CHICAGO Oct 11, 2022 – 

Nosa Ehimwenman brought his two sons and daughter to 900 Randolph Street recently to show them what he, as president and CEO of Bowa Construction, has been working on. 

“We just walked on the outside of the building and I said, ‘Dad’s building that,’ ” Ehimwenman said. “My daughter’s face was like, ‘You’re building that?’ ‘Yeah, I’m building that.’ I remember riding my bike through the city looking at these high-rises as a young Black kid saying ‘I would love to build one of those one day.’ Never thought it was possible, but now we’re doing it and that’s awesome.” 

The $200 million-plus Fulton Market project Ehimwenman’s firm is working on in partnership with Related Midwest is billed as the city’s first high-rise with an African American Minority Business Enterprise co-leading construction. The 43-story building is being constructed using a new state incentive designed to boost affordable housing, with 80% of the 300 units at market-rate prices and 20% affordable. 

Architect Ann Thompson, executive vice president of architecture and design at Related Midwest, calls the 550,000 square-foot building, set for completion in 2023, “precedent-setting” in look and community impact. The project also supports the work Ehimwenman and his firm are doing to diversify the construction industry and help other minority-led businesses grow. 

Less than 7% of construction professionals are Black or African American, according to 2021 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly 33% are Hispanic or Latino and 2.1% are Asian.

Bowa, as a general contractor, has made it a point to expose youth of color to the construction and development world with its Bowa Gives initiative, an endeavor that brings its employees to South Side high schools to share details about jobs within the field. 

“We’ve been exposing them to the industry, because when they think of construction, it’s ‘hammers and nails and guys running around sweaty,’ and no one wants to do that … that’s what their response is,” Ehimwenman said. “We want to get more African Americans, women and Hispanics into the industry, so we talk to them and try to guide them. Unless you’re born into a family of construction workers, construction may not be on the top of your list.” 

Ehimwenman says his firm also brings in other firms owned by people of color to share the knowledge Bowa has developed on building capacity, sustaining growth and mitigating risks. 

“That’s how you start changing the paradigm in our industry, and really start building wealth,” Ehimwenman said. “When you’re bidding jobs, some of these smaller subcontractors don’t have access to bonding relationships and are being charged 3-4% for bonding,” Ehimwenman said. “It’s about getting folks access to information so they can compete on a level playing field.”

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