Paying it forward
Guerrero-Anderson took help
she received and aided others
By Sarah Brouillard
BUSINESS NETWORKING can occur casually at parties, over coffee or cocktails. Other times, it?s a deliberate and strategic act ? a quid pro quo, a means to an end, forged across a negotiation table.
In either case, it?s an interesting dance, and Esperanza Guerrero-Anderson is a natural at it. She?s perfected her moves over 40 years of meets, greets and deal-making, most recently as founder and CEO of Milestone Growth Fund, a small Minneapolis-based venture capital fund providing equity-type financing to early- or second-stage minority-owned companies in the Twin Cities.
?I have a very good memory,? says Guerrero-Anderson, ?so when I talk to somebody ? I always remember everything that person tells me. And I am able to store that information someplace in my mind and I keep it handy in a way so if I meet somebody later that needs that kind of expertise or an opportunity to get new business, I can go back immediately in my mind to that person.?
Through acquisitions or organic growth, several of her fund?s clients have risen from obscurity and financial turmoil to become multimillion-dollar players. Those who?ve worked alongside her credit those successes to her extraordinary board-building and reference-wielding skills.
Other entrepreneurs have looked to Guerrero-Anderson to elevate their established companies.
Her ability to contact and connect ? immortalized in her trademark phrase, ?I have someone you need to meet? ? has helped numerous local small businesses, both struggling and successful, says Beth LaBreche, CEO of LaBreche, a Minneapolis-based public relations agency.
For that reason ? as well as her countless lessons about business promises and long-term loyalty ? LaBreche calls Guerrero-Anderson her lifeline. For Guerrero-Anderson?s mentorship and assistance to a wide number of local businesses, the magazine?s selection committee names her the Upsize Lifeline of the Year.
A successful business leader in her own right, LaBreche has leveraged Guerrero-Anderson?s vast network over the past few years to help raise her professional profile, as well as that of her Minneapolis-based public relations firm.
Colleague-in-common Terrie Wheeler introduced the two women to each other in fall 2003. Upon Guerrero-Anderson?s request, LaBreche acted as the pro bono public-relations agency of record for Milestone Growth Fund?s two-year, $2 million fundraising campaign, between 2004 and 2005.
In return, LaBreche asked Guerrero-Anderson for a couple of favors: to introduce her to the key leaders Guerrero-Anderson knew well in the Twin Cities business community and to open doors for her company.
?Because she?s an intentional networker, I felt very comfortable telling her what I would need in return,? says LaBreche. ?I?m a pretty good networker. But she just sort of took it to the next level.?
Guerrero-Anderson?s connections have directly and indirectly resulted in opportunities and new business for her company.
She sponsored LaBreche as a member of the Minnesota Women?s Economic Roundtable, a group of highly influential women from the nonprofit, political and for-profit sectors. LaBreche?s nomination was accepted during the first year she submitted it, and she now serves as president.
?Esperanza hooked me up personally to different organizations. I needed to get out of my office more, and I needed to be more intentional about how I was using my time,? she says. ?I had to evolve. You can?t just continue to do the same thing the next day, year after year.?
Knowing needs
But Guerrero-Anderson says it wasn?t a stretch to help LaBreche.
?The key in this relationship is that she knew exactly where she was going,? says Guerrero-Anderson. ?It?s so easy to help somebody when that person knows exactly where she?s going and what she needs.?
Guerrero-Anderson?s networking prowess can be traced to her formative years. She had begun a career in banking with Banco Central de Nicaragua, but soon determined she could ascend more quickly to the organization?s top-tier positions if she gained expertise in the field of information technology.
She applied for and won a scholarship through the bank to pursue a graduate degree in the United States. The opportunity sparked her move to Minnesota in 1971.
?When she came to this country, she really had nothing,? says Wheeler, owner of Professional Services Marketing Inc. in New Brighton, and the woman who suggested and arranged the initial meeting between Guerrero-Anderson and LaBreche. ?She created her future for herself.?
While working toward her master”s degree in management information systems at the University of Minnesota, she connected with a visiting professor and executive with U.S. Bank (then First Bank). Rolland Sullivan became one of her first lifelines and early-career champions, eventually introducing her to the Federal Reserve Bank in Minnesota so she could gain some career training.
He also corresponded with her regularly, often sending her interesting news articles and recommending books for her to read.
She moved back to her homeland to resume her banking career, until the country?s revolution in 1979 prompted her to depart once more. After a brief sojourn in Atlanta, Guerrero-Anderson moved back to Minneapolis to find a position in the banking community, having accepted the fact that she wouldn?t be returning to Nicaragua.
Like a true lifeline, Sullivan again wielded his deep directory of resources to get things moving for her. This time, he called his friends and colleagues, informing them that she was looking for a job, and even going so far as to arrange and attend interviews with her. Soon, she was given an offer to work at U.S. Bank as an international lending officer, which she accepted.
His commitment to her inspired her to return the favor ? by paying it forward, she says.
?I have received so much help from so many people throughout my life. And sometimes it?s hard to reciprocate in the same way to those people since most of the time they are already successful,? she says. ?So I made a commitment early in my life that I was going to help other people, the same way that other people helped me in the past.?
Guerrero-Anderson soon moved into business consulting, putting to good use the degree in business administration she had earned at college in Nicaragua. From 1982 to 1989 she worked for Metropolitan Economic Development Association (MEDA), an organization that offers consulting, training, business planning, financial assistance and other services to businesses owned by ethnic minorities. She served as president and CEO from 1985 to 1989.
During her tenure at MEDA, Guerrero-Anderson founded Milestone Growth Fund, serving as its president and CEO from its incorporation in 1986 to her retirement in 2006.
Judy Romlin, executive vice president with Milestone, who has known Guerrero-Anderson for 15 years, observed how she left no stone uncovered in her quest to help clients.
She refers to one small-business owner 14 years ago who was ?having major difficulties? with his construction company, due to a dearth of good contracts and some financial problems.
Once Milestone began investing in the company, Guerrero-Anderson ?really helped refine certain things that he was doing, and really kind of mentored him in ways that most private-equity people don?t do, all the way to advice on how to dress,? says Romlin. ?Esperanza gave advice on little things ? the subtle things that are so important to being in business.?
Her persistence and hard work paid off. Today, that company is one of the largest African-American owned companies in Minnesota, with more than $80 million in revenue per year, says Romlin.
SuperSolutions, a financial-software development company, was another client that benefited from Guerrero-Anderson?s assistance.
She introduced the Asian-Indian owner to all sorts of contacts, and assembled a board for the company.
?She?s able to look at boards holistically and identify if there?s a gap or weakness in the organization,? says LaBreche. ?She?s able to summarize the situation for a business and make some recommendations.?
Once she finished navigating through the growing pains of the company, Guerrero-Anderson then prepped SuperSolutions for acquisition when a large India-based company bought it three years ago.
Besides being hard working and diligent, Guerrero-Anderson is also good at getting what she wants. Her influence can?t be understated, say colleagues, including on several boards of directors where she serves, and with a limited number of consulting clients she accepts.
?If it were not for Esperanza, I wouldn?t be here,? says Richard Venegar, Guerrero-Anderson?s successor at Milestone. She recruited him from a much larger private-equity firm in Dallas. ?It?s because I respect her so much that I moved here.?
A partner in a $4 billion private-equity fund in Connecticut, who sits on Venegar?s board, tells him that Guerrero-Anderson has amassed a huge web of connections that belies the size of the organization she created.
?He was saying that the relationships and stakeholders that Esperanza has is comparable to a much larger private-equity fund, says Venegar. ?Even billion-dollar equity funds don?t have the infrastructure that Esperanza has built.?
