State certification could boost EVS sales

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Marta Haden hopes she has found a way to get her share of government contracts.|ret||ret||tab|

Electronic Video Systems, bought by Haden from Don Ingalsbe in January 2001, was certified June 6 as a Woman Business Enterprise by the Missouri Office of Equal Opportunity. Her company joins more than 740 WBE-designated companies in Missouri's Minority-Women Business Enterprise Program.|ret||ret||tab|

The distinction may yield increased sales for EVS, which generated $7.5 million in sales last year through broadcast, security and audio-visual contracts for entities ranging from Southwest Missouri State University to Boeing. Annual revenues from equipment sales and installation are about 40 percent broadcast, 40 percent security and 20 percent audio-visual, Haden said.|ret||ret||tab|

"The federal government recently announced that they were not meeting their quota of minority and woman-owned businesses," Haden said. "They're out there looking for that kind of company." This should help EVS when bidding projects, she added.|ret||ret||tab|

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The program|ret||ret||tab|

Gov. Mel Carnahan issued an executive order in 1999 "requiring state agencies to do a certain amount of their business with minorities, and now that includes women," said Nancy Heyer, certification coordinator for the program. |ret||ret||tab|

To qualify, a business must be 51 percent or more owned, controlled and managed by a woman, and she must be a U.S. citizen, Heyer added.|ret||ret||tab|

Candidates are evaluated through paperwork and an on-site inspection, Heyer said. These visits increase the state's familiarity with the business and help the owner understand the certification process, their new opportunities as a job bidder and how state contracts work, she added. |ret||ret||tab|

State contracts in excess of $100,000 stipulate percentages for woman and minority subcontracting, said Marvin Eason, director of the office of equal opportunity. |ret||ret||tab|

Heyer said, contracts are typically 5 percent for women and 10 percent for minorities, but can be up to 10 percent and 20 percent, respectively. |ret||ret||tab|

"That means if a non-minority is bidding on a contract they need to contact a minority and a woman for that percentage of that overall contract," Heyer said. Eligible minorities are Asian-, African-, Native- and Hispanic-American.|ret||ret||tab|

Woman-owned businesses are recertified every two years, Eason said.|ret||ret||tab|

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Heightened prospects|ret||ret||tab|

Haden said WBE certification could mean preference on certain governmental projects. New contracts could offset the hit the company took following Sept. 11.|ret||ret||tab|

Ad revenues that drove expansion for many of EVS broadcast clients have decreased, said Ingalsbe. This is especially true of stations reluctant to move to high-definition television, he added.|ret||ret||tab|

"We're probably down about $1 million because of the general television economy and the attack," Ingalsbe said. The company does "close to $9 million a year in sales under normal conditions."|ret||ret||tab|

Ingalsbe said Haden's 18 years of employment experience at EVS was an asset when it came to selling her the business, especially its $250,000 credit account with Empire Bank. "You've got to sign with the bank for a pretty good size line of credit, because all these toys are pretty expensive."|ret||ret||tab|

Ingalsbe will stay on board as chief executive officer for at least the next two years, he said.|ret||ret||tab|

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Company details|ret||ret||tab|

EVS operates out of 8,000 square feet at 2029 W. Woodland St. in the Battlefield Business Center, Ingalsbe said. Satellite sales offices in St. Louis, Kansas City and Little Rock, Ark., work the four-state area of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma, but the company writes business across the United States. It employs 22 people.|ret||ret||tab|

EVS first opened in 1979 as Electronic Video Supply in a 4,000-square-foot store on 1856 S. Stewart Ave. It was purchased by David Morris in 1985 and Ingalsbe bought in shortly thereafter. The two owned it until 1990, when Ingalsbe became sole owner. He moved EVS to its present location in 1993.|ret||ret||tab|

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