Post by Okwes on Jun 13, 2006 13:36:58 GMT -5
American Indians making it in business
Dave Bice, president of Bald Eagle Erectors Inc., has risen from ironworker
to business owner with help from the Metropolitan Economic Development
Association.
Certain numbers tell the story of Dave Bice, successful business owner: a
dozen years in subcontracting, 35 employees and millions of dollars in revenue.
Others reflect Dave Bice, rising executive: two business suits, three shirts
and two neckties. His closet has expanded by necessity as the unassuming
former ironworker, who prefers work shirts to button downs, has seen his
business -- Bald Eagle Erectors Inc. of Eagan -- grow along with his executive
wardrobe.
In recent years, Bice, 48, and Bald Eagle Erectors have teamed up with other
firms on such high-profile projects as the new Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis
Central Library, Mystic Lake Casino Hotel and a number of major bridges.
A board member of the Minnesota Indian Chamber of Commerce, where he offers
advice to new business owners, Bice also visits tribal communities and teams
with Ironworkers Local Union No. 512 to recruit young Indians and other
minorities into the trade.
Bice will be recognized for his accomplishments both on the job site and in
the boardroom on Tuesday when he is named Entrepreneur of the Year for 2005
by the Minnesota Economic Development Association (MEDA).
The Minneapolis nonprofit also is celebrating its 35th anniversary of
assisting minority owned and managed businesses at its yearly awards luncheon.
"MEDA's helped me out over the years quite a bit," Bice said. His
achievements exemplify what MEDA aims to help business people do through training,
consulting, loans and other programs, said Yvonne Cheung Ho, MEDA's president and
CEO.
"Dave founded the company with very minimal resources," Cheung Ho said. "He
had the skill and a dream. Now not only is he successful but he also gives
back because he's a role model. He gives other people in the community hope
that you can do it. That is the essence of why MEDA does its job."
Founded in 1971 by Twin Cities business leaders, MEDA's mission to provide
support for minority-owned businesses to help them overcome barriers and
advance in the state's economy.
Last year, 216 MEDA client companies reported sales that totaled more than
$1 billion. More than half those companies' 6,043 employees were minorities.
Most of the jobs pay $10.50 an hour or more plus benefits; journeyman
ironworkers make $30.44 an hour, according to their union.
"When we help someone, it's not just that one person we help, it's like a
ripple effect in the community," Cheung Ho said.
MEDA's longevity shows that its services have added great value to the
companies it works with, said David Hopkins, managing director of the Carlson
Brand Enterprise, a brand and marketing consultancy at the University of
Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.
"They've done a good job of understanding the needs of their customers and
also of their other constituents and stakeholders," Hopkins said. "The
importance of what they do is recognized by the business community."
Bice, an enrolled member of the White Earth Band of Chippewa, grew up and
went to school in Minneapolis and spent summers on the reservation. He left
dead-end, night-shift job to serve in the Marines from 1977 to 1980. Stationed
in Hawaii much of that time, thinking about what he would do next, he
remembered his brother, his cousin, his grandfather and other relatives making a good
living as ironworkers.
Bice began that ironworking career in 1981. He was foreman for his cousin's
company for several years until his cousin, Terry Roy, got out of the
business. In early 1994, Bice scraped together $7,000 and incorporated Bald Eagle
Erectors. The company grew quickly, with revenue of $400,000 in its first year
and $1.5 million the next.
Last year, Bald Eagle topped $4 million in revenue and this year expects to
pass $5 million. Along the way, Bice got help from the Minneapolis American
Indian Chamber of Commerce, which referred him to MEDA, and he works closely
with both organizations.
MEDA has provided Bald Eagle Erectors with financing and consulting to find
software, an accountant and a mentor -- MEDA board member Gae Veit, CEO of
Shingobee Builders. At MEDA Bald Eagle participates in the construction
partnering program, working with Sowles Co., a large Minneapolis ironworking company
on bigger jobs, including the new Guthrie and the new library.
Charlie Witt, business manager for the ironworkers union, credited Bice for
efforts to recruit Indians into ironworking. "He's been successful but he
hasn't forgotten where he came from and he's trying to help somebody else," Witt
said. "That's a tough combination to beat."
In 2000, Bice graduated from MEDA's Pacesetter Program, a three-year course
of specialized counseling to help speed growth of high-potential businesses."
The idea of the Pacesetter program is to move someone from entrepreneur to
an executive so they have a comprehensive knowledge and expertise over their
whole business structure," said Jan Jordet, MEDA's director of fund
development and communication.
"I'd always been a good foreman," Bice said. "Now I've got to know a little
bit about everything."
And he's had to invest in business attire to go with his executive role,
said Karri Plowman, executive director of the Indian chamber.
"Dave had been in business for several years and Yvonne and I pushed Dave to
get a suit and tie, and start coming to some of the formal business events
you need to go to network," Plowman said, referring to MEDA's president. "We
finally got him to do it."
Todd Nelson is a freelance writer in Woodbury who also has written for the
St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Raleigh News & Observer.
_http://www.startribune.com/535/story/484262.html_
(http://www.startribune.com/535/story/484262.html)
******************************************************************************
**
_www.UnitedNativeAmerica.com_ (http://www.unitednativeamerica.com/)
Dave Bice, president of Bald Eagle Erectors Inc., has risen from ironworker
to business owner with help from the Metropolitan Economic Development
Association.
Certain numbers tell the story of Dave Bice, successful business owner: a
dozen years in subcontracting, 35 employees and millions of dollars in revenue.
Others reflect Dave Bice, rising executive: two business suits, three shirts
and two neckties. His closet has expanded by necessity as the unassuming
former ironworker, who prefers work shirts to button downs, has seen his
business -- Bald Eagle Erectors Inc. of Eagan -- grow along with his executive
wardrobe.
In recent years, Bice, 48, and Bald Eagle Erectors have teamed up with other
firms on such high-profile projects as the new Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis
Central Library, Mystic Lake Casino Hotel and a number of major bridges.
A board member of the Minnesota Indian Chamber of Commerce, where he offers
advice to new business owners, Bice also visits tribal communities and teams
with Ironworkers Local Union No. 512 to recruit young Indians and other
minorities into the trade.
Bice will be recognized for his accomplishments both on the job site and in
the boardroom on Tuesday when he is named Entrepreneur of the Year for 2005
by the Minnesota Economic Development Association (MEDA).
The Minneapolis nonprofit also is celebrating its 35th anniversary of
assisting minority owned and managed businesses at its yearly awards luncheon.
"MEDA's helped me out over the years quite a bit," Bice said. His
achievements exemplify what MEDA aims to help business people do through training,
consulting, loans and other programs, said Yvonne Cheung Ho, MEDA's president and
CEO.
"Dave founded the company with very minimal resources," Cheung Ho said. "He
had the skill and a dream. Now not only is he successful but he also gives
back because he's a role model. He gives other people in the community hope
that you can do it. That is the essence of why MEDA does its job."
Founded in 1971 by Twin Cities business leaders, MEDA's mission to provide
support for minority-owned businesses to help them overcome barriers and
advance in the state's economy.
Last year, 216 MEDA client companies reported sales that totaled more than
$1 billion. More than half those companies' 6,043 employees were minorities.
Most of the jobs pay $10.50 an hour or more plus benefits; journeyman
ironworkers make $30.44 an hour, according to their union.
"When we help someone, it's not just that one person we help, it's like a
ripple effect in the community," Cheung Ho said.
MEDA's longevity shows that its services have added great value to the
companies it works with, said David Hopkins, managing director of the Carlson
Brand Enterprise, a brand and marketing consultancy at the University of
Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.
"They've done a good job of understanding the needs of their customers and
also of their other constituents and stakeholders," Hopkins said. "The
importance of what they do is recognized by the business community."
Bice, an enrolled member of the White Earth Band of Chippewa, grew up and
went to school in Minneapolis and spent summers on the reservation. He left
dead-end, night-shift job to serve in the Marines from 1977 to 1980. Stationed
in Hawaii much of that time, thinking about what he would do next, he
remembered his brother, his cousin, his grandfather and other relatives making a good
living as ironworkers.
Bice began that ironworking career in 1981. He was foreman for his cousin's
company for several years until his cousin, Terry Roy, got out of the
business. In early 1994, Bice scraped together $7,000 and incorporated Bald Eagle
Erectors. The company grew quickly, with revenue of $400,000 in its first year
and $1.5 million the next.
Last year, Bald Eagle topped $4 million in revenue and this year expects to
pass $5 million. Along the way, Bice got help from the Minneapolis American
Indian Chamber of Commerce, which referred him to MEDA, and he works closely
with both organizations.
MEDA has provided Bald Eagle Erectors with financing and consulting to find
software, an accountant and a mentor -- MEDA board member Gae Veit, CEO of
Shingobee Builders. At MEDA Bald Eagle participates in the construction
partnering program, working with Sowles Co., a large Minneapolis ironworking company
on bigger jobs, including the new Guthrie and the new library.
Charlie Witt, business manager for the ironworkers union, credited Bice for
efforts to recruit Indians into ironworking. "He's been successful but he
hasn't forgotten where he came from and he's trying to help somebody else," Witt
said. "That's a tough combination to beat."
In 2000, Bice graduated from MEDA's Pacesetter Program, a three-year course
of specialized counseling to help speed growth of high-potential businesses."
The idea of the Pacesetter program is to move someone from entrepreneur to
an executive so they have a comprehensive knowledge and expertise over their
whole business structure," said Jan Jordet, MEDA's director of fund
development and communication.
"I'd always been a good foreman," Bice said. "Now I've got to know a little
bit about everything."
And he's had to invest in business attire to go with his executive role,
said Karri Plowman, executive director of the Indian chamber.
"Dave had been in business for several years and Yvonne and I pushed Dave to
get a suit and tie, and start coming to some of the formal business events
you need to go to network," Plowman said, referring to MEDA's president. "We
finally got him to do it."
Todd Nelson is a freelance writer in Woodbury who also has written for the
St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Raleigh News & Observer.
_http://www.startribune.com/535/story/484262.html_
(http://www.startribune.com/535/story/484262.html)
******************************************************************************
**
_www.UnitedNativeAmerica.com_ (http://www.unitednativeamerica.com/)