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World Bank Development Projects Create Opportunity for Oregon Exporter
As a student at Oregon State University during the early nineties, Sherlock B. Mahn, a native of Liberia, found a niche in exporting supplies for development projects in African countries. Building on his experience in his father's import-export businesses in Liberia, Mahn became a self-taught entrepreneur with a focus on bidding for World Bank procurement opportunities. In 1993, he founded Kwaplah Int’l Trading Company, Inc. with the initial intent to export textbooks and educational supplies or equipment.
Despite being employed full-time in the first years of launching his business, Mahn expanded the core product line of textbooks to include office equipment, AV and computer equipment, and occasionally even industrial machinery. With the success of being the bidder on several small Ethiopian projects also came disappointments when Kwaplah International was out-bid on larger contracts for more diverse products.
The secret of business growth, it became apparent, was in developing a broader supplier base and in developing a greater number of bids. At this stage of business development the working capital shortage became noticeable. Since the World Bank requires that every proposal be accompanied by a bid bond pegged at a percentage of contract value, the need for financing grew with the volume of bids. The more bids and the larger the contracts, the more money was tied up in bid bonds and often for many months.
When Kwaplah International required more working capital than his small personal line of credit could supply, Mahn applied for an export line of credit and was declined. In the bank's eyes, his continued employment while developing his company relegated the enterprise to "hobby" business status. Through a Small Business Administration (SBA) Export Working Capital Program (EWCP) loan, Kwaplah International secured its first business line of credit and increased its capacity for supplier and bid bond financing. “This [EWCP] loan program has enabled Kwaplah International to bid for more substantive export projects that have otherwise been avoided in the past due to limited financial capability,” said Mahn.
With increasing success in landing bids and demonstrated performance to the World Bank, Mahn was successful in 2004 in signing a multi-year contract with the United Nations to supply a line of selected office products to UN offices in African countries. In 2004, Mahn quit his job to dedicate himself 100% to his growing export company. “I want to express my deep gratitude to the SBA Export Working Capital/Assistance Program for providing much required working capital and Bid/Performance Bonds that I needed to successfully and equitably compete in the export markets,” said Mahn.
With assistance from the SBA Export Working Capital Program, Kwaplah Int’l Trading Company, Inc.’s objective for the coming year is to vigorously pursue export opportunities across Africa in order to double or triple its export volume.
For Mobile West Linn Couple, it’s Washing Cats and Dogs
With two dogs and two cats, Dave Faul (left) and his wife, Sandra Yates, are definitely animal lovers. But when Faul suggested they start a business washing dogs and cats in a van parked at clients’ curbs, Yates said, “Thinking he was nuts was an understatement.”
Nearly three years later, however, the West Linn couple’s Wash’n Roll Pet Grooming business has expanded to two vans driving to appointments throughout the metropolitan area.
Mobile pet groomers are more common on the East Coast and in California than in the Northwest, said Faul, 50 who was an account executive with a women’s apparel company for 25 years before starting his own business. However, the service is beginning to catch on in the region. At least three similar businesses are operating in the metropolitan area, said Angela Jones of Portland, a pet groomer for 10 years who went mobile a few months before.
Faul and Yates turned the key in their first van. “In a few months, a friend of mine in Estacada plans to start another mobile grooming business,” said Jones, 44, who has a waiting list of potential clients but no plans to expand Angela’s Pet Styling Professional Mobile Grooming beyond her single van. Instead, she refers people to Wash’n Roll. Faul began research for a new business when he realized his job could evaporate in a corporate merger or store closure. He learned that the United States has a $30 billion pet industry. He also looked at who spends a lot of those dollars. “The baby boomers, whose children are getting older or who are empty-nesters, are willing to spend money on keeping their fur kids happy,” he said.
Yates, 47, was a real estate analyst for an agricultural lending company before taking over Wash’n Roll’s business office. “It’s quite a bit different from what I was doing,” she said, “but it’s a lot more fun.”
Faul attended a pet grooming school in Albany for six months, and Yates wrote a business plan. Local bankers said the business had to operate for two or three years before they could get a business loan, Faul said, so the couple paid their own startup costs. They also received assistance from SCORE: Counselors to America’s Small Business, a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration. SCORE members volunteer as counselors for small entrepreneurs. “They were really helpful,” Yates said, “and it was surprising that it was all free.”
Growing mostly by word of mouth, the business now has three part-time and three full-time employees, Yates said. Prices are based on breed, size of the animal and condition of the coat. A team recently washed and groomed a 200-pound Newfoundland for $200, she said, but a sleek dachshund may have a $35 bill. Prices for cats can range from $50 to $125.
Two people work in each van, designed by an Indiana pet groomer who now markets the vehicles. Each van has a tub, automatic shampoo dispenser, rinsing hose and grooming table. One dog can be in the tub while another is having its coat trimmed, Faul said. However, cats are another matter. “We do just one cat at a time,” he said. “But they don’t take that long, and there’s nothing better than a clean cat.”
Wallet Guy Finds a Better Tape
Shoppers at Portland Saturday Market have known him for years as the Duct-Tape Wallet Guy. But Garett Croft Stenson is moving on – to gaffer's tape. Seven years after he made his first duct-tape wallet at college in Idaho, Stenson has closed the doors on Ductbills. In its place he has launched several new lines of gaffer's tape wallets that he calls pocket art. "One thing I want people to know is I'm still in the game," says Stenson, 26, whose new company is called db clay.
About a year ago, Stenson discovered gaffer's tape, which is used by lighting and sound technicians on stages and movie sets. Stenson compares it to space-age materials. At present, db clay offers five series of wallets, ranging in price from $40 to $85. Camera series: With images captured by Portland photographers, the wallets feature scenes such as a cloud- lined Central Oregon horizon. Sketchbook series: The wallets display sketchbook drawings by Portland artists. Limited series: db clay handscreens the designs with custom- mixed acrylics. Material series: The wallets' designs are based on recycled and found materials, inspired in particular by a linoleum floor design spotted in the former Dammasch State Hospital. Plain series: The wallets are plain, but can be decorated by their owners.
With the help of a U.S. Small Business Administration loan, Stenson now has four full-time employees, a manufacturing contract with a factory in Vietnam, a pending patent on db clay's designs, and accounts with about three dozen retailers worldwide, including four in Portland. Stenson intends to expand the product lines to include items ranging from clutches to luggage.
Apart from db clay, Stenson is even branching out into fashion design by investing in Sameunderneath, the Portland company for which his sister designs clothing made of yet another unusual material: bamboo.
