''N ational ¿M inority ''business 'W eek
J ìo r th n tò (íf)b s m ie r
Oct. 6, 1999
MINORITY SMALL BUSINESS P
THE YEAR WINNER
Edw ard Holm es has over
thirty years experience in the
Steel Fabrication Industry. He
started in the steel business as a
laborer and rose to plant Man­
ager. Edward had a vision of
owning his own Steel Fabrica­
tion Business. He planned and
developed strategies to achieve
his dream. His passion became a
reality in 1994 when he opened
his business with two employ­
ees and zero revenue. Today
Ebony Iron Works is a million-
dollar company with 30 employ­
ees. Some of the Ebony Iron
Work projects include, Portland
In te rn atio n a l A irp o rt, the
Bonneville and John Day Dams,
the Tri-Met Light Rail Transit
and numerous sports arenas
throughout the Pacific North­
west. Ed attributes his success
to strategic planning and hard
work. Ed has been setting an ex­
ample for all of us to follow by
positioning himself for success.
Ed’s message is that we can
shape our future as we wish it to
be!
GOODS I WDARDS
“We try to do the right things
and work hard. We’ve developed
a business plan that we have try
to adhere to and whenever some­
thing is not working according
to plan, I reassess and re-evalu­
ate to try to get back on track.”
went out and marketed my busi­
ness and used some o f my con­
nections that I’ve had through­
out the years o f working for
other companies to procure con­
tracts. By doing that, I landed a
few small contracts which lead
to repeat business and later
larger contracts.”
\ SI R O M . S I \R I
“We started out in 1994 and we
had sales of $590,000. We’ve
continuously grown in the past 5
years. For 1999, we are project­
ing to have $3.2 million in sales."
to try to purchase some property
next door to give us more storage
space as well as expand our fabri­
cation space so as to be able to
employ more people as well as
produce more product and expand
out in the marketplace.
In order to do business particu­
larly with the government, their
projects are on the Internet and if
you don’t have those capabilities,
it’s going to limit your ability to
contract with the government and
in the private sector. Websites
are becoming more prevalent as a
way of doing business.”
SOI M ) \1>\ K I
| \ I I RM I -BOI M)
“I didn’t have any revenue at
the start. I had no contracts and
so no revenue was coming in. I
“We would like to expand our
market through the Internet. That’s
one of our goals. We are looking
“Know your business plan well
in advance. Be sure to have a close
eye on the controls of your fi­
nances.”
pckr. Cashed
Lvnette Bailey & Yvette Roberts o f Simply Cellular
Portland Public
Schools
Joins in the Celebration of
"Minority Business Development Week"
Bring your career
to the next stage.
If you have the energy and
ambition to run a business like
Our youth hold the key to our furture. To deny
them, is to deny ourselves.
"F u n d in g f o r o u r Schools, is a p ro m is e
w o r th k e e p in g ."
you own it, Wells Fargo can help
you take your career to the next
stage. Our success is based on
fast response to customer
needs, with personalized, re­
sponsive service and innovative
products. We’re also quick to
encourage entrepreneurial
thinking and decision making
among our employees.
We're working to be the Best
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