A course worth PREPping for.

LaGuardia College provide stepping stones to contracts

The PREP or "Preparing for Profit" course, created by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, LaGuardia College, and PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1991, helps prepare small business owners, including women and especially minorities, sell products and services to government agencies and navigate the maze of red tape that inevitably follows.

For seven years Benjamin Hunt has been the program director of the course, which is held at LaGuardia Community College, a branch of the City University of New York. "It's a four-week workshop," Hunt says. "Four consecutive Saturdays. We usually conduct three workshops a year in April and June and then October or November. It was split up because after June it's hard to get people in class, so we let things go until late fall. The last class had 43 people, with class size averaging around 40 to 45 people."

During the daylong classes participants learn about certification--which is especially useful to women and minorities. They also learn about the MTA and other governmental agencies' procurement processes, accounting practices and procedures from PricewaterhouseCoopers, effective communication protocol with bureaucracy, putting together an effective proposal, and marketing techniques.

"At least eleven people have been awarded contracts of more that $1 million since they've taken the class," Hunt says. "In October 2000, we had a reception where we brought five new people into our Million Dollar Club," Hunt recalls.

Businesses whose owners have gone through the course include Rodney Evans, president and CEO of Skyline Connections, Leroy and Jennifer Jackson, owners of T&T Cleaning and Janitorial Services Inc., and Christopher Cole, executive VP of Coling Ambulette.

When the Jacksons took the course in 1994, they remember learning a whole new vocabulary that included terminology in marketing, taxes, accounting, certification, networking, government procurement, and doing business on the Internet. After completing the course, the Jacksons won a $58,000 contract to supply New York's MTA with dust mops. This modest start has been followed by other contracts to date. "You won't get business opportunities if you don't have the right tools and you're unprepared," says Leroy Jackson.

Evans, who took the course in 1996, contends that as a result of PREP, his company subcontracted with the Lockheed Corp. to secure a contract supplying computers to the MTA. Evans' company Skyline, was also the information technology integrator for the Brooklyn Museum, installing fiber optic cable for their network operations.

The cost of the course is $110.00. Tuition is kept at a minimum because the instructors are volunteer business consultants provided by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the MTA. "If the costs were higher we'd have to pass them on to the students," says Hunt.

"The class is 50% women and 75% minority, though the program is race and gender neutral. We also have small businesses not owned by minorities. "We give them breakfast and lunch so they can concentrate on the study material," says Hunt.

This year an additional program was initiated to augment PREP that not only tells people that they have to apply for certification but helps them to do so. Hunt notes, "We help them take the next step."

Getting started

University of Illinois at Chicago, Center for Urban Business offers specialized in-house assistance to small business owners and managers.

Courses include mentoring with MBA students and professors, strategies and guidance for entrepreneurs, growth strategies for existing firms, and a premier networking dinner event with financial experts and local business owners. Contact 312- 413-8139 for more information.