Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Minnesota companies certified as Women Business Enterprises — and thus potentially attractive to corporations seeking supplier diversity — number more than 100, up from as few as 30 about two years ago.
That’s the word from Kristin Johnson Doherty, who moved to Minneapolis from Chicago a year ago to be the local representative of the Women’s Business Development Council.
That body, with Midwest headquarters in Chicago, provides a nationally recognized certification in partnership with the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
Johnson Doherty attributes part of the increase to the fact that she is physically in town. She spends time giving workshops to show women-owned companies how to maximize their certification status. “You have to work it,” she says.
Jane Tilka of Tilka Design in Minneapolis, whose firm received the certification late last year, credits the work of Beth Leonard at Lurie Besikof Lapidus & Co., the Golden Valley accounting firm.
Lurie Besikof was an early corporate sponsor of the Center for Women Entrepreneurs at Metropolitan State University, and backed former director Mary Riebe’s effort to offer certification through the center.
“We housed it,” Leonard says, and provided other resources. When Riebe left last June, Leonard became the main champion.
“A lot of my practice has been women business owners. That’s where all the new business is coming from,” she says. Her goal is 150 Women Business Enterprises certified in Minnesota by the end of 2006.
Leonard believes corporations continue to be interested in hiring firms owned by women and minorities, and now the marketplace and other vendors are adding to the push. “This will really move to the front and center for women businesses,” she says.
She advises companies considering certification: One, don’t be overwhelmed by the amount of detail required by the process. Two, be assured that the process is good for their company overall. Three, don’t discount their own contribution to the startup of the company, even if it wasn’t in the form of traditional capital.Kristin Johnson Doherty, Women’s Business Development Center: 612.781.0455; kd******@**dc.org; www.wbdc.orgBeth Leonard, Lurie Besikof Lapidus & Co.: 612.381.8820; bl******@***co.com; www.lblco.com
