Negocios Now

August 2013 12 Diciembre 2008 NegociosNow NegociosNow El Especial www.negociosnow.com Photo Brian Morowczyniski Brian Ortiz, President of Trinidad Construction, in Evergreen Park. The general contractor is responsible for the redevelopment of several Chicago area Walgreens stores, including this one in the city's Little Village neighborhood. Brian Ortiz: Don't be afraid to pursue clients If you still don't know what being a "certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)" means for your business, you can ask Brian Ortiz. He founded Trinidad Construction just three years ago and now he is building a solid road to his future with clients like Walgreens, the leader in the retail pharmacy industry. This short time in the business has been enough not only to get amazing success, but also to advise other minority firms: "Don't be afraid to pursue clients", he said, and "be creative in the way you build your business". But where does he come from, what does his company do, and what makes Trinidad different? Ortiz answers this and other questions in an exclusive interview with NegociosNow, on 26th Street in Chicago, just a couple of blocks away from one of the stores that he remodeled for Walgreens. By Clemente Nicado Q. How did you start your company, Trinidad Construction? A. I grew up around the construction business. My grandfather owned a small construction company, on the southeast side of the city of -Chicago-, that repaired dry cleaning facilities. My father owned a construction company, Ortiz Mechanical Contractors, and I worked for him for the first ten years of my career. Then I started the Trinidad Construction Company in 2010. Q. Wow! Not so long ago! Three years! A. Yes, we are still a new business. Q. What is the main thing that your company does? A. I knew when I launched this business, my background being in construction, that I wanted to start a construction company that worked primarily in the private sector, which was something that would be somewhat different from what I had been doing. A lot of Hispanic and minority-owned businesses tend to gravitate to the public sector because of the programs that are out there, but for me personally, I wanted to get into the general contracting business because that was the easiest way for me to meet face-to-face with customers. My background had been as a mechanical contractor, where typically you are a subcontractor to a general contractor. But as a general contractor, I knew that would give me a chance to be face-to-face with clients and, ultimately, the private sector clients. Sindy Sonshine, Program Manager-Business Development (left) and Rona Fourté, Director of Supplier Diversity at Walgreens. Q. How has it benefited your company to be a minority? A. Like I mentioned, I think that a lot of minority-owned businesses are not aware of the opportunities that are out there for them in the private sector. A lot of companies now have Supplier Diversity programs in place, but a lot of them are not executing them and do not have a full understanding of how to go out and aggressively seek minority business. Walgreens has a very strong program. Rona [Fourte] has been leading that program, actively seeking minorityowned businesses to create opportunities for them, to introduce themselves. Really, the thing to understand is that these opportunities are not really set-aside programs; rather, they are programs in place to create opportunities for the businesses to get in projects, that sort of thing. Q. So the certification has been key for the company? A. The certification has been very important. You know, that is part of what Walgreens contracts, a certified business. Is that what you mean by minority certification? Walgreens has an aggressive diversity program in place, and they are trying to reach the "Billion Dollar Roundtable" … Photo Jose Calvo front of large corporations that they typically could not get in front of. Q. How many stores have you worked on for Walgreens? A. Right now we have done major renovations of three complete stores. We are scheduled to do four more. We have done minor work in a number of other facilities: maintenance work, small construction Rona Fourte, director of supplier diversity for Walgreens concurred, "Absolutely!" …so the certification created the opportunity. Rona and I had known each other prior to her working for Walgreens; we met at an event sponsored by the Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council. The reason I was there is that my company is certified through that organization. Later we got together, and she set up a meeting for us with Walgreens cor- Pasa a la página 14

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