🔒Minority entrepreneurs coalition focuses on building bonds to grow their businesses

The pandemic has been devastating for some membership groups, but leaders of Connecticut’s Opus Organization are looking on the bright side.

This statewide coalition of minority entrepreneurs calls themselves “a digital mastermind group” and leaders say the shift to online meetings has deepened and strengthened their bonds — and their businesses.

“We’ve connected all online,” said Ted Hsu, an Opus board member and organizer. “That’s proliferated to external events matching our individual customers with the broader membership.”

At Opus’ virtual weekly meetings, members share their capabilities and challenges, then seek help and networking support from fellow business owners. The virtual format allows for focused attention on each business and saves members time and energy once spent on getting to in-person events.

“You get on, you get what you need and you share what you need and be done with it,” Hsu said. “Because of how efficient it is, it’s actually opened more opportunities.”

From sidelines to center stage

The Opus Organization launched in 2019 when Hsu and other members of what is now the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council realized they had common concerns.

“When you’re part of a larger organization, they treat it with a broad brush,” said Ron Everett, another Opus board member and organizer. “No one sought out our individual capabilities. Opus flips that script — Opus focuses on us as individual businesses with a diverse amount of talent.”

After an earlier career in corporate real estate, Everett opened his own company in 1998, selling janitorial, food service, HVAC equipment and other supplies on a wholesale basis to corporate clients. His company, PRC Supplies, now works with clients like the state of New York, Pitney Bowes and Aetna.

For Everett, Opus offers an opportunity to market his capabilities with a sharper focus to clients who are seeking more than to just fulfill a “minority supplier” mandate. He had noticed at past events that prospective clients would attend seeking only “minority business,” with little interest in each company’s strengths and capabilities.

“[Clients] were not really taking into account who we were individually,” Everett said. “No one really got an opportunity to shine.”

Hsu’s business, commercial cleaning contractor Horizon Services Company, has suffered during the pandemic and Opus offers additional opportunities for advice and networking, he said.

“It’s been challenging in the last year; we’re looking for ways to improve traction,” Hsu said. When designing Opus, he and other organizers were looking for ways to support each other without expending time and resources on scheduling in-person events.

“We needed something that was very efficient without the travel and overhead,” Hsu said.

Like Everett and Hsu, many Opus members are entrepreneurs and professionals in sectors like civil engineering, architecture, the building trades, IT, material suppliers and property management. Members include Tony Rodriguez, president of Hartford consulting firm Daniel Penn Associates; Carlton L. Oneal, managing partner of elearning company LightSpeedEdu of Hamden; and Ramon Peralta, founder of Peralta Design of Shelton.

“We’re seasoned business people, we know each other so we can vouch for each other,” Everett said.

Expanding scope

To raise the profile of the new group, Opus has sponsored events including a webinar in February to mark Connecticut Minority-owned Small Business Recognition & Opportunity Day that featured state industry leaders and politicians.

The group has also spoken out in support of a bill now in front of the state legislature’s Commerce Committee, Senate bill 625, that would establish a detailed database of state businesses, supply chains and workforce tools. Proponents have said the database, CTIndex, would help track business activity in more granular detail and drive economic opportunity.

“The proposed database, if implemented properly, would be a powerful tool to support expansion of current businesses and attract new ones to the state,” said UConn business professor and economist Fred Carstensen, in testimony in support of the bill.

Gov. Ned Lamont’s Office of Workforce Strategy and Workforce Council oppose the new database, claiming it would replicate data-gathering done by the Department of Administrative Services and other agencies. The bill is currently in committee.

“A centralized database is vital towards outreach and connecting with disparate Connecticut minority businesses,” Hsu said.

A lack of accessible and accurate data on existing businesses in the state helps perpetuate an “old-boy network” that limits opportunity for minority vendors and suppliers, Everett said. More data could help motivate corporate leaders to take more direct action on diversifying their supply chain, he added.

“Without that leadership directive the companies fall short,” Everett said. “Hence, Opus exists.”

‘The Opus Way’

In pursuit of more opportunities for businesses owned by people of color, women and veterans, Opus is going back to the future with its approach, the organizers said. They’ve codified and publicized their approach and even given it a name — “The Opus Way.”

Traditional business groups like chambers of commerce have moved away from networking as they have grown and changed their focus, Hsu said. Current large groups don’t meet the needs of emerging companies.

“Minority-owned firms are behind on peer-to-peer networking vis-à-vis majority firms,” Hsu said.

“Opus is going back to some of those roots — we’re helping each other develop capabilities, developing strategy.”

The Opus method has five steps, starting with referral of “confident, diverse MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) businesses amongst friends,” Hsu said. Next, friendship and professional connections are cultivated, followed by continual contact and sharing. Then comes the asks, requests for help on strategy or specific challenges.

Last, members are asked to broaden the network by bringing in new businesspeople.

“Then we go back to number one,” Hsu said. “That’s how we roll. That’s our way.”

The Opus Way is a work in progress, he adds, aided by the constant contact enabled by virtual communication and platforms.

“It’s been an iterative process ... it’s been democratic as people come in,” Hsu said. “It’s a stew, we’re continually cooking it online.”