Ashanti Mitchell and her two brothers founded Bumpy’s Steel, a minority woman-owned business, in 2009.
And since then opportunities keep coming their way.
On March 27, Ashanti Mitchell, president of the company, earned a scholarship from the Ameren Corporation to attend a minority business executive program at the Tuck School at Dartmouth College.
“I know it will help me grow personally and help my company grow,” said Mitchell, who has over 15 years experience in the construction industry.
Her brothers, Curry Mitchell, vice president, and Dannell Wise, treasurer, have a combined 35 years of experience in erecting steel and reinforcing concrete.
Candice Fowler, president of Donco Electrical Construction, LLC, a woman-owned business of Edwardsville, was also awarded the scholarship as part of Ameren’s two-day Supplier Diversity Symposium in St. Louis.
The recipients were selected based on the volume of business and strategic relationship with the company, and the supplier’s success in providing service to a range of companies in Ameren’s 64,000-square-mile service territory.
“Our commitment to supplier diversity reflects our belief that diverse supplier partnerships are vital to the economic success of our region and to the success of Ameren,” said Dennis Weisenborn, vice president of Supply Services for Ameren.
Ameren began offering scholarships to local suppliers in 2007 as part of its Supplier Diversity Symposium. Mitchell and Fowler are the 10th and 11th recipients, respectively, of scholarships from Ameren. This year’s symposium drew more than 450 local diverse business owners.
“This experience will strengthen Donco’s ability to give our customers a totally coordinated team approach for design, construction, and maintenance of electrical and communications infrastructure,” said Fowler.
Ameren started hosting its Supplier Diversity Symposium in 2007. Ameren’s total non-fuel spend with diverse suppliers from that initial event has grown from $73 million to $127 million or 8.1 percent of total non-fuel spend in 2012. Ameren’s projected supplier diversity spend for 2013 is 9.3 percent of its total non-fuel spend.
“Ameren invests more than $1.5 billion annually in materials and services in our infrastructure,” said Thomas R. Voss, chairman, president and CEO of Ameren. “We recognize the value of doing business with a diverse community. I think it is important for companies, especially utilities, to be inclusive in procurement and hiring from the communities they serve.”
With assets of approximately $22 billion, Ameren serves 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.
“I am looking forward to gaining insight and knowledge from the Minority Business Executive Program,” Mitchell said. “I want to thank Ameren’s Supplier Diversity team for giving me a surprising opportunity to attend the Tuck School of Business.”
