91ÊÓƵ

The Professional Business Development Group has a new executive director. Kenechi Onyeagusi took over on Feb. 17.

PBDG focuses on supporting minority-owned and disadvantaged construction contractors and professional services firms to become more competitive through training, mentorship and making connections.

Onyeagusi comes to PBDG from 12 years in commercial banking and portfolio management. A first-generation immigrant from Nigeria, Onyeagusi came to Portland from Cleveland, Tennessee. She has worked for several banks, most recently Heritage Bank, and served on the boards of groups such as Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon.

This interview has been edited for space and clarity.

91ÊÓƵ: Do you have any near-term goals for the PBDG?

Kenechi Onyeagusi: PBDG’s been around for six years. I feel like it’s one of the better kept – it’s not a secret, because I feel like people in the industry know about PBDG. But folks outside the industry do not know about PDGB. And so bringing awareness to the work that we do and then really highlighting the folks that are members and the people who supported the organization in the past.

91ÊÓƵ: You mentioned bringing more awareness to PBDG’s work and highlighting what it’s doing. How can you raise its profile so it becomes better known in Portland and throughout the industry?

Onyeagusi: Well I think to do that, you have to highlight the whole industry. When I started doing my research on the subcontractor community, I was like, it’s not a community; it’s an industry.

There’s a whole movement around making sure that there’s equitable distribution of wealth and wealth creation in the community. I think organizations like ours are really one of the vehicles that this is being done.

91ÊÓƵ: We’ve seen some successful and growing DMWESB firms in Portland and Oregon. Colas Construction getting the Oregon Convention Center contract was a high-water mark. How can the industry or policymakers support contractors in getting those large public contracts?

Onyeagusi: Access to capital is a huge one. Subcontractors should not have to do some of the things they do just to get capital. I don’t know that there’s a lot of attention given to the construction industry – certainly when you’re a certain size. But there’s a hole, right between where you start to where you’re doing $200 million in contracts, and so this whole industry is being built on the backs of HELOCs (home equity lines of credit) and car sales and credit cards, and I think that’s a shame.

We can’t build a subcontracting industry on the back of credit cards or HELOCs. I think that serves nobody well. For a lot of subcontractors, that’s kind of the path of least resistance. You go and get a HELOC. You know, $10,000, $20,000, and you start with a truck and $10,000. But there are ways as a community, and I think Prosper (Portland, the city’s economic development agency) is in position to do this well, where they have a lending program and they can certainly use the resources they have to support a growing community and a growing industry without being in competition with any of the other CDFIs (community development financial institutions).

91ÊÓƵ: Are they doing a good job of that, or is there more room to grow?

Onyeagusi: There’s room to grow. It’s just starting. So I know they just put it out on the market last year that they’re doing it, so they’re tweaking. I think this is the time. This is the opportunity to really leverage their wealth-creation mission, right? Let’s create wealth in a way that is sustainable for a new industry.

If you’re talking about disadvantaged, minority, small businesses, giving them access to capital, giving them access to predictable capital, to sustained capital – you know, you can give somebody all the contracts you want, but if you don’t give them the tools to do it, that’s just setting them up to fail.

91ÊÓƵ: The city has some funding coming from the Community Opportunities and Enhancements Program. Where could that funding best be used?

Onyeagusi: Right now, the funding is for the apprenticeship and then organizations like ours that do technical assistance and business support services work, and I think that’s right on the money because we do need to make sure that our apprentices and our workforce get funding.

For the work that we do at PBDG, we can’t do the work consistently and with the right tools if we’re not properly funded.

So it’s wonderful that there’s a sustained channel, but I think the key is to make sure it survives government changes, that it’s not the whim of which politician is in the seat, that it’s really embedded in the framework of doing business with public agencies. It would be a shame to start all this work and then have to stop because a different person is in power.

It’s displacement when you think about it. When businesses start to expect the support we’re giving them, and start to rely on that and you yank it, you’re displacing their resources, and that would be too close to history.

91ÊÓƵ: It seems in the world of COBID contracts, there are a few fairly large firms that are getting these contracts. Is there too much concentration in the industry? Would it be good to broaden the number of firms who can compete for these contracts?

Onyeagusi: Yeah. That’s one of the things that I think we get through data. There has to be a granularity of data. If you’re trying to make impact, you have to be able to measure the impact of your dollars. How much of that went to job creation, and how many firms benefited from it? It’s time for us to start disaggregating data to really see who is really getting chunks of the money. It’s the only way to grow a fresh crop.

When you look at it from the perspective of money, people don’t want to talk about it because it sounds icky and they’re not doing anything wrong. But it’s not about the money, and it’s not wrong to make money. But what are we trying to do with this work? We’re trying to build businesses, and you don’t do that by doing the same old thing that’s always worked. That’s disingenuous.

91ÊÓƵ: What are the obstacles you’re seeing for COBID contractors and subcontractors?

Onyeagusi: Other than the lack of money thing? (Laughs) They need technical assistance, they need classes, they need education, being in the right rooms, being a voice.

I see the city and county and Metro really trying to figure out how to do this. And the policies they’ve put in place, they’re really putting the money where their mouths are. It would be great to have 10 companies the size of Colas and Raimore and O’Neill in five years. That’s when you build wealth.

91ÊÓƵ: If I could ask a more personal question, I’m sure it’s difficult to be an African-American woman in Portland. Portland and Oregon more broadly have a history of exclusion. How has that journey been for you and how could the rest of us do better?

Onyeagusi: It’s been interesting. I’ve always just looked for allies. Banking is one where it’s one of the whiter industries, but I’ve been very fortunate to find allies. And not just people-of-color allies, but white women allies, white men allies, allies that have mentored me and pointed me in the right direction.

I feel a personal … everything I do is in this goldfish bowl, and everybody’s watching, and I’m representing all the black women, and that has pressure.

But I’ve found just owning my voice and being confident in who I am to be helpful. Every room I walk in, probably 95 percent of the time in my career, I’ve been the only person of color. And so I’ve just had to be comfortable in those settings by knowing exactly what I bring to the table and knowing my craft.

It’s felt like a journey of just proving myself over and over and over again. Every room and every meeting, proving myself. I don’t know that that’s particular to me. I think as a woman, as a minority person, you go through that and there’s the pressure of needing to do that even faster than everybody else. But I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had some really good mentors and family support.