Listing on database can raise workload
Certifying or registering as a woman- or minority-owned and operated business in Rhode Island connects companies to state, corporate and even federal contacts, increases exposure and allows for resources and access to capital needed to get started and be successful.
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“The programs offer consulting and help them get funding,” said Tracy Baran, a partner at Partridge Snow & Hahn in Providence, who is a member of the firm’s corporate and real estate practice group. “The real major benefit is that they get into directories” that larger companies and state agencies use to find minority-owned businesses for contacts. “It’s a marketing tool and it gives them a bit of a competitive edge.”
Rhode Island has a formal certification process through its Rhode Island Minority Business Enterprise Compliance office. To become certified, a business must file an application with the office. The application is reviewed and once approved, the company must re-file annually.
“There is the incentive to develop the business and the economic motive” of contracts, said Louis Francis, acting assistant administrator for the state program. “The other (reason) is to distinguish themselves as minority businesses and be available to meet the goals of the state.”
Rhode Island’s Minority Business Enterprise office has a state goal of 10 percent of contracts going to minority-, women-owned businesses and slightly disadvantaged businesses, Francis said. In order to be counted toward that percent, businesses need to be certified. The state has offered the certification since 1989, he said, but the state has yet to reach its goal.
“It’s because of the complexity of the (application) process,” which is 14 pages long, Francis said. “We need to be more rigorous with it. All of the entities in the state are under the auspices of the program, but some don’t get it yet.” The database, however, is largely affected by the job market, he added.
“The marketplace dictates a lot of what we do,” Francis added. “No one is doing bridge construction because they can’t make money doing it, so that’s money lost.”
Each time the state has a contract to award, it goes through the MBE office first, and if there is an appropriate minority-owned company for the work, they are given the opportunity to get the contract.
Abdel Elsawabi, president and owner of Fenestration Architectural Products in East Providence, who moved from California to Rhode Island in 1991, is an architect by trade, with a degree from Cairo University in Egypt. After having difficulty finding work as an architect in Rhode Island, he started manufacturing glass and aluminum components for windows. When the Rhode Island Convention Center was being built, someone recommended that he get certified because the state was looking for a minority business to do the work.
“It certainly opens the door for you, but it doesn’t keep the door open,” Elsawabi said. “People don’t give me work only because I am a minority. But it gives me high visibility.”
There is no uniform, federal minority-owned or women-owned business enterprise certification process, but there are several government certification and registration programs, Baran said. The federal databases (which companies can register for) are a listing used by the federal government to locate companies or obtain information about them. The Small Business Administration, for example, offers a registration database called Pro-Net. The U.S. Department of Transportation does, however, have its own certification program for minority-owned businesses, for companies that want to obtain contracts related to the DOT in any way. The Center for Women & Enterprise also offers a program for companies wishing to solicit for corporate contracts.
“Businesses can grow very quickly” with certification and registration, said Carol Malysz, director of the CWE in Rhode Island. “It’s extremely important because businesses are accessing opportunities that they otherwise would not have access to or be aware of. Once you do this, you build a track record.”
Elsawabi has certainly done that. Since starting his business, he has manufactured and supplied window components for the convention center, Providence Place, the new T.F. Green Airport, The Westin Hotel, the new Providence Public Safety Complex, four buildings at Rhode Island College and the Ryan Center at the University of Rhode Island, Rising Sun Mills and a building at Brown University. He is currently working on The Foundry apartments and another large Providence contract. Now most of Elsawabi’s business is as a trade contractor, supplying his components and installing them for general contractors. He manufactures and glazes glass and aluminum only for the projects that he is working on as the general contractor, he said.
Despite the growing population, particularly minorities, Francis said the program had more companies in its database in the mid-1990s, when he said it most likely peaked at around 500. The MBE database currently has approximately 350 companies listed. The majority (95 percent to 97 percent) are Rhode Island businesses and the others are in New England and a few from other areas of the country.
