Jennifer Bias, pictured

PERU - The Illinois Valley Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development (IVAC) invites the public to attend their new, year-round Business Breakfast Series and take part in opportunities to learn how to tackle relevant business concerns. The next breakfast event, titled “Accessing Government Contracts” will take place at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 14 at Mario’s Maples in Peru.

This seminar, presented by Jennifer Bias, owner and president, Ficek Electric and Communications Systems, Inc., will discuss local, state and federal governments’ purchase of billions of dollars worth of products and services each year to run social service facilities, office buildings, garages, parks and more. Their purchases include everything from brochure printing to boiler repair, paper towels and electrical equipment. Procurement processes are easier to navigate now more than ever. This event will show how to increase one’s revenues, enhance credentials and build business capacity.

Ficek Electric is an electrical and low voltage contracting firm that specializes in electrical construction, voice and data low voltage cabling, VoIP telephony and security systems. Bias has worked in the business for many years alongside her father, Bill Ficek, who founded the company 42 years ago. After his retirement in 2005, Bias purchased the business and became certified as a Female Business Enterprise (FBE) through the State of Illinois Business Enterprise Program and a certified Woman Owned Business (WBE) through the national organization of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Determined to make the business her own, she headed full steam ahead in the local, state and federal government contracting arena.

Bias was awarded the Illinois/Iowa Small Business of the Year at the National Defense Industry Association (NDIA) Small Business Symposium in 2012, the winner of the 2012 Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) $100,000 technology makeover contest, and was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2014 by the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Illinois Valley Community College.

The business currently holds three Illinois statewide master contracts along with many more federal and local government contracts. Bias will share her lifetime experience and journey down the government contracting path with facts and tips to help your business succeed along with help in avoiding the pitfalls. A woman-owned construction company is very non-traditional and has presented unique challenges but Bias has learned not only how to survive but also how to succeed.

A hot breakfast buffet will be served beginning at 7:15 a.m. and the program starts promptly at 7:30 a.m. Please call in your reservation at (815) 223-0227 no later than noon on Tuesday, March 13. The breakfast is open to the public.