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Getting the most from your M.B.A.
Morehouse Business Association provides one of the most unique out
lets of student extra-curriculur activity on the campus scene today
By Alonzo Mumford &
David R. Marshall
The Morehouse Business Asociation started
with a powerful mission statement that outlined
specific objectives. The objectives, proposed to
ensure a successful and prosperous year, are: (1)
to expand the organization, (2) to be more mem
ber driven, (3) to better prepare students for the
business world and (4) to better serve the com
munity. These objectives, in the Machiavellian
sense, are the “ends.” We added later the
“means," and dubbed them the principles of the
organization. They operate on the premise that
if the association is to be successful, the More
house Business Association (M.B.A) Executive
Board needs to communicate more effectively
with its members, be more innovative, offer
more services and enable members to receive a
better return on their dues.
Not surprisingly, the Executive Board has
been successful in effectively utilizing its means
to accomplish its ends. For example, it has
increased the size of the association by some
205 members to an amazing 480 members, mak
ing it the largest paid member association in the
A.U.C. It has learned well from marketing
professor Donald Vest, who insists that cus
tomer service should be a businesses’ greatest
concern by establishing the A.U.C.’s first infor
mation hotline number (605-7279), and by in
viting less investment bankers and more entre
preneurs to member meetings. The Executive
Board has better prepared its members for the
business world by supplying a wealth of infor
mation through mailings, meetings and Execu
tive Board Member/Member one-on-one dis
cussions. Finally, the Executive Board has had
an impact in the community by donating left
over food from meetings to nearby shelters,
encouraging students to become more involved
in Junior Achievement, establishing a Manage
ment Advisory Team that donates its expertise
to community business professionals, and de
veloping an entrepreneurship program for chil
dren in the community.
The association’s list of accomplishments con
tinues with the successful completion of its
Resume Portfolio, a yearly guide produced this
year by the Executive Vice-President, Mike
Lewis. The portfolio is a composite of all
member resumes that are marketed to corpora
tions across the country. The portfolio, this year,
increased in size from last year’s by a record
213%. The success of this project can greatly be
attributed to Lewis, who typed 300 resumes
single-handedly in less than a month’s period.
Also, added to the association’s list of accom
plishments is a Picnic, Christmas party, five
speaker engagements that includes speakers such
as George Bellenger, CEO of Bar-Pac, a Phila
delphia based company, and Monica Kaufman.
The association has also published its own news
paper, thanks to the expertise of Gibran Patterson,
Editor of the M.B.A. Today. He was also in
volved in Morehouse’s Homecoming activities
with the election of a Homecoming Court. The
court consisted of three sophomores from
Spelman college: Mandie Araujo (Chairwoman),
Robin Young (1st Vice-President) and Stacee
Burton (2nd Vice-President).
Although the association has been active and
has experienced a great deal of success, the
1994-95 M.B.A. school year is not over. The
Executive Board is currently in the whirlwind of
a host of activities, all geared to benefit its
members. These include the production of the
Internship Guide, which is a collection of in
ternship opportunities across the country; the
development of the Alumni Guide, which is a
collection of A.U.C. graduates who are cur
rently in the business world, and may be of
assistance to members pursuing jobs in the fu
ture; the introduction of Project E.N.A.B.L.E.,
which is a project geared to the entrepreneurial
members of the association; and we cannot
forget the Spring Symposium, which is the
association’s grand finale!
The Executive Board enjoys being the pre
miere member paid association in the A.U.C.
And it enjoys developing exciting projects that
its members can benefit from. This is due to the
Board’s belief in giving members a high return
on their dues. For example, to join the M.B.A.
it costs a mere $10. But in return, a paid-
member receives far more than his/her money’s
worth. When using a holding period yield
formula introduced to all finance majors by
professor John Williams, the Executive Board
has calculated its member return to be approxi
mately 760%. Return is always an important
concept that the board likes to use to gage its
success. However, quality of return is another.
And through the invaluable advice of the Execu
tive Board’s advisors, Mr. McLaurin and Pro
fessor White, the Executive Board and the asso
ciation plan to make this M.B .A. school year the
best ever.
Satterwhite's Restaurant
By Van D. Turner, Jr.
This edition of the Black Business
Watch will highlight the Satterwhite
Restaurant, located on 851 Oak St.,
SW. The restaurant was started in
1990 by Mr. Bennie Satterwhite, and
it specializes in home-cooking and
catering services. Mr. Satterwhite
has now made it a family affair, with
his son Mr. Fernando Satterwhite serv
ing as a co-owner. It is conveniently
nestled between a dry-cleaning ser
vice and a Blockbuster Music store,
and, as Mr. Fernando Satterwhite
stated, “a diverse mixture of the city’s
population” serve as its faithful pa
trons. When one walks into the res
taurant, one is immediately overcome
by smells of home-cooking, and black
art adorning the walls. The tasteful
choice of black art consists of por
traits of Dr. King, Malcolm X, and a
country baptism in a pond. A ceiling
fan turns lazily, and one can see ad
vertisements of other ambitious black
businesses on a nearby table. As the
menus are handed out, one cannot
reg Ponder
Satterwhite's is located on Oak Street across from the Mall West End.
help but glance over at the small ste
reo on a ledge cranking out light jazz
tunes that enhance the homely and
easy-going ambiance. The prices are
reasonable, ranging from the smaller
$3.95 meals to larger and healthier
$5.95 meals, which include combina
tions of baked or fried chicken, glazed
carrots, string beans, mashed pota
toes etc. Mr. Fernando Satterwhite
stated that he disliked the negative
connotations that came along with the
restaurant being referred to as a “soul-
food” place. He further said that many
vegetarians eat there daily, and the
term “soul-food” distorted the image
of the nutritionally balanced home-
cooked meals. “One of the main ob
jectives of the establishment is to pro
vide a good product and provide
employment for the people in the lo
cal area,” commented Mr. Satterwhite.
Most of the employees are in walking
distance from the restaurant, and this
was done purposely with the idea of
uplifting the West End area commu
nity. A second location is at 3131
Campbellton Rd., and plans for athird
location are in the making. So one
Sunday evening, if you are debating
on a restaurant that specializes in
home-cooked meals with a down-
home atmosphere, give Satterwhite
Restaurant a try, and help support the
community while you are at it.
King Center, Park Service
fight to determine who will
make Martin’s dream come
true in Sweet Auburn area
By Jesse B. Barnes
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s fa
mous “I Have A Dream” speech has,
in the past few months, become what
the poet Langston Hughes once re
ferred to as a “dream deferred.” Since
late last year, members of the King
family have been fighting for control
of the late civil rights leader’s legacy.
Three years ago, the city of Atlanta
decided to build a visitor’s center for
the National Park Service near the
King Center, as part of the 1996 Olym
pic. Games. The King family had
agreed to this originally; however, in
the summer of 1994, their feelings
changed. After looking over the Park
Service’s plans for the visitor’s cen
ter, the family claims to have discov
ered that a “museum” was to be built.
In a letter sent by Coretta Scott King
and her son, Dexter Scott King, to
Mayor Bill Campbell, the Kings wrote,
“We reject the entire idea of the Park
Service building a King Museum.”
From the time the letter was sent until
now, the King family has been dili
gently fighting the National Park Ser
vice. Until this point, the Park Ser
vice had played a cooperative role in
the running of the King Center, help
ing with tours of the birth home of Dr.
King.
In January, Dexter Scott King,
suceeded his mother as president of
the King Center. The Park Service’s
museum plan conflicted with Dexter
King’s controversial idea to build an
interactive theme park that would al
low visitors to experience what it was
like during the Civil Rights Move
ment of the late 50s and 60s. Many
Atlantans have criticized the King
family for its supposed lack of inter
est in the community, and what some
refer to as simply greed when looking
at Dexter King’s desire to build a
theme park. In an article in the At
lanta Tribune, January 15, 1995,
Dexter ScotfKing remarked that “The
King Center has secured a letter of
inducement from Oppenheimer and
Co. for $ 100 million for an interactive
museum facility that will generate
income, endow the King Center and
establish what we are calling the King
21st Century Fund to build housing
for the homeless and provide much
needed funding for the community.”
Dexter King also stated that “the in
teractive museum is a non-profit ven
ture. The Park Service would like the
nation and the community to believe
otherwise.” The King Center di
lemma, much like the civil rights
movement in which the late Dr. King
fought, has not been solved. Changes
are being made for the King Center
For Non-Violence and Social Change
to enter into the 21st century. The
dream of Dr. King and the future of
the King Center is now left in the
hopes and aspirations of another King
and one time Morehouse man, Dexter
Scott King.