Minorities, Women Get Contract Leads

Calvin Madlock came looking for contracts for his year-old computer consulting and software development company. Marion E. Maddox, a former nurse, came to find out how to strike out on her own in business. And Joyce D. Sharpe arrived with a list of services her employer, Southern California Edison, wants to purchase from small, minority-owned companies.

They all met Friday during the Los Angeles Urban League’s 14th annual Career Connections conference, which is designed to showcase Southern California’s minority- and women-owned businesses.

“The purpose was to bring minority and (women-owned) businesses to organizations that will assist and enhance them,” said organizer Barbara Dent-Jiles, manager of the Urban League’s Pomona office.

Twenty-six exhibitors, including the Small Business Administration and several large corporations such as Edison, offered information and opportunities for contracts during the conference, which concludes today at the Los Angles Airport Hilton.

Many corporations want to help, said Sharpe, a diversity program representative for Edison, but her company already has vendors for some of the services offered by the firms at the conference. “If there is an opportunity, then we’ll work with them. But some areas are too saturated.”

Still, most of the minority and women business owners at the conference were enthusiastic about the opportunity to make contacts. “I hope to get a contract,” said Madlock, the 34-year-old owner of Los Angeles-based Madlock Services.

Minority-owned firms must take the initiative to find out what opportunities are available, said Liting Zhang, co-owner of Alda Co., a Chatsworth-based stationery supplier. “If we don’t try, nothing is going to happen,” said Zhang, 44, who runs her company with three other women.