The mission of the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council is to significantly increase business relationships between our corporate members and our certified MBEs. We believe that minority business development is a key component of reducing poverty, unemployment, increasing wealth, and integrating American society. You are receiving this email in order to keep you abreast of developments with the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, Supplier Diversity Issues and Minority Business Development. If you like what you read please share internally and externally. |
UTC's Sikorsky Aircraft to Host First GNEMSDC Quarterly Meeting |
 United Technologies Corporation's Sikorsky Aircraft will host the GNEMSDC First Quarterly Meeting on Thursday, February 9 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. Sikorsky is located in Stratford, CT. Every time we have held a Quarterly Meeting at Sikorsky we have had a packed house of MBEs, corporate members and UTC procurement and supplier diversity professionals. We are limiting this event to 128 attendees. If you are interested in attending, please contact the office no later than this Wednesday, January 25. Sikorsky is a secure facility. Every attendee must bring identification. Foreign nationals are welcome, but need to bring a passport and contact the office. There is no photography allowed on the Sikorsky campus. This is an excellent opportunity for all of our MBEs to get critical business information about a great company that has provided millions of dollars of opportunity with certified MBEs. Don't miss it! To register, call 203-288-9744. Call today! |
It is Time to Submit Your Nominations! |
As we close out the old and bring in the new, it is time for MBEs and corporate members to nominate outstanding MBEs, corporate buyers, supplier diversity advocates, and corporations for award recognitions that will be presented at the 2012 GNEMSDC Awards Gala on Thursday, April 26, 2012 at the Aqua Turf in Southington, CT.
Each year, at our Annual Awards Banquet, the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc. (GNEMSDC) recognizes those certified minority suppliers (MBEs) who have distinguished themselves and their businesses by:
Successfully demonstrating growth in sales and employment while overcoming significant obstacles; Consistently providing high quality products and services at competitive prices and offering innovative approaches and cost saving ideas: Continuously growing MBE to MBE purchases; and Significantly contributing to the growth and development of society and their community.
All corporate members are invited to nominate MBEs in each of the following categories:
- Class 1 MBEs - Annual Sales Less Than $1 million
- Class 2 MBEs - Annual Sales between $1 million and less than $10 million
- Class 3 MBEs - Annual Sales between $10 million and less than $50 million
- Class 4 MBEs - Annual Sales greater than $50 million
- Reciprocal MBE - MBEs with their primary office outside CT, MA, RI, NH, ME or VT and must be reciprocally certified with GNEMSDC
By the end of the first week of 2012 all corporate members will receive a form that should be completed by January 31, 2012 with the names of their nominees. Give the office a call if you have any questions about the appropriate category of your nominees. The important thing is to get your nominees in.
MBEs will also be making nominations for the following awards:
- Advocate of the Year - This Award is presented to a supplier diversity manager/director who has done an outstanding job of assisting MBEs for the benefit of both their employer and the MBE
- Buyer of the Year - This award is presented to a buyer from our corporate membership that has gone far and beyond the call of duty to assist MBEs with procurement opportunities and feedback
- MBE Empowerment Award - This award is presented to an MBE who has worked to assist other MBEs
- Corporation of the Year (National Member) - This award is presented to the corporate member who has demonstrated commitment and has delivered results in the area of minority business procurement and development
- Corporation of the Year (Local Member) - This award is presented to the corporate member who has demonstrated commitment and has delivered results in the area of minority business procurement and development
We are requesting that the nominations by MBEs also be back by January 31, 2012. The staff is here to assist MBEs with any questions they have about the process or the categories.
It is appropriate for companies, corporate representatives and MBEs to ask their supporters to consider nominating them for these prestigious awards. Although you cannot nominate yourself, sometimes you have to toot your own horn with a gentle reminder to your friends who you have supported throughout the year. MBEs who believe they are deserving of Supplier of the Year recognition should complete the attached Nomination Form and share it with a corporate member who can complete the process. |
New GNEMSDC Corporate Member - Robinson and Cole, LLP |
 On behalf of the GNEMSDC Board of Directors, I welcome the law firm ofRobinson and Cole, LLP as a new corporate member of the GNEMSDC. Robinson and Cole http://www.rc.com/ has 225 lawyers located throughout the Northeast and Florida with a main office in Hartford, CT. We look forward to working with Robinson and Cole. |
Corporate Member Showcase - Raytheon |
 This week we feature Raytheon.
Raytheon: Aspiring to be the most admired defense and aerospace systems company through our world-class people and technology
Raytheon is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 89 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. View Presentation |
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 This week we feature Fortune Metal. For more than 50 years, Fortune Metal has been the leading supplier of metal finishing equipment and supplies in the Northeast. The reasons are easy to see:
Superior Equipment
- We are experts in abrasive blasting, mass finishing, and parts washing.
- We carry a full line of spare parts, hoses and nozzles for most air and wheel blast machines.
- We carry a full line of abrasives, tumbling media and compounds.
- Our sales force is only a phone call or email away. Click here to learn more about your sales representative.
- When you call us for administrative support, we respond. We answer the phone in person, and we find the answer to your question quickly. Whether you have an order inquiry, a damaged shipment or a billing question, our goal is to make working with us easy and hassle-free. View Presentation.
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Events That MBEs Should Not Miss |
There are several events coming up on our calendar that are designed specifically for MBEs to learn about corporate opportunities. We know how busy everyone's schedule is, but these are events often hosted by our corporate members with the expressed purpose of finding out more about you and your business with the ultimate aim, to make you a valuable supplier to their companies. Here are some events you should consider: - February 3 - MBEIC Kick off Lunch
- February 8 - Public Service of New Hampshire, Meet and Greet - Special Guest Governor John Lynch
- February 9 - Sikorsky Aircraft, United Technologies Corporation - GNEMSDC Quarterly Meeting
- February 24 - National Grid MBE CEOs only for CEO Roundtable and Doing Business with National Grid
- March 26 - PepsiCo - Doing Business with PepsiCo and their Prime Contractors
- March 27 - Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA - 2nd Annual Capital Summit featuring MA Commonwealth Treasurer Steve Grossman. For more details see the updated calendar below for times locations and directions.
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| MBE Capital Summit 30 sec PSA.mov |
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NMSDC/GNEMSDC Activities and Information |
Please take a close look at the events listed below. The links will take you to detailed information about the events. We will have more information for those events that do not currently have live links, but please mark your calendars and call the office.
Events and Activities: Information and Presentations: |
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Opportunities with Corporate Members |
- U.S. Department of the Treasury notice to Financial Institutions interested in providing Asset Management Service for the Small Business Lending Fund.
Submissions Due: 5:00 p.m. ET on February 2, 2012 to SBLFAM@treasury.gov
- U.S. Postal Service Sources Sought Notice Network Optimization
- O&G Industries, Inc., Invitation to Pre-qualify Project #901373, Due January 20, 2 pm
- We are looking to identify a MBE developer that can handle a $40 million mixed use housing project for the Norwalk Housing Authority. Please view the attached RFQ for more details. If you know or can meet a project of this size, please call the office
- The Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, in collaboration with Quincy-Geneva CDC, Project RIGHT, and other key stakeholders, is working in a board effort to promote comprehensive community revitalization in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Boston. This effort will bring more than $70 million of investment in affordable housing, small business development, job creation, job training and youth arts programming to the area in the next 2-3 years. Quincy Corridor is located along a key east-west connector between Blue Hill Ave. and Columbia Road, almost 3/4 mile from the new Dour Corners rail station, and adjacent to the location of a proposed new station along the Fairmount commuter rail. More information visit, www.dbedc.org
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MBEIC News |
 MBE Input Committee kick off Lunch, Feb 3, from 10 am -2 pm at The MATLET Group, Pawtucket RI.
Call Boston Office to RSVP: 617-578-8900 by January 27 so that we have an accurate count for lunch.
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Boston MBDA Business Center News |
 Win More Government Business with GovWin IQ
As you know, The Boston MBDA Business Center is federally funded by the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), a department within the U.S. Department of Commerce. This direct link to the federal government has its privileges and the Boston Business Center has recently acquired GovWinIQ, a database program which provides government contract opportunities, key contacts, analysis, agency and vendor information necessary for companies to market and sell their products and services to federal and state & local governments.
This user-friendly, time saving program can help your company by:
- Finding opportunities and government contacts with GovWin's market intelligence
- Providing in-depth profiles on 79 federal agencies, all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and 67,000 local governments
- Finding more than 1.7 million federal, state, and local government contacts, including program managers, contracting officials, and senior executives
- For more information, please click on the video link:
We invite all Business Center Clients to make an appointment to conduct research on government opportunities for your company at our office. Please contact Joanne Wang at 617-986-6366 orjwang@bostonmbdacenter.com to schedule a time to come in!
If your company is not currently a client of the Business Center and you would like to learn more about how we can help grow your company, please contact Sarah James at 617-578-8900 orsjames@gnemsdc.org |
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| And Finally... |
 While doing my weekly food shopping at Stop and Shop (a GNEMSDC corporate member), I noticed in the vegetable section of the store packages of spices from GNEMSDC certified MBE Wiley Mullins - Wiley's Beans and Peas Seasoning and his Sweet Potato & Yam Spice seasoning (Yes, I grocery shop.). I am going to use the Sweet Potato and Yam Spice seasoning for tonight's dinner. (Yes, I cook too!) Wouldn't it be nice for all the readers of this column to just visit a Stop and Shop or a Giant Food or a Wal-Mart and buy a couple of packets of Wiley's seasoning, then go to the Goya isle and buy some Frijoles Negros (black beans) and then head over to the Asian section and buy some Inarizushi No Moto (tofu sushi) from Korean Farm Inc. You see, MBE development works best when we buy what MBEs sell, and what MBEs sell have unique characteristics that have a place in our stomachs and more importantly, our wallets. This example is of MBE companies that are selling to consumers through large retail chains. But the lesson works in the Business to Business world as well. Every MBE should draw up a MBE Budget. In that budget there should be three columns; one on total expenditures, expenditures, one with expenditures with non-MBE firms and a third column for expenditures with MBE firms. The goal of the MBE is to move as much spending into the MBE column as possible. If you need help identifying MBEs to buy from, give us a call we would be happy to identify some excellent companies to choose from. Our mission is MBE development. This must start by having MBEs supporting each other. This is not just a nice thing to do. Business history is replete with examples of communities growing businesses to scale by the creation of a vibrant "internal" market where goods and services are exchanged within a community. Our world is far too integrated to return to a time when any community can be totally isolated. But this is not isolation, this is about business growth and capacity building. It can be argued that every certified MBE should have a strategy of buying and selling within the certified MBE market. Think of the leverage and growth opportunity that would provide. No time to think about it now, I have got to watch my sweet potatoes!
In your service, Dr. Fred |
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