BusinessTN

Any entrepreneur worth his salt has the heart of an adventurer. That's certainly the case with Clinton-based businessman Joe Hollingsworth Jr. After all, Hollingsworth has already booked a flight on the fast-approaching Virgin Galactic space tours being offered by billionaire Sir Richard Branson. Talk about reaching for the stars.

Less galactic but no less meteoric in nature has been Hollingsworth's long and fruitful career in real estate. The developer built his first home when he was 16. And the rest, as they say, is history. "I built the first home and have been building ever since," Hollingsworth says.

Hollingsworth eventually moved into commercial development and finally industrial--the most significant part of his company over the past 15 years. The Hollingsworth Cos. portfolio currently boasts 12 million square feet of industrial property stretching from Fort Worth to Richmond to Columbus to Montgomery.

Also under the Hollingworth Cos. umbrella are several related business entities, including Hollingsworth Capital Partners, run by Joe's son. Last year, HCP was the highest ranked Tennessee company in the 25-year history of Inc. magazine's 500 fastest growing companies in America. Hollingsworth also has a small chain of convenience stores that does about $20 million a year. He used to own a fast-growing chain of fitness centers, but sold them a few years ago.

Hollingsworth also has a lot of apartments. "About 8% of our hometown lives with me," he says.

Speaking of Clinton, Hollingsworth recently made his hometown a big offer, issuing the city a challenge grant for a very valuable 52-acre property he owns (valued at $2-3 million) in a prominent position in town.

"We think it ought to have the most cutting-edge park in the Southeast on it," Hollingsworth says, explaining that the plan includes baseball fields for travel tournaments, a 1,000-seat amphitheater, skate parks, inline roller skating and hockey facilities and a series of multi-purpose indoor athletic facilities. "Now, we've got to figure out a way to fund it."

It certainly would not be Hollingsworth's first major contribution to Clinton. Most conspicuously, Hollingsworth was the lead donor in the creation of a BizTown mock city housed under the nonprofit Junior Achievement (that is located inside the Hollingsworth Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership). It's one of only 26 BizTowns worldwide and serves grade school kids from the 18-county area surrounding Clinton.

"It is where rubber meets the road in teaching capitalism to these kids," he says. "And in this particular era, you don't get any of that in public schools. All we hear is proposals that are socialistic by nature. It's just really nice to see a little capitalism re-seeded."

What was his inspiration? For years, Hollingsworth picked three high school rising juniors and mentored them in some business classes. But he says he was frustrated that he wasn't able to impact enough kids. He got heavily involved in Junior Achievement. Then he had the chance to visit Nashville's BizTown, which was started by music executive and philanthropist Mike Curb.

"Never have I been so touched by seeing the light in kids' eyes when they are learning that they don't have to be living in a trailer in Scott County or go to jail like their uncle did," Hollingsworth says. "That they can do something themselves. That it's up to them. It was just so impactful to me. I had to put my money where my mouth was or shut up."

According to Hollingsworth, BizTown training has been proven to positively impact percentages on TCAP scores.

"It teaches them there is a purpose for their learning, so learning becomes more significant," he says.

From there--like the soon-to-be space traveler Hollingsworth himself--the sky is indeed the limit.