David Steward - The Making of a Billion Dollar Empire
"Rivers don’t cut through rock because they are powerful, they cut through rock because they are persistent."
David Steward is the co-founder and chairman of World Wide Technology.
World Wide Technology (WWT) is an IT solutions and services provider with business interests in several IT fields such as cloud computing, software development, cybersecurity and data analytics.
Last year World Wide Technology had revenues of $17 billion, employed more than 9000 people and it's the 27th biggest privately held business in the US.
A huge success by all accounts but as one would expect, Steward faced numerous trials and tribulations while building World Wide Technology.
From racist discrimination - he was born and raised at a time segregation was legal but he didn't let preconceived ideas hold him back - to financial challenges, he recalls during the early days of World Wide Technology he went months without a paycheck and there was a time when he was so saddled with debt that his car did get repossessed from his office parking lot.
Nonetheless, he was able to look beyond his current circumstances and he carried on working to turn his big and bold vision into reality.
What's the story of David Steward?
How did a person who was raised on a farm in a small town manage to build a business that generates $17 billion in revenue?
Let's find out.
David Steward was born on the 2nd July of 1951 in Chicago, US.
When he was 2 years old the family moved to his mother's hometown in Missouri where he was raised.
In Missouri, Steward, his parents and seven siblings lived humbly on a farm and the small family home didn’t even have plumbing and heating.
He came from a big and hard-working family but despite all of the hard work, especially from his dad whom he remembers as being the first entrepreneur that he ever met, the family faced financial difficulties.
Steward’s dad was a master mechanic - a well-paid job at the time - but he was refused employment at their local power company because they didn’t hire Black people.
His impoverished family could have received welfare but his proud dad refused and instead worked hard in numerous jobs to make ends meet and support the family.
Looking back Steward says his dad was an entrepreneur out of necessity.
This good work ethic made a significant impression on the young David Steward, the fruits of which would lead him decades later to build a multi-billion dollar business.
In 1973 Steward graduated from Central Missouri State University with a degree in business.
After university, he worked as a substitute teacher while applying for full-time jobs.
He worked at Wagner Electric as a production manager, followed by being a sales representative at Missouri Pacific Railroad Company.
Steward joined FedEx in 1979 as a senior account executive.
At FedEx, he was recognised as salesman of the year and he was inducted into the company's Hall of Fame in 1981 after just two years in the company.
It was at this time that David started questioning his professional life and having an existential crisis.
Although he liked his job and the company, he realised the opportunity cost of working a job instead of building his own business.
He decided to take matters into his own hands and join the entrepreneurial world.
His first business was called Transportation Business Specialists and his second business was Transport Administrative Services. Both companies conducted auditing work for firms in the rail industry.
David Steward founded World Wide Technology in 1990.
World Wide Technology initially focused on enterprise-wide imaging, conversion services and telecommunication networks.
In 1999 WWT spun off its telecommunications division to form Telcobuy.com a global technology supply chain management company.
In 2003 Steward formed World Wide Technology Holding Company as the parent company for the two firms and combined revenues passed $1 billion for the first time.
Twenty years later revenues reached a staggering $17 billion.
Steward attributes a lot of the early success of WWT to becoming a federal contractor which enabled him to compete head-to-head with some of the biggest and best companies in the world.
Later on, he leveraged some of these contracts into successful business relationships and partnerships.
Hence it’s not surprising that he emphasises the importance of building strong business relationships and partnerships based on trust and integrity.