One of the things that has frustrated Sandra Marks as executive director of the Minority Youth Entrepreneurship Program these past 12 years is that there are not more successful minority-owned businesses in St. Louis to offer as examples. The minority high school students enrolled in the six-week summer session at the John M. Olin School of Business instead must look outside the St. Louis area for inspiration.
However, a newly created directorship may begin to make real-life strides that not only will revolutionize the way Washington University does business, but may even bolster local minority entrepreneurs to the point of beckoning a few field trips after all.
In September, Marks was named director of minority- and women-owned business development for the University. The well-connected Marks, a 1983 graduate of the Olin MBA program, has run her own consulting business, working primarily with minority companies, since 1986. The University has contracted with her to help identify and establish relationships with minority- and women-owned vendors.
This newest position for Marks is an expansion of the work she began this summer helping the University boost its minority contracting. The University now has become her principal client.
Earlier this year, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced the University's goal to foster minority and women participation on its construction projects at a level that would reflect the population profile of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The University now is additionally focusing on the supply side of construction, said Richard A. Roloff, executive vice chancellor. "In construction, labor and materials are each 50 percent of the process. We realized another area where the University is not doing as much as it can is the purchasing arena," Roloff said. "The University spends millions of dollars a year in goods and services. We realized we're not working hard enough to get women- and minority-owned businesses in the process."
Roloff candidly admits the University has lagged behind other corporations and institutions and said Marks' appointment is an important step in reversing this trend. "This (minority and women participation) hasn't been on our radar screen," Roloff said. "We've focused on price, quality and service. Whether a firm has been minority- or women-owned has not been on our screen."
He pointed out that some corporations, such as NationsBank and Schnucks, have taken the lead in these kinds of programs. Specifically, Roloff said, NationsBank identified a small minority-owned rubber stamp company in Florida and went so far as to establish a line of credit for the company so that it could provide all rubber stamps for the entire NationsBank network. The effect on this one company was monumental.
Roloff said millions of dollars annually funneled to minority-owned businesses could have a dramatic impact not only on those businesses, but would trickle down, affecting housing and education in minority communities. "Can you imagine how this could change the landscape of St. Louis?" he said.
Roloff said the program has been met with enthusiasm across the campus. And it's with obvious delight that Marks outlines her strategies. On the construction side, Marks has been talking with local minority- and women-owned businesses, checking references and building a database maintained by Facilities Planning and Management. She recently scheduled a "getting-to-know-you" meeting between qualified businesses and campus project managers.
She also has designed a course titled "The Business of Construction," which is sponsored by the Associated General Contractors of St. Louis and the University. Led by professors and leaders in the AGC, the combination of lectures and hands-on workshops teaches marketing strategies and readies the smaller minority- and women-owned businesses to compete for large-scale projects. Thirty-six people representing 20 firms enrolled for the first course, which began this month.
To make headway on the purchasing side, she is using a list provided by the Accounting Department of all the products the University buys and is matching consumer with supplier. "I'm going to find everybody at the University who buys paper, for example, and find businesses who supply paper and let them make a presentation."
Marks said the University can't create business the way NationsBank does, but it can identify products it buys in large quantity and seek out those suppliers. In time, Marks plans to develop a report by department every month that shows the amount of dollars directed toward these businesses.
Marks said minorities are at a distinct disadvantage when competing for business because they often have nothing in common with the people in charge of purchasing. They often don't live in the same community, attend the same church or go to the same schools. She is working one-on-one with these businesses to strengthen their marketing and communications skills. It's a lesson she also passes on to the high school students in her class. "A white male plumber who is good at marketing can find a connection somewhere. Maybe they went to the same school. You have to do more relating, I tell them," she said. "Come off the paper. A brochure isn't going to sell it. Find a connection and talk with them."
Marks said she doesn't believe the lack of minority and women participation in University projects and purchasing is intentional. "People do business with people they're familiar or comfortable with," she said.
Marks is quickly becoming a recognizable face in both sectors of the community, and she hopes to form a bridge between the two. Now these businesses have a direct line into what before may have seemed like a formidable maze of departments and numbers.
She is energized by what she calls the University's serious commitment. "If you're a company and you make it your business to develop other businesses in your community, you become more than just a business. This is a good testimony to what Washington University is," she said.
"The whole work force is diversified," she continued. "If we refuse to work with minorities and women, we really limit our possibilities."
She continues to share the vast possibilities with the high school students in her minority entrepreneurship program, who must develop a business plan as part of the course. In the past, they've suggested opening a daycare center or a store. Historically, she said, minority students gravitate to the service or retail sector. Marks is trying to teach them to consider manufacturing and distribution as viable options. "The way to impact the minority community is to be producers," she said.
This year they will have no choice, she said with a slightly mischievous grin. "I'm going to give them five businesses that I know would be valuable to Washington University, and they will have to create a plan."
These young people may have a significant impact on developing our future communities, she added. "When we have business, the community looks a little better," Marks said. "I want my community to look a little better, because St. Louis is my home."
