Red tape of minority certification pays off for airport entrepreneurs

Lorraine and Clifton Marshall, partners in marriage and business, have successfully climbed the minority business-certification mountain. Sitting in their office near the airport, they produce two jumbo-sized binders containing the documentation they had to submit to obtain Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise certification and win a spot doing business at McCarran International Airport.

They are majority owners of AC LLC, a joint venture with Hudson News &Gifts, and manage the distribution of the goods sold in their Hudson News stores and other specialty retail stores at McCarran.

And last month, they launched a new store called Tasty Image Chocolates.

“I’m an entrepreneur; I look for opportunities” says Clifton Marshall, who has been in Las Vegas for 33 years, and had his own architectural firm before serving on the Clark County Planning Commission from 2005 to 2010. “Government work was excellent preparation” for the process of applying for certification, he said.

Minority Business Certification is a designation that helps corporate America track minority business contracts and meet supplier diversity goals. It is a mutually beneficial system that ensures corporations are dealing with businesses that are legitimately owned by members of minority or disadvantaged communities. And the designation boosts the visibility of those enterprises.

Certification can be obtained as a variety of populations (see sidebar) defined by numerous official organizations, most of which base their fees on a sliding scale of the company’s revenue.

The process of obtaining such certification involves copious amounts of documentation, often in multiple copies. However, the result can be contracts awarded by government agencies such as the Nevada Transportation Department and the Regional Transportation Commission, as well as corporations such as Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts.

Amy Shaw helps local disadvantaged business enterprises enter the McCarran International Airport business circle. As the airport’s ACDBE/DBE liaison, she is tasked with reaching out to local community business organizations and minority chambers of commerce to facilitate their entry into doing business at and with McCarran, “provided they meet minimum qualifications. Then I send them an application. I tell them to use it as a draft. There are lots of documents to submit, verifications to meet and checklists.” She then goes to their place of business to meet them, and everything lines up, she submits the application.

Once certified, “I make introductions to other government agencies and organizations that can partner with them,” she explained

Before coming to work at McCarran 3½ years ago, Shaw spent 30 years working at the Denver International Airport, followed by stints at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and Los Angeles International.

Shaw gave Lorraine and Clifton Marshall the opportunity to create a business proposal and they won ACDBC certification in 2011. The following year, they were partners in the Hudson Las Vegas Joint Venture.

Is all the hassle worth it? Definitely, says Mary Siero, president of Innovative IT. Although her company didn’t get the federal Small Business Administration 8(a) Disadvantaged Business certification she tried for — “We were given bad information, and didn’t qualify,” she said — she was successful in obtaining MBE certification from Western Regional Minority Supplier Development Council.

The MBE certification helped Siero’s company apply for a grant from JP Morgan Chase Bank for funds to conduct cybersecurity risk assessments for smaller cities in Nevada. The grant awards will be announced early next year.

Siero went on to get certified as a Local Emerging Small Business by the Nevada governor’s economic development office. Thanks to the designation, “I have been notified of potential opportunities from being on those lists,” Siero said, and “it was a deciding factor in winning a contract or two for us.” The ESB targets all types of Nevada businesses that want to bid on state and local government contracts, and is free to obtain.

One certifying body widely recognized by large corporations including NV Energy and MGM Resorts is the Women’s Business Enterprise Council. That is the only certification sought out by Service Point, a local B-to-B consulting company, said Kelli Vaz, the company’s vice president. “It helped us to grow our business exponentially. It’s been a huge asset for us,” she said. “Our main source of marketing is attending their events.”

Although there are no guarantees that the effort will pay off, “it’s another tool in your toolbox” Cliff Marshall said. And he added “getting the first one makes it easier to get all the others,” because of redundancy.