Minority Businesses Find Tennessee Nurturing
Published Apr 07, 2002
Doug Venable’s move from Detroit to Tennessee to take the reins of Porter-Walker Inc. is a success story for state minority-business initiatives.
One was a Tennessee native; the other had never set foot in the state. Both ended up finding new opportunities for minority-owned businesses in Columbia, Tenn.
Louvonia Wilson grew up in Nashville, but had not been back to her hometown for 30 years until last year, when she attended the Black Enterprise Conference hosted by the state of Tennessee. Taking part in such events is a key marketing strategy of her firm, Kestrel Associates Inc., an information-technology company based in Springfield, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.
At the conference, Wilson met Lorie Shaunteé, director of existing industry services for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD), who encouraged her to investigate the potential for developing new business in Tennessee, especially as it related to municipal housing authorities. Shaunteé later helped open doors for Kestrel Associates. Now, the provider of systems engineering, IT design/installation and hardware/software maintenance is not only doing business in Tennessee, with the Columbia Housing Authority as a major customer, but also has opened a branch office in Nashville.
Two years before the state brought the conference to Nashville, Doug Venable was sitting in his Detroit office wondering how to revive a business that depended on what had become a sluggish auto industry. He had owned Fife Electric, a distributor of automotive electrical supplies, for three years. Meanwhile, down in Columbia, Tenn., James Fleming and John Porter were nearing retirement age and looking for someone to buy their industrial supply and equipment distributorship, Porter-Walker Inc. Established in 1907, the company had an enviable list of customers, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, and numerous longtime employees whom the owners wanted to protect. They weren’t interested in selling to a large corporation that might close or move the business, eliminating jobs.
Fleming happened to read a trade magazine article about Venable, called him and set up a meeting. He detailed Porter-Walker’s history, successes and prospects, and the men talked about the similarities of their businesses. Venable liked what he heard, and in short order, agreed to buy the company. But that was the easy part.
It would be two more years before the financing was in place. “TVA played the pivotal role in that when they came forward with two of their loan funds,” says Venable. The deal was closed in September 2001.
Fleming, who was familiar with TVA’s economic development role, talked to an agency vice president who put him in touch with representatives of ECD’s Manufacturing Services and Minority Business Development divisions. Together they helped pave the deal’s way toward finalization.
Most of the funding needed by Venable was provided by SunTrust Bank, one of several banks participating with TVA in the Valley Coalition for Minority Economic Development. The rest of the money came through a TVA Minority Business Development Loan and an Economic Development Loan.
In addition to TVA, Porter-Walker (now Porter-Walker LLC) sells its hard hats, tools and general safety supplies to Nissan, Bridgestone/Firestone, local utilities and other government agencies. The company presently serves all of the Tennessee Valley, and, under Venable, the market area is likely to expand. “I want to build the company to include all of the Southeast,” he says. “We are being very aggressive in going after new business.” The new owner, who has added half a dozen employees since taking over, reports a big increase in requests for proposals and responses to them since January.
While Venable has been learning about Tennessee for the first time, Louvonia Wilson, president and chief executive officer of Kestrel, has been gaining a new perspective on her home state. “This is our first time to do business in Tennessee,” she notes. “The Columbia Housing Authority is now one of the larger contracts we have, and it could lead to other housing-authority contracts in the state. In fact, others have already expressed interest. Columbia was sort of a ‘pilot project.’ We provided a complete systems upgrade, developing software to meet their specific needs. It can easily be adapted to the needs of others; most housing authorities have similar requirements.”
Kestrel’s Nashville branch, opened in 2001, has grown from one to seven employees. “We’ve hired all Tennessee people,” says Wilson. “We’ve been able to identify some excellent prospects.” Kestrel is bidding on other RFPs from its Nashville office with increasing frequency, including requests from commercial companies. “One company, for example, wants a WAN [wide area network] to link all of its subsidiaries,” says Wilson. Her firm also has plans for an Atlanta branch.
Wilson hasn’t moved to Tennessee, although she’s spending more and more time here. Venable, on the other hand, moved lock, stock and barrel to Columbia after selling his business in Detroit and purchasing Porter-Walker, bringing along his wife and his now 10-year-old son. “I love Tennessee,” he says wholeheartedly. “The business climate here is more vibrant than in Michigan. The economic environment is better than most native Tennesseans realize. I’m surprised, encouraged and optimistic about the future.”
Story by Jim Sparks
Photo by David Mudd
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