News & Events

Expanding Minority Business - One Deal at a Time

Article from Advance Northeast Ohio

(www.advancenortheastohio.org/node/453)

Expanding Minority Business - One Deal at a Time

The team at the Minority Business Accelerator 2.5+ announced that they've helped their second minority-owned enterprise land a significant business deal. The Accelerator works to dramatically increase the size of minority-owned ventures with at least $2.5 million in sales. The goal is to create a healthy, vibrant community of large minority-owned businesses in Northeast Ohio. This deal is a small, but important step toward that goal.

Here are the details from the Accelerator's newsletter:

As one of the Minority Business Accelerator 2.5+ participating MBEs, Rick Zamora, president of Global Point Technologies, Inc. sees his involvement as an opportunity to objectively analyze his business and see what's needed to grow and expand. "I always say ‘you don't know what you don't know.' You think you can take your business to the next level, but it's very important to first develop the infrastructure to support growth," he says.

With assistance from the MBAccelerator 2.5+, Global Point Technologies recently landed a $300,000 data-center cabling contract with Case Western Reserve University. Zamora estimates the project will take 8-12 months. Securing opportunities with larger clients is evidence of his company's ability to handle bigger jobs, says Zamora, who started the company in 2003. He currently has a core team of eight employees and recently opened a second office in Dublin, Ohio, near Columbus.

"Originally we targeted mid-market accounts," he says. "Then we got our first big break with Eaton Corporation, which gave us an opportunity to do a very large project and get our first certification." This project allowed the company to use Eaton as a reference and paved the way for successfully bidding on and completing contracts with KeyBank and University Hospitals.

Global Point Technologies, based in North Royalton, is a certified structured cabling, low-voltage installation company, offering complete design/build and installation services for all data and voice communications needs. This includes structured cabling systems, fiber optic installations and outside-plant cabling. The company also has three other divisions: Kayzie, which provides horizontal directional underground drilling; Global Point Distribution Services, a wholesale distributor of voice/data and electrical supplies; and GPT Plenum Control, a full-service data-center consulting, maintenance and cleaning company.

Zamora, a native of Mexico who became a U.S. citizen in 1984, has been active in the Hispanic business community as a former board member and past president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for Ohio. A graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College, he is currently on the Board of the Northern Ohio Minority Business Council and a member of the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2008.

Greater Cleveland Partnership

Minority Business Accelerator 2.5+

(http://www.gcpartnership.com/ContentDouble.aspx?id=2586)

See newsletter from July 2008

(http://www.gcpartnership.com/Multimedia.aspx)

See video "Opportunities and Outcomes"