Center Keeps Minority Businesses on Track

When business consultants launched a training center in March and declared that in its first year they would assist hundreds of minority-owned companies to secure millions of dollars in loans and contracts, it sounded like an ambitious plan.

By offering personalized consulting and training, the West Los Angeles County Minority Business Development Center vowed to help business owners create sustainable jobs and provide quality goods and services.

The center appears to be on track to meet its goals of helping 280 clients improve their businesses and assisting companies in securing $10 million in procurement contracts and commercial loans, said program manager Efrain Gonzalez.

So far, an estimated $4.1 million in contracts and $3.4 million in loans have been awarded to minority companies. Additionally, some 155 clients have been helped at the center, Gonzalez said.

The center, at 8144 Sunland Blvd., serves a section of the county bordered by the Kern County line, Pasadena-Harbor Freeway, Santa Monica Freeway and the Ventura County line.

While meeting specified goals is important, Gonzalez said center consultants are more focused on “tutoring and mentoring [clients] to help them to achieve the next level in business.”

“We are trying to get people to think beyond this week, that’s how you run a mom-and-pop operation,” Gonzalez said. “We want to help them to develop a full-blown strategy for the business.”

The center is operated by the USC Business Expansion Network and funded by the federal Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency. It offers workshops in accounting, marketing, advertising, organizational management and capital development, Gonzalez said.

Growing a business is like baking a cake, Gonzalez said.

“You need to have the right mix of workers, organization, knowledge of products and quality of products. If you have too much of one ingredient, the business won’t grow.”