Engineer designs growing business with help from Illinois Tollway diversity programs
In 2021, Lien Dastgir had a good job working as a professional engineer, a newborn daughter and like the rest of the world was coping with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic--but she still decided to act on her long-time goal of starting her own business.
“I told my husband I have all this energy and if I don’t do it now, I won’t ever,” Dastgir said. “It was a risk. But I just felt like if I didn’t do it, I might regret it some day.”
So she opened the doors of KAD Engineering that year as the company’s sole employee—and hasn’t looked back since.
She’s used her two decades of prior engineering experience to build a growing business specializing in construction inspection and management, working for several different public agencies, including the Illinois Tollway. Along the way, her company has grown to include seven full-time employees.
Dastgir says her firm’s growth was aided by Tollway programs that help small, divers and veteran-owned businesses expand by guiding them through the procedures required to work on Tollway projects and by pairing them with larger, more established firms to help them develop the skills they need to succeed.
“When I decided to start a company, part of my comfort level was that I heard so much about how the Illinois Tollway is promoting new firms,” Dastgir said. “The Tollway has really made an effort, they’re really helping small firms to grow and to give them opportunities.”
She originally joined the Tollway’s Technical Assistance Program, which helps small business owners like Dastgir obtain certifications as minority- and women-owned firms so they are better able to compete for work on projects done by the Tollway and other transportation agencies.
“I’m so grateful I found this resource, the Technical Assistance Program,” she said. “When we have questions about putting a proposal together, we can come back and get that support to gather the information we need and they’ll answer our questions. I really value this program.”
KAD Engineering has completed two projects for the Tollway as a subconsultant through the agency’s Partnering for Growth Program, which paired her small firm with larger, mentoring businesses that have experience working with the Tollway.
One of those projects involves providing construction management services as needed across the Tollway’s 294-mile roadway system, while the other is providing Phase II engineering services for systemwide plaza improvements.
But she is looking to pick up new skills that will assist her in expanding her business. The Partnering for Growth Program plays a key part of her strategy, Dastgir said, adding that she learned design skills from, EXP U.S. Services Inc., the engineering firm serving as her mentor in that program for a project on the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88) Plaza Improvement Project.
KAD Engineering also was able to hire two new computer-assisted design technicians to work on this project, increasing the size of its design team to three people.
“This project set a proud milestone for KAD Engineering as we prepared our first official stamped plans featuring our logo and professional license--an achievement that defines our growth.” Dastgir said.
Additionally, the design experience gained by the firm on the project allowed it to earn prequalification from the Illinois Department of Transportation to do design work on its own in future projects. That prequalification, Dastgir said, will help her firm grow as she seeks work with the Tollway and other agencies—possibly as a prime consultant on new projects.
That’s her ultimate goal for business—and Dastgir said the Partnering for Growth Program will help her achieve that dream.
“The Partnering for Growth Program benefits us by saving money and also helping us get the experience so that we can get this prequalification,” Dastgir said. “After we get prequalified we can continue to work without having to be mentored—we can be alone and then we can go after a project as a prime consultant.”