About BGD Companies -
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Published on: 12/21/2007
Last Visited: 12/21/2007
By the mid- 1980's, Diaz's company spent less time on gifts and started focusing more on high-end products, mostly wicker and rattan made in the family factory.Then, in the early 1990's the company changed strategy again because Diaz saw an opportunity to supply the growing number of restaurants, shopping malls and casinos with upholstered seating, table tops and chairs.Asplin, who started his career as a banker, stressed to Diaz the importance of maintaining good relationships with lenders.
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"When you tell the bank you're going to go this, you'd better be darn sure you can do this," Diaz recalled Asplin telling him.
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So when Diaz decided to buy a factory in south Minneapolis in 1995, his company's positive relationship with lenders put him in a good position to get the loan.
"Banks depend on your business plan and projections, and you want to make sure the numbers you provide are realistic and attainable," Diaz said.
During the past five years, revenue at the company has grown more than 12 percent annually.That's a comfortable rate for Diaz, who said that managing growth is critical to maintaining good customer service.
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"He's been there before, and I have to listen to what he says," Diaz said of Asplin's business acumen.
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BGD Companies head Dennis Diaz, MEDA's Entrepreneur of the Year, is grateful for the guidance of his mentor and friend, Ed Asplin, the former CEO of Bemis Co.
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Dennis Diaz, a Filipino immigrant and businessman, remembers the anticipation of meeting his mentor, Ed Asplin, former head of Bemis, Co.
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"I was very excited" and nervous about meeting a man of Asplin's status, Diaz said of their first meeting more than 15 years ago at the Minneapolis Club.They had grown up a half a world apart, but the men had an instant rapport.
After many subsequent meetings, Diaz and Asplin still consider each other close friends.
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That's why Asplin plans to be there today when Diaz, president and CEO of BGD Companies, Inc., is named entrepreneur of the year by the Metropolitan Economic Development Association - the organization that originally put the two men together.
"There was a common denominator," Asplin claimed recalling the Philippines, where Diaz was born and where Asplin spent two years on duty in World War II.
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Diaz, 52, hadn't been born when Asplin stood on the deck of a ship and watched Gen.
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During their meetings, Diaz told stories about what was happening back home.
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Often, entrepreneurs such as Diaz don't have access or connections to people who can tutor them and provide access to money and expertise.
When Diaz started BGD with his wife, Angelita, in 1980, he still was adjusting to Minnesota's harsh winters, after moving here in 1976.
The company was importing place mats, baskets, planters and other gifts manufactured by a factory owned by Diaz's family in Manila.Nearly 90 percent of his products were made in that plant.
Then the gift industry changed.As barriers to trade with the Pacific Rim and the Far East started to fall, more of Diaz's customers started finding their own direct suppliers, putting the squeeze on his business.
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Diaz heeded that advice-he knew that if he didn't do something pronto, he'd be out of business.
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