We pulled off into a rest stop along I-94 and I remarked about on what appeared to be three nearly identical business buildings just over the fence on a frontage road. I asked my friend, who was familiar with all things local, about it.
He smiled and said, the first building is a business owned by a Black man, the second by a woman and the third by a Hispanic. All three are engineering and procurement firms who bid against each other for every highway project in the area. One of the three wins just about every contract.
"Do they really own them", I asked.
"On paper, yes" said my friend, "but the person who fronted them the money to own the business loaned it to them at a 0% interest rate plus a share of the profits."
"A politically well-connected white guy?," I asked.
"Man, do you catch on fast!," he replied.
Makes perfect sense. Back in the 90’s when I owned an small IT consulting firm, defense contracts were a significant contributor to our revenue. We were too small to bid on big contracts, but would team with the likes of Lockheed Martin because they got extra points when they could show part of the work was being done by a small business. I watched that to evolve into women and minority owned businesses and was shut out. There’s a difference between color- and sex-blind small businesses from what is going on today.