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michiganchronicle.com

February 6-12, 2013

Michigan Chronicle introduces new business section

By Hiram E. Jackson
CHRONICLE PUBLISHER

Energy efficiency movement

By Zack Burgess
CHRONICLE EDITOR-AT-LARGE

Black businesses benefit from

No one makes it on their own. And the many great leaders, who walked the halls of the Michigan Chronicle before me, left a lasting mark on this organization and the community we serve. I am honored to have the opportunity to add to the legacy of this great institution. The Chronicle has always been known for its support of positive social change. As a result, we have become smarter, wiser and better for it. I have learned that individuals with great ideas Hiram E. Jackson can often accomplish what government or large organizations cannot. That is why I decided that it was time for us to have a section dedicated to business. A section focused on the key innovation that underlies much of the gains that have been made by the African American business community in Detroit and the many companies that have partnered with them in order to make our city great again. Its important that we recognize the role played by entrepreneurs in advancing positive social changes. I dont mean businesspeople solving social ills, but people spreading new approaches through nonprofits and businesses, or within government to address problems more successfully than in the past. I know that at times, it can be hard to believe that progress is happening, but it is. Unfortunately, most of our news focuses on problems, not creative responses to them. One of the most interesting stories in the business community in Detroit today is how much creative problem solving is being done by citizens who are taking it upon themselves to fix things and who, in many cases, are outperforming traditional organizations or making systems work better. Is this something new? No. There have always been people who built organizations that demonstrated new possibilities and sparked change. In business, they were given the name entrepreneurs. As their role came to be understood, societies instituted a wide array of supports to help them. We will do our best to identify leaders in our communities whose main mission is to employ and help Detroiters, not only get back to work, but find careers vs. jobs. What I want to do is give young African Americans a view of what can be done if they come up with a plan and work that plan to live their dreams.And while a degree certainly provides graduates with an edge in the job market, unemployment statistics have repeatedly shown that ones race plays a role in securing employment. Fortunately, we seem to be doing something about it. A recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed that Black self-employment has been on the rise. The number of self-employed Blacks grew by 5.7 percent from 2007 through 2009, in contrast to the 3.4 decrease experienced by self-employed Whites. It is our job to show our readers that it can be done. I like to believe that African Americans are a group of people who embody the American promise of success driven by will and resolve. Furthermore, its important that we remain transparent as a business community. Our goal is to help people change habits that can hopefully motivate them to pursue greater opportunities. In the end, strategic decisions matter. By turning our attention to habits those decisions that have profound impact we know we can change peoples lives.

Life is a succession of fortunate circumstances. And when former Governor Jennifer Granholm issued an executive order, just before the 2006 campaign, calling for the creation of a 21st Century Energy Plan for Michigan the mission being to find alternative energy sources and greater energy efficiency Louis E. James knew he had to get involved. He knew there was an entire community of people he could give back to, people just like him. As the markets changed and after years of running several businesses, James knew that he too had to change. In the end, electricity and gas is something people were going to always need. Consequently, in 2009 James founded a company, Solutions for Energy Efficient Logistics (SEEL). By June, he had landed a huge customer, DTE Energy. Together they would make wonderful music, as they worked to implement DTE Energys efficiency program for electric and natural gas customers in multi-family and commercial properties an ambitious but doable pilot program. Initially, the key for me was diversifying outside of the automobile industry, said James. I knew that energy efficiency would be a reality. And while there are people who look at solar, and they look at turbine and all the other things, energy efficiency is the greatest economic development tool and affordable for solving certain problems. I was moved by what we are trying to do as a country right now, and thats conserve energy. Ask anyone who knows James and they will tell you he is a man who has built a career on an ability to be a inscrutable, smart and witty, a gentleman who will always grace you with a smile. Its not only an education piece to what we do, its also a job creator, said James. The biggest thing that happened with SEEL was that it created over 125 jobs in the community. We used community leaders and churches and made them aware of how important energy efficiency is and how simple it is. It has been very rewarding for us who live in the community and work in the community. We have people working for us from 19 to 69. I like to say we have turned people from blue collar to green collar. And while DTE Energy had been involved with minority-based programs for 31 years now, receiving many awards for its minority supplier development efforts along the way, they felt the need to continue to improve minority procurement efforts and get minorities even more involved on the supply chain side of their business.

Louis E. James
The proof was in the numbers. Not only did African Americans make up 82.7 percent of the citys population, but they had been awarded minority owned contracts well over $114,000,000, another $106,000,000 to women, which accounted for well over $220,000,000. It made sense for DTE Energy to get even more involved with the African American business community. The multi-family program and pilots grew to the landing of the Neighborhood Energy Savings Outreach (NESO) and the goal was to target customer areas that were in need of being educated about the need for using lower energy and how it could save them money. The reality is this: the African American community was in desperate need of being taught the value of how to save energy, because low and middle income households were getting hit hard. Furthermore, through the prism of the Pure Michigan Business Connect Initiative that was started by Gov. Rick Snyder and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) in 2011, DTE Energy has spent more than $1.4 billion with Michigan-based suppliers like SEEL, who have also benefited by the programs support in gaining access to new capital, its business to business services and assistance in leveraging new procurement opportunities. It has been a tremendously rewarding experience working with DTE, said James. The key is that they have been extremely supportive, every step of the way. And we have performed every step of the way. We were given an opportunity and we have performed at the highest level and they have rewarded us for that. It has been a great marriage between the two companies. After seeing the figures, there were households where sometimes half their monthly income was going to utility bills. Therefore, SEEL concentrated on community outreach and the need for highly trained installation crews, who would interact on a regular basis with people throughout the community. Thus, James hired and trained over 100 full-time staff to conduct audits and installation, which was required by DTE Energy. SEEL has shown an entrepreneurial spirit and call to action that has propelled them towards important business awards, said Tony Tomczak, DTE Energys director of Supply Chain Management. SEEL has exemplified what DTE is looking for when new business development is needed. I would like to

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Keeping Connected
AT&T $14 billion investment expected to yield big dividends in urban areas
By Jackie Berg
Once rejected, now connected, Detroit is making a unique footprint on defining urban culture. With the announcement of the M-1 rail system, the city of Detroit is not only on the edge of becoming the business address of 25,000 new downtown residents, 200 new storefront businesses along Woodward Avenue and 20,000 new workers, but of developing the kind of street life that demands sister cities take notice.

Detroit

A shadow city no more, Detroits reemergence demands Detroit needs the kind of instant access immediate 21st century technology up- that the upgrades will bring. grades in order to keep pace with develWere only scratching the surface of opment needs. what we can do, said Greg Clark, AT&T reAT&Ts announcement of its $14 bil- gional vice president. We plan to wire up to lion investment nationwide to signifi- one million new locations, including many cantly expand and enhance its wireless of Detroits new small business locations and wireline IP broadband networks to with the kind of fiber optics the market-

needs the kind of instant access that the upgrades will bring.

GreG clark, AT&T regional vice president.

serve growing customer demand for highspeed Internet access and new mobile, app and cloud services could not be better timed. place demands. With 11 planned stops along Woodward corridor, M-1 commuters will have the opportunity to experience an eclectic array of new shops and restaurants and still arrive to work on time. And AT&Ts technology infrastructure investments will make it easier to keep everyone connected along the way, according to Clark, who is helping lead conversations

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