Minority-Owned Firms Come Together in Directory : Ethnic: New book lists San Diego companies owned by blacks, American Indians, Asians, Filipinos and Latinos to urge other businesses to use their services.

When Tanya D. Brown decided to publish an ethnic business directory in San Diego, she thought it wise from a marketing standpoint to have minority-owned firms produce and print the directory.

Consequently, Presentations Inc., a Filipina-owned company won the layout and graphics contract. Gloria Silva, a Latina, handled the typesetting. But Brown was stumped when it came to finding a minority-owned printing company that could handle the 70-page directory.

Brown eventually contracted with Denrich Press, a commercial printing firm in San Diego that is part-owned by a Latino. “I’d used (Denrich) before and didn’t even realize they were ethnically owned,” Brown acknowledged.

That’s exactly the kind of confusion that Brown and her sister, Veronica N. Hargrove want to eliminate with their recently published San Diego County Ethnic Business Directory. The sisters have published 3,000 copies of the directory that will enter its second printing next summer.

“Corporations are always saying they can’t find ethnic businesses,” said Brown, a full-time public affairs coordinator for San Diego State University’s Office of Educational Opportunity and Ethnic Affairs. “What we’re trying to do is put all the ethnic businesses together in one source.”

Observers said that it could take a while for the directory to gain widespread use. While 3,000 copies have been printed, only about 1,000 of the directories, which cost $15 each, have been distributed.

Many advertisers, however, seem willing to wait until the book becomes better established. Brown said that, based upon initial sales, the 1992 version will be at least three times the size of the current, 70-page directory, which is aimed both at individuals and businesses that want to do more business with minority-owned firms.

“A lot of people will (advertise) with the directory because they hope it’s going to bring in business,” said Richard Bowden, an executive with the San Diego-based office of Handyman Network Inc., a temporary service. “But a lot of people will say it’s the right thing to do . . . (because) this is one way to answer critics who say (they) can’t find minority-owned businesses.”

Bowden said that the directory has yet to generate new business for his company. But he maintained that “the fault is not with the directory, which is put together really well.” Rather, Bowden maintained, too many mainstream San Diego businesses traditionally have ignored minority businesses.

“People have been talking about this kind of a directory for years,” said Harold K. Brown, associate dean for external relations at San Diego State University and president of the Black Economic Development Task Force. “But while everyone always says they’re going to do it, it always fell through,” said Brown, who is not related to Tanya Brown. “Now it’s a reality,” Brown said.

Brown and Hargrove, who have yet to turn a profit on the directory, which includes separate sections for black, American Indian, Asian, Filipino and Latino businesses. The directory includes a wide array of products and services, ranging from personal care products to general contractors.

The sisters view their publication as a tool that San Diego’s ethnic communities can use to to work toward joint economic development during an era when racial and ethnic differences are likely to cause confrontation.

“If, for example, you want to support an Afro-American printer but you can’t find one that meets your needs, you might be able to find a printer in another ethnic community,” Brown said.

“We’re looking at the ethnic community as a community that needs to come together,” Brown said. “They shouldn’t be alienating one another.”

Brown and Hargrove hope that the directory will prompt minority businesses to use other minority-owned businesses--a development which could help to bolster the financial strength of smaller, minority-owned businesses.

While various local and state offices have compiled lists of qualified minority and women-owned businesses, the new ethnic business directory “contains certain products and categories” that should be of use to corporate purchasing officers, said Tony Delfino, corporate emerging business enterprise coordinator at San Diego Gas & Electric, another directory advertiser.

“We’re always trying to find (minority-owned) companies,” Delfino said. “A book like this should help us identify them.”

As is the case with government agencies and companies that win contracts from government agencies, SDG&E; is required by law to direct a percentage of its purchasing toward minority-owned businesses.

The new directory stops short, however, of listing which firms are certified minority businesses as defined by city, county, state and federal regulations. “The burden is on us to qualify those companies” that haven’t previously been certified by government agencies, Delfino said.

Brown and Hargrove acknowledged that it can be difficult to ascertain the ethnic makeup of some companies. A handful of potential advertisers “did not want to tell us their (ethnic makeup),” Brown said.

Advertisers were asked to complete forms that detailed ownership, but the directory includes a disclaimer to the effect that some firms might not be qualified as minority owned by government agencies.

Ethnic Resources Unlimited, the company formed by Brown and Hargrove to publish the directory, also intends to publish a countywide directory of licensed day-care providers. “No, that’s not ethnic in nature,” Brown said. “But our scope has definitely expanded beyond just ethnic publications.”