I started Laisar Management Group in 2009. I had a previous career in corporate America, where I handled operations and managed teams and contracts. I had my own P&L. So, I understood what it took to run a business since I had pretty much run a small business inside a larger business. I knew I had to have systems, effective operations, and effective methods of communication. Therefore, when I jumped out on my own, that corporate mindset helped me tremendously.
As I am a Silver Spring resident, one of the first things I did was reach out to the Montgomery County small business office, the Business Center. The first question they asked me was: Are you certified?
They meant: had I gone through the process of certifying my business with the State or the county as being minority-owned (MBE), woman-owned (WBE), or a small business enterprise (SBE)? I was not. But I quickly researched what it meant to be a Maryland-certified company and took the necessary steps to get certified. Once I had my certification in hand, I reached back out to the Business Center. As luck would have it, there was a company looking for a certified business to partner with, and I was awarded my first contract soon after. It was my first example of the power of obtaining your minority business certification.
And that leverage gave me the credibility to attract a large government contract within a year.
Things haven’t always been rosy. Like most small businesses, we made mistakes and are a much better company because of the lessons learned. I’ve been in business for 14 years now and currently have 10 employees.
Our Big Break: Maryland Casinos
A contract with the State of Maryland when Video Lottery Terminals were first coming into the State was our big break. They invited me to apply for the RFP. Since I was a new business with minimal past performance, I had to find another small business to partner with. Our task was to develop a compliance program that ensured that developers coming into Maryland would meet the State’s requirement to engage and hire certified MBEs for all phases of their operations. This meant having a committed equity plan all the way from construction, through development, and then baked in to ongoing operations. Success in that project put me on the path to what I do today.
I am an operations person – so everything is about systems. Our contract required us to build efficiencies in the interpretation of the regulatory requirements, collect the appropriate data, analyze and then report back to the State and developers.
After our stint with the Governor’s Office of Minority, Business and Women’s Affairs, we provided similar services to MGM National Harbor as they built their $1.5 billion project destination resort. Our work required that we track all project spend and workforce hours for the over 1000 companies working on the project.
Our secret sauce at Laisar is our proprietary data model: our systems and processes are agile, so as new challenges confronted us on this project, we modified our system to ensure accuracy and reliability.
The Power of Data Storytelling
MGM National Harbor has a compelling story to tell. With the backdrop of data, we helped them own that narrative by interpreting that data and bringing in the human touch to communicate it through storytelling. Storytelling showed MGM’s success and impact from the employee, community, government, and giving lens.
The Laisar Client
At Laisar, we work with all kinds of organizations to help them understand their social-economic impacts in the communities where they live and work.
To do that, we look at their data. We take a 360-degree data-driven view of an organization – and see what those numbers tell us. We help them understand their impacts on their communities – to formulate then how to reach the outcomes they are working toward. Then we meet them where they are and help them do better and show greater impact.
Advice for MoCo Business Owners
First thing to do: Get certified – it’s free. And it’s one of the easiest ways for people to find you. Then it’s about getting out there and building relationships. Small business events are happening all the time. Introduce yourself to other business owners that are either complementary to what you do or are doing the same thing. Take advantage of being a member of the Maryland Black Chamber to grow your network. Learn about local resources. MCEDC is a good place to start.
