When Tom Revely bought the former Cincinnati Bell Supply in May 2000, he went looking for people like Jada Robinson.

        Ms. Robinson was working at Navistar in Springfield, Ohio. She had an MBA degree and was working on her CPA certificate. As a young African-American executive, she impressed Mr. Revely enough to become vice president and controller of his new company.

        Mr. Revely also is African-American, and finding young black executives to hire and train was part of his mission from Day One.

        ''That was a conscious effort on our part, to let this place be a training ground for African-Americans,'' Mr. Revely says. He worked at AT&T and Cincinnati Bell before buying Cincinnati Bell Supply and renaming the telecommunications equipment provider CBS Technologies.

        While whites and blacks in Greater Cincinnati disagree over how much opportunity they find at work, entrepreneurs like Tom Revely are forging new ground.

        ''I wanted to show that African-Americans can become entrepreneurs in other areas than service,'' he says. ''We can deal with technology.''

        To Ms. Robinson, 32, Mr. Revely's company offered a chance to ''be a leader, not a follower.''

        ''There was opportunity here to put me into a position of leadership,'' she says.

        About half of the 72 workers at CBS Technologies are people of color. They include Ms. Robinson's husband, Keith, the company's vice president and general manager. Two of Mr. Revely's children also work in his business.

        Mr. Revely says the effects of running companies, particularly in careers like finance and technology that traditionally have been hard for African-Americans to access, will spread throughout the entire black community.

        ''When I bought this company, I wanted my children to have the beginnings of an entrepreneurial heritage,'' he says. ''Even in the 21st century, very few African-American families have dinner and discuss things like earnings and revenue and profit margins.''

        Dan Weber, who worked at Cincinnati Bell, took an early retirement and then came back to work for Mr. Revely in early 1998 when they both were at Cincinnati Bell Supply.

        Mr. Weber, who is white, is director of purchasing at CBS Technologies. He says attempts to recruit and train a diverse work force will pay off in the long term.

        ''I think it gives this company an opportunity to expand and grow more,'' he says. ''It's the right thing to do. It's the only thing to do.''

        Despite complaints by many white business owners about the difficulty of recruiting a diverse work force, Mr. Revely says it's simply a matter of providing opportunity.

        ''Many times, the only difference between the janitor and the CEO is opportunity,'' he says. ''The people are available, the skills are available. You just have to be receptive.''

Complete poll results and PDF of the report
At work, blacks still sense limits
Highest level jobs the next frontier
Training minority executives is part of owner's mission
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