Published: May 09, 2008 07:06 pm            

Minority contractors mingle at Airport Radisson

INDIANAPOLIS — Local contractors met with the Indianapolis International Airport’s established retailers and concessionaires at the Airport Radisson Hotel on Thursday for a networking event full of introductions, negotiations, and business card exchanges.

The new airport terminal is set to open Oct. 28, but its shops, restaurants, and rental car outlets still require vital goods and services such as uniforms, electronic and mechanical equipment, motor vehicles, and office supplies.

Aiming to fill this need, local minority contractors moved about the hotel meeting room, pitching their services to the new terminal’s inhabitants.

“The purpose of this event is to target small businesses that want to have an opportunity to supply a good or service to our retail and concession outlets who are building spaces in the new terminal,” said James Duke, director of diversity for the Indianapolis Airport Authority. “This was not a workshop environment today, it was purely a networking session.”

Specifically, the networking event targeted MBE (Minority Business Enterprise), DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise), and WBE (Women-Owned Business Enterprise) certified contractors. Either the City of Indianapolis or the State of Indiana designates firms with this status, and one of the main requirements is that the owner be a minority and have at least 51 percent ownership and control.

“Since we are building the new facility, these retail and concessions venders who are here are looking for people that can help them with that process,” Duke said. “There are a lot of general contractors out here — people who can provide electrical work, flooring, those kinds of things.”

Visitors to the new airport terminal will find familiar businesses, including national chains Starbucks, Wolfgang Puck, and Cold Stone Creamery. The new concourse will have a local flavor as well. Indiana-based favorites such as the South Bend Chocolate Company, Di-Vine Wine Bar, and 96th Street Steakburgers are set to open shop in the soon to be completed terminal.

Among the businesses present at Thursday’s networking event were rental car outlets Hertz, Avis, and Enterprise.

“One of the small segments of what we do is the airport rental side of things,” said Jeff Kusz, operations supervisor of Enterprise Rent-a-Car. “We tend to typically identify with neighborhoods which we do business in. The reason we’re here today is to try to find some vendors to use for some facets of our business at the new airport terminal that’s going up.”

Thursday’s event served as a prelude to the IAA’s much larger 24th annual Airport Business Diversity Conference to be held May 31 through June 3 at the Indianapolis Downtown Marriott. The networking session will attract minority and women owned businesses much like Thursday’s event, only on a national scale. The IAA projects to host 850 attendees and 60 exhibitors.

“Minority and women owned businesses will have an opportunity to do business at other airports across the country,” Duke said. “We’re hoping that this is going to provide some economic development for these small businesses. They’ll have opportunities to do business at other airports such as Cincinnati, Dayton, Louisville, and other airports in the immediate area.”

kevin.leibrock@flyergroup.com

        

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