Siker
offers MBEs opportunities
Leni
Siker is burning to bridge the gap between minority contractors
and the owners who want to hire them.
"When
everybody sits around the table and discusses the issues, you'd
be surprised at the kind of initiative that could come out of
that," she said. "No. 1 is about relationships —
they just don't know each other. Human nature is basically that
you want to do business with people you know. We're trying to
be the matchmaker."
Eight
months ago, Siker landed a federal grant to found the Wisconsin
Minority Business Opportunity Committee, one of eight in the nation
trying to improve disadvantaged-business-enterprise hiring percentages
on public and private jobs. She hooked up with Milwaukee County
Executive Scott Walker, who gave her additional funding and an
office in the back of the County Department of Health and Human
Services, and she received a state grant to match the federal
funding.
With
state, federal and county funding, Siker's team of three employees
created a free database of Milwaukee DBE firms that checks against
public agencies' requests for proposals. It also helps contractors
and owners trade information.
By
late September, MBOC had registered 400 local contractors in the
database, advertised $180 million worth of work and had helped
DBEs win $1.2 million in contracts.
"We
become the clearinghouse for any information they'd need to access
technology and management information," Siker said. "We
become like the traffic cop. You tell me you need this, I say,
'Go over there.'"
The
program seems to be catching on. Since the database opened, Siker
has been getting calls from public agencies outside Milwaukee,
including Dane County and the state Department of Commerce, requesting
she list their jobs and help identify DBEs.
"I'm
becoming a name out there for owners who need minority companies,
and I love it," Siker said with a laugh. "I have good
businesses to work with, which is pretty exciting."
With
the database off to a strong start, Siker said it's likely that
the federal Department of Commerce would use it as a model for
other MBOCs around the country.
But
communication remains the biggest stumbling block for public and
private owners attempting to increase DBE participation, Siker
said. Milwaukee leaders, from Walker to city Alderman Willie Hines
to We Energies, all intend to do more business with women- or
minority-owned companies, even if the opportunities aren't materializing
yet, she said.
"We
exist because there's a collaboration of people who want to do
the right thing," Siker said. "There's no finger-pointing.
It's nobody's fault."
And
now, Siker is trying to assemble a committee of Milwaukee's big
business leaders to help lead MBOC's efforts.
"As
far as staff and commitment, we've got it here," she said.
"We just need somebody to show us how. We want to catch the
big fish. We don't want them to do anything. We just want to tap
into their brainpower."
Siker
took a three-year sabbatical from the accounting firm she founded
in 1995, SFS Group Ltd., to lead the Wisconsin MBOC. She doesn't
know if she'll stay on with the committee after the three years
are over, but she said she can feel change in the air.
"There's
a joy in things you can do that money can't bring you," Siker
said.
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