I started because, again, the expectation when I started was really an anomaly to be able to get capital. I started Mays Chemical on $10,000 worth of capital, but I had excellent connections with the banking industry. Today when you look at it, I think that it is even more difficult because you don't have those same connections. And there's a lot of competing kinds of forces for those scarce resources.
GHARIB: Your company I understand now is a $180 million a year business. You have about 180 employees. As an established company, what is your philosophy and practice about hiring employees and about dealing with suppliers? Do you favor minorities? Does it make a difference?
MAYS: Well, about 60 percent of Mays Chemical is made up of what we would consider minorities. That is Hispanics and Asians. But I think that the goal is to hire good people, is to hire the very best people you possibly can, irrespective of what race, what sex, whatever. So I think that has bode very well with the success of Mays Chemical.
GHARIB: Now that your company has gotten to this established level, what is your next goal? Where do you go from here?
MAYS: Well, my goal in 2008 is to surpass $200 million in annual revenues. And I guess I would say it's not just growth, it is profitable growth that we want to deal with and then pass it on to the next generation. I'm 62. It's time to move on and let younger people take on the challenges of the international market because that's where the next growth phase is going to be.
GHARIB: Mr. Mays, for a young entrepreneur, a black entrepreneur starting out today, what is the most important advice you can give that person so that they get on the right track?
MAYS: I think that the best thing that someone young can do is to hook up with someone who's old, is to try to get someone to mentor them, get someone that can try to shield them from making the same mistakes that maybe the older entrepreneur made in their initial phases. There is just to me, an abundance of talent out there that just needs a little guidance. And I try to find and work with younger entrepreneurs to try to say I don't want you to make the same mistakes that I made and it's worked out, I think, very well.
GHARIB: What is the most common mistake that entrepreneurs make when they're starting out?
MAYS: I think they underestimate the difficulty in getting capital. I think they underestimate the difficulty in getting the business that they're trying to secure. I think they underestimate tremendously the amount of resources it takes to bring good people to work with them in their particular business.
GHARIB: All right. Mr. Mays, thank you so much for coming on our program and congratulations on your success.
MAYS: Thank you, certainly to you too.
