September26.2007______________________
Minority & Small Business Week______________________ p ^
bz
Business Mentors Matched to Start Ups
continued
from H front
know, how many hats I had to
w ear and how many hours it
would take to keep the pipeline
full."
That is where the Port o f
Portland M entor/Protégé Pro
gram cam e in. The program
m atches successful business
leaders with em erging small
business m anagers to provide
guidance and recommendations.
R honda w orked w ith her
m entor on getting a solid busi
ness infrastructure in place in
cluding the accounting system
and began building skills in re
view ing financial statem ents
with an eye toward opportuni
ties and obstacles. “ It was re
ally great having som eone to
bounce ideas o ff of. It gave me
a lot more confidence to move
forward with som e o f my busi
ness initiatives.”
Beginning with one employee
and about $ 180,000 in revenue
that first year, Cherokee now
em ploys 50 people and has $20
million in sales. Rhonda is such
a devotee o f the program that
she now serves as a mentor.
The Portland area’s approxi
mately 44,(XX) small businesses
like Rhonda’s play an essential
role in local jo b creation and
econom ic vitality. The Port o f
Portland sees the im portance of
working together to create an
environm ent that nurtures and
supports innovation, entrepre
neurship and business form a
tion, grow th and expansion
am ong this segm ent o f the busi
ness community.
That is why, in 1995, the Port
created the M entor Protégé Pro
gram. Once accepted into the
program, each protégé is ini
tially paired with two mentors.
W orking together in monthly
engineers
meetings, m entors focus on as
sisting protégés in developing
business plans and marketing
strategies, understanding finan
cial statem ents, and identifying
and im plementing other action
ite m s n e e d e d to m eet the
protégé com pany goals.
M en to rs also assist th eir
protégés in establishing and build
ing working relationships with
prime contractors; improving ac
cess to job notifications; and
securing adequate financing and
bonding.
Since its founding, 67 protégé
firms have gone through the
program with some outstanding
results. Last year, for example,
cash Bow, how to do marketing
and forecasting that allows us to
m anage projects more effec
tively.”
“ I got so m uch from the pro
gram that I alm ost hated to
graduate,” said Mark M atthews
o f Pacific M ark Construction, a
general contractor specializing
in com m ercial property tenant
im provem ents. Mark began his
business as a one person opera
tion and now em ploys eight
workers. “I think every small
business ow ner and entrepre
neur should go through a pro
gram like this before ever start
ing up. It arm s you with know l
edge about how to structure
V / think every small business
owner and entrepreneur should go
through a program like this before
ever starting up. It arms you with
knowledge about how to structure
your business, set up books,
understand the bidding process
and focus your efforts.
- Mark Matthews of Pacific Mark Construction
31 p ro teg e firm s gen erated
about $62.8 million in sales and
em ployed 355 people. This year,
there are 12 firms in the pro
gram.
“O ur com pany has grown
from a two person operation
with about $25O,(XX) in revenue
to a 25 person operation with $5
m illion in revenue in just under
ten y e a r s ,” sa id M a u ric e
Rahm ing o f O ’Neill Electric
w ho entered the program in
2000. “W e learned so much
through the program — how to
acquire work, how to manage
your business, set up books, un
derstand the bidding process and
focus your efforts. I learned
how to get bonded so that 1
could pursue larger jobs. When
I started my business I knew all
about construction but nothing
about running a business. It just
helped me trem endously.”
W ith nearly a half billion dol
lars in projects on the drawing
board, the Port is currently en
tering one o f the largest capital
spending periods in its history
continued
on page US
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Maurice Rahming, president o f 0 ’Neill Electric, has grown a two person contracting business into
a 25-person operation. He credits his involvement in a mentor protégé program through the Port of
Portland for tips on acquiring work and managing cash flow.
HEAVY
EQUIPMENT
OPERATORS
WANTED
e°n tract0<i>
Develop skills and build a
career in construction
Heavy Equipment
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and
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Repairer
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while you
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To be successful, you will need
•
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A willingness to learn
Excerpt from The Vision & Values o f Wells Fargo
For more than 150 years, Wells Fargo has been a diversity leader and the accolades we
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Operating Engineers Training Center
503-723-6903 or 541-741-7292
www.oetraining.org
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Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO Dick Kovacevich
• Problem-solving skills
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