Pitt Business e-newsletter Issue 11, September 2008
Blueprints Program a Clear Success
Shortly after Sandy Burkett obtained her Woman Business Enterprise certification, she received a call from a large private sector business interested in working with her independent sign company.
"My boss made me call you," were the first words she heard.
Burkett, president and co-owner of Vital Signs and a recent graduate of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence (IEE)'s Blueprints for Success program, believes the program could make her experience far less common. "I hope contractors will come to know small, minority- and woman-owned companies and their abilities, so that they don't feel they're being forced to contact us as a minority- or woman-owned business," Burkett said, adding that the management skills taught in Blueprints will help small contractors to better enter and compete in the construction market.
The need for qualified Minority Business Enterprise MBE/WBE contractors in the construction industry is tremendous. For projects funded in part with public monies, the federal and state governments mandate that at least 10 percent of the project be awarded to certified women-owned businesses and 25 percent be awarded to certified minority businesses. Unfortunately, the growth of minority and women contractors in the construction industry has not grown proportional to the industry. Of the $4 billion in bonded construction work currently in Pittsburgh and the surrounding counties, less than two percent is going to MBE/WBE contractors.
To address this dramatic disparity, the Minority & Women Educational Labor Agency launched the Sheltered Bond Program, of which Blueprints for Success is the business development component, to help minority- and women-owned contracting companies receive a bond for the first time or increase their bond capacity.
The Blueprints for Success program used a multifaceted, building block approach that offered participants support on three levels: educational sessions that provided a foundation through classroom experience and interaction; an interactive online network where students, IEE consultants, and Blueprints instructors could connect 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; and assistance from experienced management consultants in the form of a business health assessment and one-on-one meetings that helped to reinforce concepts learned in classroom and guided business owners as to how to implement these concepts. The goal of the educational program was to help contractors develop the skills and forge relationships that will enable them to grow the bond capacity of their business and enjoy long-term success.
The program concluded July 31 with a graduation ceremony that recognized participants' achievement. Dean John Delaney of the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration gave a keynote speech at the event.
In his remarks, Delaney said, "We believe that the key to the future of Pittsburgh, the region, and the nation is the development of entrepreneurship." He pointed out that the pace of change is accelerating and identified entrepreneurship as a key to keeping up. "If we do not advance not only do we get left behind, but our opportunities are taken by people who are not local, and not just by people from other states but from other nations as well," he said.
Reflecting on her experience in the class, Burkett said she was particularly impressed by the take-home value of the class. "I thought it was very well done," she said, adding that compared with many business programs that tend to overwhelm attendees with an excess of information, Blueprints "got to the core of what you could apply immediately."
Santos and Jodi Maldonado, the husband-and-wife team behind JoD Contracting, agreed, saying they wished they could have enrolled in the program five years ago when they first established their business.
"It should be a mandatory class for anyone going into commercial construction," Santos Maldonado said, adding that their additional bonding capacity was growing the business so rapidly that they were scrambling to hire a controller, a chief financial officer, and other full-time staff. "We're no longer a mom-and-pop business," he said.
As for the person who originally contacted Burkett because his boss made him: after proving her abilities on the first job, she has developed a strong relationship with the organization and is now doing work for multiple divisions of the company.
