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.
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EQUIPMENT
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WANTED
e°n tract0<i>
Develop skills and build a
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Heavy Equipment
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Excerpt from The Vision & Values o f Wells Fargo
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Operating Engineers Training Center
503-723-6903 or 541-741-7292
www.oetraining.org
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