Exceptional Entrepreneur: Don H. Barden, Owner $372M Barden Companies

Barden Companies, Inc. is one of the nation's largest
African-American businesses. Barden acquired
Fitzgerald's in December 2001 and became the first
African American to wholly own a national casino
company. He previously opened The Majestic Star
Riverboat Casino in Gary, Indiana, making Barden the
first African-American in the U.S. to own a casino.
In so doing, Mr. Barden became the only
African American in the United States to own a casino.

Mr. Barden was born in Detroit, Michigan. His career
spans a 30-year
period, during which he founded a successful real
estate development company,owned and operated a cable
television system in Michigan, and owned and operated
five radio stations in Illinois. He is also active in
the global business arena, having established Barden
International, Inc., in Namibia, Africa, in February
1996. The company, which is engaged in the automotive
processing and distribution business, constitutes one
of the largest private investments in southern Africa.

Mr. Barden will keynote the African-American Chamber
of
Commerce's 2006 Annual Gala, Saturday, March 4, 2006,
at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza in Philadelphia, PA.

Source: PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/