The Delaware Minority Small Business Person of the Year is Felicia Enuha of Bristol Industrial Corporation
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free”, Michelangelo said of his sculpture. Felicia Enuha says that she has met and benefited from angels in her life as a business owner. Not the heavenly kind of angels, but rather the human kind that have assisted her in achieving business success culminating in her selection as the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 2012 Delaware Minority Small Business Person of the Year.
Enuha had more than 9 years of small business ownership when she founded Bristol Industrial Corporation (Bristol) in 2004. Building on her past experience in production, marketing, and technical operations she opened Bristol to distribute pipes, valves, and fittings to utility companies. She gained certification into the SBA’s 8(a) business development program which was created to help small disadvantaged businesses compete in the American economy and access the federal procurement market.
Achieving success in that niche, she expanded into construction in 2009. As a construction company specializing in being a self-performing General Contractor her business has grown to encompass more than 20 North American industrial Classification Codes (NAICS Codes). The business has grown substantially and has been awarded contracts by Exelon nuclear, PECO, Pennsylvania Power and Light, and Delmarva Power.
When Enuha speaks of angels she has four specific people in mind:
· Gedell Hawkins of the Delaware SBA district office: “Gedell has gone well above and beyond in guiding me through the maze of doing things the right way,” said Enuha. “Her selflessness and constructive advice has been an instrumental force in helping me stay focused, meet the right people, and to meet the myriad requirements of the federal contracting system.
· Juanita Beauford of the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) in Newark, Delaware has been another angelic presence for Enuha: “For the past twelve years, PTAC and in particular Juanita, has provided assistance on the technical aspects of federal contracting and even attended meetings with me when necessary to ensure I had the best possible opportunities to be awarded contracts.”
· Cheryl Chandler of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers has also been an angel for Enuha: “If you have the capabilities and experience to do the job, she will fight to ensure you are given the proper consideration for the contract. She genuinely cares for her small business people,” said Enuha.
· Jimmy Jarrell and MidCoast Community Bank helped Enuha secure SBA backed loans to grow her business when other sources of funding were not available. “Jimmy really ‘walks the walk’ in helping small business owners like me,” says Enuha. “Thanking these four people does not mean there are not many others to thank, but these four stand out in making a difference to my journey.”
While Enuha may have had some angels working in the background, she admits that she has worked very hard to achieve her success. As most “overnight successes” will point out it really takes about 3,000 nights to achieve success. Through all those years of effort and struggle the motto has always remained simple and straightforward: “Deliver a quality product, on time and on budget.” That’s probably enough to make an angel smile.
- The Delaware Business Weekly Round Up – October 12th, 2012
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