Conference


Wrap-up


SCMBDC Helps Minority Businesses Build Capacity M


any corporations have sizeable con- tracts to award minority business enterprises (MBEs), but it can be


challenging finding suppliers that have the capacity, or skills, to handle the jobs. That predicament -- shared by several


Southern California Minority Business Development Council corporate members -- served as the driving force behind the Capacity Building Initiative, a two-year program designed to help MBEs increase their capacity through resources and one- on-one coaching provided by corporate “mentors.” Launched in 2008, the initiative’s goal


was to increase MBE capacity and allow corporate members to share and utilize MBE participants. The initiative involved six corporate members -- AEG, Metro- politan Water District of Southern Cali- fornia, Southern California Gas Co., San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern Califor- nia Edison and The Walt Disney Company -- which partnered with seven MBEs, or “mentees.” Mentees included FCI Management Consultants, Long Beach; Genesis Pro- fessional Staffing, Burbank; Morrow Ca- ble Construction, Stanton; NK David Constructors, Mission Hills; Southeast C&I Electric, Santa Fe Springs; Quality General Engineering, National City, and Thor Construction, Los Angeles. Selected by mentors, mentees received


strategic guidance and business advice, such as how to submit successful bids, ac- cess to key decision makers, technical as- sistance, ongoing evaluation of work per- formance, networking opportunities, and more.


During the program, which concluded


last month, the council also organized communications skills and other work- shops and monitored mentees’ progress. Based on comments from program par- ticipants, “MBEs gained needed skills and knowledge to increase their business acu- men and competitive profile, and thus, build capacity,” according to Council President John W. Murray, Jr. Randy Sall of Thor Construction, AEG’s mentee, says, “We acquired man-


The Black E.O.E. Journal


agement skills to take on large amounts of work in a short time frame and learned how to deal with cash flow, which was a big concern on these projects. We think it has put us in the limelight for other proj- ects.” “I have my one-minute pitch down to a


science,” adds Patricia Watts of FCI Man- agement Consultants, Edison’s mentee. “Also, I believe I have a more strategic ap- proach to marketing our products and ser- vices.”


Bringing a corporate perspective, Car-


men Herrera of San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas explains, “Mentees have shown growth and gained additional business from our company. One mentee grew their business with the company three-fold since the inception of the program and another won a multi-mil- lion dollar contract.” While the initiative’s intent was not to necessarily give mentees additional busi-


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ness from corporate mentors, there were several examples of contracts awarded to mentees. For example, FCI, Edison’s mentee, was awarded a contract by AEG and Southern California Gas. AEG’s mentee, Thor Construction, was awarded a contract by Disney. “One of the great things about the ini-


tiative was the one-on-one exposure to multiple competitive MBEs able to com- pete for and win procurement opportuni- ties within AEG,” adds Aura McCracken, manager of supplier diversity at AEG. Reflecting on the past two years, Mur-


ray remembers a corporate mentor asking, ‘Will these suppliers be better off than when we first launched the initiative?’ “Based on early results and feedback, I believe the answer is ‘yes,’” he says. The council plans to continue the pro-


gram in 2011 with a new class of MBEs and corporate mentors. Source: SCMBDC.com


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