On this episode of the CEO Roundtable Podcast, we sit down with JuanPablo Prieto, Director of Diversity Programs for the Chicago Transit Authority.

The foundation of what JuanPablo and his team do is helping small businesses in Chicago with contracting opportunities with the CTA. “We're very committed to making sure our contractors and the workforce also on our projects reflect the community that we serve.”

While the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program (DBE) has been around for a long time, it’s only been in the last decade that they have really developed the small business aspect of it. 

“The small business community is made up of powerful people like U.S born first-generation. They have decided to take their lives into their own hands and bet on themselves. And that's one of the best investments you can make is on yourself. But we have had to do some education around things like you don't always have to be a subcontractor. We need to go a step further and help prepare the businesses to do business with CTA.” 

One of the things JuanPablo and his team try to put out there as much as possible is that there are so many other opportunities working with CTA outside of construction. They contract for professional services, engineering, law staffing companies, cleaning companies, PR/media production companies, the list goes on. 

“What my personal goal has been ever since I took over the department at CTA is I want to create more prime and build wealth in our communities. In the Latino community, in the black community, the Asian community, Native American. Whoever qualifies. The DBE women-owned businesses, I want to create more wealth and we can't create wealth if we don't expand, we don't grow right to become prime contractors.”

How they do that is by really understanding things like where is this small business at currently? Where do they want to go? From there, they are making the tools accessible to help those businesses get there such as leveraging existing capital, getting new capital, figuring out how to build interest rates into overhead and profits, etc. JuanPablo and his team may not be small business owners or work for the government, but they are constantly keeping their ears to the ground listening to the community and trying to develop from there. 

Whether you’re a small business owner or are curious about the various opportunities the CTA has to offer, JuanPablo shares a wealth of insights, information, and advice on this episode of the CEO Roundtable Podcast: https://www.tfocb.com/ceo/podcast/juanpablo-prieto