Thompson’s comments underscore the fact that operating a business today is not for the faint of heart. Entrepreneurs with imagination, chutzpa and hustle will be among those that find lucrative opportunities. DASNY conference speakers, from BE 100s CEOs to Capitol Hill politicians, shared with attendees pointers on how to expand their companies by working with government. The following tips may prove useful for you:

Create your own opportunities. Minority entrepreneurs will need to be more creative and solution-oriented to acquire new business. Says DASNY President Paul Williams: “Now is the perfect time for idea generation. Ideas must come from the private sector and then businesses have to work with government to get things done.” That’s the approach taken by Bernard Beal, CEO of BE 100s investment bank MR Beal that earlier this year was tapped for a ground-breaking $1.3 billion Personal Income Tax bond issuance. Researching high medical costs and increase in hospital closures, Beal decided to target health care sector. His firm has increased revenues by helping state officials find ways to cut costs and raise capital. And J. Donald Rice, Jr., CEO of another BE 100s investment bank, Rice Financial Products Co., identified education as the key to expansion. Earlier this year, his firm pursued and gained designated bonding authority for the US Department of Education’s HBCU financing program.

Identify forums to build business relationships. Seek out events in which entrepreneurs can turn contacts into contracts. For instance, DASNY attendees made connections at “speed networking” sessions that linked minority business owners with state agencies, prime contractors and major financial companies. Other sessions promoted joint ventures as a means of positioning your firm to bid on large public and private contracts. Economist Don Siegel offered another avenue: teaming up with colleges and universities that can provide technical resources, research assistance and, in some cases, microloans. “There is tremendous human capital in colleges and universities,” he says.

Use your political clout. More entrepreneurs need to understand the nexus between politics and business. In fact, attendees were urged by CNN political commentator Roland Martin, DASNY’s keynote speaker, to use their collective political muscle to support such laws as New York’s recent MWBE procurement law. Others like Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) said entrepreneurs must secure government resources to help them gain the competitive advantage. For instance, in addition to creation of a $30 billion lending fund, the recent Small Business Jobs and Credit Act also provides for an office of minority and women inclusion “to ensure banks meet standards of diversity lending.”

For more on how to grow your business, see our story “9 Need-to-Know Tips from Top CEOs to Entrepreneurs”.

The Roberts Companies CEO Michael V. Roberts

I’ve long been fascinated with the process of securing a government contract. The largest purchaser in the United States, it’s no wonder why many large and small firms are vying for these lucrative deals. But as I found after attending The Paper Chase: Scoring a Multimillion Dollar Contract at the 15th annual Black Enterprise Entrepreneurship Conference in Atlanta, these deals can be elusive.

“In the federal government, there are times when projects are coming out, where the influence of what goes in requests for proposals is established by the very people who will ultimately bid on them,” said Michael V. Roberts, founder of The Roberts Companies and leader in real estate development and construction management.

“At the federal level, race and gender is no longer a valid qualification for certification,” he said, reminding small business owners of minority- and women-owned certification available for companies who fit the description when applying for  bidding on state and local contracts.”

All too familiar with the politics of landing government contracts, Roberts offered this advice about the strategy he used to land his first gig and get around the politics of government contracting.

Renita Burns is a writer and content producer at BlackEnterprise.com.

Employers cut back payrolls more than expected in August, according to unemployment numbers released by the Department of Labor Friday. The jobless rate rose to 9.7% last month– the highest since 1983 — as companies slashed 216,000 jobs, after cutting 225,000 jobs in July.

A 15% unemployment rate for African Americans in August brought an end to a three-month downward trend. Blacks are still hit hard by the volatile economy, with unemployment almost 4 ½ percentage points higher, year-over-year.

“It’s still likely that the unemployment rate will continue to increase until next year,” says Algernon Austin, director of the race, ethnicity, and economy program at the Economic Policy Institute. While some economists say the Obama administration’s $787 billion economic stimulus package has helped to slash unemployment numbers, it still may not be enough.

“[The stimulus] is working, but the problem is far worse than the administration realized,” Austin says.
Of the five million workers that have been unemployed for at least six months, African Americans make up a disproportionate number of those facing long-term unemployment, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
In August, manufacturing employment continued to trend downward, with a decline of 63,000. The construction industry lost 65,000 jobs. Financial activities shed 28,000 jobs in August, with declines spread throughout the industry. Factories cut 63,000, while retailers slashed 9,600 positions. Employment in health care continued to rise in August adding 28,000. Overall there were 14.9 million unemployed in August.

–Renita Burns

GlobalHue Joins Peebles’ Queens Aqueduct Project

GlobalHue (No. 1 on the B.E. Advertising Agencies list with $379.5 million in billings) has been named as the lead marketing firm for the proposed MGM Grand at Aqueduct in Queens, New York, announced R. Donahue Peebles, the lead developer in the team vying for the right to build New York City’s first gaming venue.

“We are excited about the opportunity to apply our strategic thinking, innovative tactics, brilliant creative skills, and significant experience with the MGM Grand brand to ensure the success of the MGM Grand at Aqueduct,” said Global Hue Chairman and CEO Don Coleman in a statement. “Much of GlobalHue’s success comes from the firm’s diverse make up, which is a perfect complement to the diversity of the Peebles-led team.”

The team also includes MGM Mirage as operator of the facility, Perini Building Co., and Harbinger Capital Partners.
The addition of GlobalHue is the latest step taken by Peebles, CEO of The Peebles Corp. (No. 79 on the B.E. Industrial/Service 100 list with $51.4 million in revenues) in a process that has had its share of setbacks. In May, plans stalled amid reports that Delaware North Cos., the company’s partner, couldn’t raise the $370 million necessary to get the project off the ground.

According to news reports, New York Gov. David Paterson will be naming the aqueduct gaming operator within the next two weeks. Other than Peebles Development, five companies have bid on the 30-year contract to operate the gaming facility, including Penn National Gaming and SL Green Realty Trust (with Hard Rock Entertainment), a company in which its investors include Caribbean CAGE L.L.C., owned by Bob Johnson’s RLJ Companies.

The MGM Grand at Aqueduct complex will include a gaming facility with 4,500 video lottery terminals, an upscale, full-service hotel, a business conference center, an event center, and dining facilities. It will create nearly 4,000 construction and permanent jobs and produce approximately $17 billion in revenue for the State of New York and $5 billion for support of the horse racing industry over the initial 30 years.

–Janell Hazelwood

Black Contractors Get Shut Out

Minority contractors are being left out of federally funded highway projects, according to contracting data from the National Black Chamber of Congress (NBCC). For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2008, state-run highway departments received more than $29 billion annually for construction, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and only 1.1% of that was spent with black-owned firms.

Thirteen states (Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont and Wyoming) did no business with black firms, according to the data which the U.S. Department of Transportation provided to the NBCC. California, which has a 54% minority population and received $2.3 billion, contracted only one-tenth of 1% with black contractors. New York and Texas contracted 0.5% and 1% to black contractors, respectively. Only the District of Columbia posted a strong track record with 15% black participation.

The NBCC says that the number of contractors hired should represent the population of blacks nationally, which is 14%.

–Marcia Wade Talbert