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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 2002)
<ri,eJJo rtlan ò (lf)bserucr Page B8 MED Week October 09, 2002 The Rise of Ampere Electric Pacific Power a Division of Pacificorp joins with I |JortIanù (Obstruer I in Celebrating M in o rity E n te rp ris e D evelopm ent Week Let us take time to honor the energy, de termination, and optimism of our state’s minority entrepreneurs. Pacificorp believes that support of the Enterprise Zone can be an integral part of the development of an economically strong and livable community. “Together We Will Succeed" The Oregon Lottery Supports Minority Enterprise D e v e lo p m e n t Week js a m em ber o f O regon’s dynam ic marketplace, the Oregon Lottery is committed to contributing to the success of our communities Ed Wilson of Ampere Electric stands outside the Nike store on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard where he installed street lighting. photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver continued from B4 Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from the University of California at Berkeley in 1985. She joined her brother here in 1996. “After 3 years, I had to set up an in-house system for accounting because he was growing too fast and needed an ac counting system,” she said. Today she manages his payroll for a staff of 8 and runs his office. Wilson encourages smaller subcontractors to get involved with organizations such as OAME, the African-American Contractors Federation, the In ternational Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Port land Development Commis sion, Port of Portland, and the City of Portland as a way to become more successful. An early break for him hap pened when he joined the Port of Portland Mentorship Pro gram, which pairs smaller con tractors with more successful ones to share expertise and provides loans. “Get involved with these or ganizations. Take control and be involved with the growth and functions of these organi zations. Also, develop a good relationship with banking people,” Wilson said. This involvement led to access to larger projects. Formerly 80 percent of his projects were residential. The PDC program led to more commercial projects. At first, there were not enough of the latter. ’ You can do it if you think you can. It's doable. —Ed Wilson, Electrician Supervisor “Because Ed’s expertise had been street lighting, we really wanted to do street lighting. But we were in a Catch-22 situation. We couldn’t qualify to do street lighting without experience and we couldn’t get experience because we hadn’t done one,” Cook said. They remedied this by applying to the City of Portland’s Sheltered Market Program in 1998 not only to get experience, but also to become bonded with performance bonds, which help establish a better reputation among potential employers because if you fail to do the job well, the contractor you work for will be paid by the bond. Today Wilson and Cook are excited about the near completion of lighting and duct work on the Interstate Max line, a project worth over $750,000. The medium size subcontractor is aggressively going after new markets and ex panding at every opportunity. by providing opportunities for Oregon merchants selling a wide variety o f goods and services. If you offer high-quality products or services at competitive prices, we are interested in meeting you. We invite you to con tact us and find out more. For more information, please call our Supplier Diversity Program Manager at (503) 540-1338. Got a business dispute? Want to Know the Facts Behind Energy DeReg? Independent lawyer and energy consultant providing cost effective business solutions available for commercial, real estate, and contract matters and energy consultation. AF Legal & Consulting Services • 503-721-0181 1425 SW 20th Street Portland, Oregon 97201
