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.
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GNEMSDC Quarterly Meeting & Holiday Business Card Exchange
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 GNEMSDC Quarterly Meeting followed by the Holiday Business Card Exchange on Thursday, December 13, 2012 hosted by Banneker Industries 582 Great Road, North Smithfield, RI. The final Quarterly Meeting of the year is hosted by a certified MBE.
On behalf of the GNEMSDC board of directors we thank our friends at Banneker Industries for inviting us to their headquarters. RSVP by emailing sjames@gnemsdc.org
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GNEMSDC Economic Impact Report Summary
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The GNEMSDC is finalizing its first Economic Impact Report. But why wait to release some of the preliminary numbers? We hope that this will be a regular report to our community of corporate members, MBEs, elected officials, the media and other interested parties.
The study uses information from certification applications, surveys of MBEs and corporate members and data collected by the federal government. The report goes into greater detail and will be available by the end of the month. Here are the numbers:
- Of the total 350 certified MBEs at the end of September, 2012, there were 76 Asian Indian, 37 Asian Pacific, 148 Black American, 85 Hispanic and 4 Native American MBEs.
- The total sales of all 350 MBEs totaled $13.7 billion.
- Local MBEs located in the six New England states had sales of $2,1 billion and reciprocal MBEs had total sales of $11.6 billion.
- Median annual sales for all certified MBEs was $2 million. By way of comparison, all minority businesses in 2007 had median annual sales of $177,000.
- The 350 GNEMSDC certified MBEs employed 61,238 workers.
- The 350 GNEMSDC certified MBEs employed 31,398 minority workers, representing 51 percent of all employees of certified MBEs.
- The top 5 NAICS industries by number of MBEs was, Professional Services (113 MBEs), Manufacturing (62 MBEs), Wholesale Trade (50 MBEs), Administrative and Support Services (45 MBEs), and Construction (38 MBEs).
- The Boston MBDA Business Center created one new job for every $3,314 invested in the Center.
- The Boston MBDA Business Center created $1 million in new contracts for every $9,600.00 invested in the Center. (Thanks to Ron Williams (W&R, LLC) for pointing out the math error in last week's report on this number.)
- The GNEMSDC spent 42 percent of its non-personnel expenses with certified MBEs, a total of $387,364 of spending with certified MBEs.
- The GNEMSDC had 186 corporate members in 2012 of whom, 88 were local corporate members and 98 were national corporate members.
There are other results presented for the first time. We will have our top ten MBEs by sales and employees in each of the states we operate in. We also have some very interesting survey information that shows how MBEs contribute to their community as philanthropists and supporters. Stay tuned for the final report! The bottom line from the study is that MBEs and supplier diversity is a powerful tool of creating more stable, more economically vibrant communities. Our corporate members, MBEs and stakeholders should be proud of the great impact you have on entrepreneurs, families, communities and the nation. We have come a long way, and we have still have miles to go. Keep your eyes on the prize!
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The GNEMSDC is one of the few organizations that regularly takes the pulse of minority business owners in the country. The preliminary results for the fourth annual MBE Performance Survey are now in. Each survey is interesting in and of itself, but now with some past data points, it is even more informative to see how perceptions and performance have changed over time. Here are some of the preliminary results from this year's survey.
- Of the respondents, 84 percent are certified with the NMSDC.
- 40 percent of respondents identified as Black American, 21 percent as Asian Indian, 17.3 percent as other Other, 9.6 percent as Hispanic American, 7.8 percent as Korean, Chinese or Japanese and 2.3 percent as Native American.
- 53..8 percent reported annual sales under $1 million, 25 percent had sales between $1 million and less than $10 million, 13.4 percent had sales over $10 million and less than $50 million and 5.7 percent had sales over $50 million.
- 38.4 percent reported they expected sales in 2012 to decline compared to 61.5 percent expecting sales to increase in 2012. Interestingly, this was decidedly more pessimistic than last year, when only 10 percent of respondents expected sales in 2011 to decline.
- The six largest industry clusters for MBEs were, Distribution (15.3%), Construction (11.5%), Management Consulting (9.6%), Marketing, Advertising and Publishing (9.6%), Information Technology (7.6%), and Human Resource, Temporary Labor and Contingent Labor (7.6%).
One half respondents reported that they did not have a single NMSDC corporate customer. This was slightly higher than the 49 percent reported last year.
36.5 percent reported having between 1 and 5 NMSDC corporate member customers.
32.6 percent reported that it takes between one year and three years to secure a contract with a NMSDC corporate member. This is higher than the expected time to secure a contract reported last year at 26.3 percent. But this year only 4.6 percent reported it taking longer than 3 years compared to 22.8 percent last year reporting it takes longer than three years to secure a contract with a NMSDC corporate member.
63.4 percent of MBEs reported not having any MBE clients. This is up from 45.6 percent last year reporting having no MBE customers.
26.8 percent of MBEs reported that they increased the number of full-time employees since 2011. This is compared to 35 percent reporting increasing their FTE employee count in 2011 over 2010.
21 percent of MBEs have companies where they are the only employee. 38 percent report having between 1 and 5 employees. 15.3 percent report having between 26 and 100 employees.
11.5 percent of MBEs reported applying for a loan and being declined by a financial institution in 2012. This was up from 7.5 percent in 2011. 19.2 percent reported applying for a loan from a commercial lender and being successful in 2012. This compared to 17.5 percent in 2011.
23 percent of MBEs reported they considered closing their business down in 2012. This number was significantly higher than last year when only 7 percent of MBEs considered closing their business.
44.2 percent of MBEs either would consider or have considered merging their businesses with another business. Last year, 43.8 percent said they considered merging their business.
On a 7 point scale, where 1 represented Extremely Pessimistic and 7 represented Extremely Optimistic, MBEs averaged a score of 5.0. This compares to a slightly more optimistic view last year of 5.4.
25 percent of MBEs reported having made major organizational changes in their businesses this year compared to 21 percent last year.
55.6 percent of MBEs reported that they were capable of handling a contract of at least $500,000, with 40.3 percent reporting they could handle a contract over $1 million. Last year, 64.8 percent reported the capability of performing a contract larger than $500,000 with over 56.1 percent saying they could handle a contract larger than $1 million.
These are the preliminary results. I will publish the full report in next week's newsletter. Therefore, if you have not completed the survey and want your feelings included, please click on the link below to complete the survey. It is completely confidential and should take no longer than 10 minutes.
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Nomination Season is Upon Us
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| The Small Business Administration is seeking nominations for 2013 awards in CT. The various categories of awards and the award nomination instructions are included in the link here.
It is also not too soon for corporations and MBEs to begin thinking about the 2013 GNEMSDC Awards Gala on April 25 in Framingham, MA. Corporate buyers and supplier diversity managers should begin reviewing the performance of their top MBEs. And MBEs need to begin thinking about corporate supplier diversity managers and corporate buyers who have gone the extra mile on their behalf.
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Upcoming Events
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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:
- December 4 - 9:30 - 12:00 noon - GNEMSDC MBE Input Committee (MBEIC) Meeting at NSTAR in Westwood, Mass
- December 5-6 MBDA MED Week in Washington D.C. We strongly encourage corporate members and MBEs to attend this event at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. There will be many government procurement agencies represented as well as some of the largest federal government prime contractors in attendance. The event this year will focus on Access to Capital, Access to Contracts, Advanced Manufacturing and Global Business.
- December 13 - GNEMSDC Quarterly Meeting at Banneker Industries 582 Great Road, North Smithfield, RI. The final Quarterly Meeting of the year is hosted by a certified MBE. On behalf of the GNEMSDC board of directors we thank our friends at Banneker Industries for inviting us to their headquarters.
- April 25, 2013 - Annual Awards Gala - Sheraton Framingham Hotel and Conference Center, MA
- June 10, 2013- MA Golf Outing- Ferncroft Golf Club, Middleton MA
- July 12, 2013- CT Golf Outing- Lyman Orchards Golf Club, Middlefield CT
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And Finally...
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One result from the MBE Performance Survey that is very informative is the length of time it takes to secure a contract with a NMSDC corporate member. Almost 33 percent of MBEs report it taking from 1 to 3 years to get a contract with a corporate member. One thing I know is that any seller would like the process of becoming a new supplier to be shorter. It is not making any excuses for corporate members, but the procurement process is a time consuming process. In almost every situation, corporations have a supplier that currently supplies what the MBE is trying to sell. Furthermore, corporate buyers have heard it from on high to cut the number of suppliers in the supply chain. This is an environment that puts pressure on all suppliers, particularly those on the outside looking in. And often that incumbent has been there for many years, and unless something has gone desperately wrong with the incumbent, or there has been a change in the strategic direction of the corporation, displacing a supplier is about as difficult as a rookie replacing a veteran on an NBA team. But it does happen. Most MBEs, however, cannot wait for 3 years to make a sale to a corporation and keep the lights on at the same time. Therefore, the challenge for MBEs is to fill the time while selling to corporate members by selling to everyone and anyone that buys their products or services. Business is business; and MBEs need to grow by selling to corporate members and non-corporate members as well as other MBEs. There is a saying that you should never let them see you sweat. So the time it takes to sell to a corporate members is not personal and does not indicate a lack of interest. Therefore, MBEs should not react and should not exhibit frustration with the time it takes for corporate members to respond. Instead, MBEs should keep their "tickle" file current and move on to current customers and others. I believe, and I am certain most MBEs believe, that their company offers some of the highest value products and services in the market. The trick is to show it with anyone willing to give you an opportunity.
In your service,
Dr. Fred
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Thursday, December 20, 2012 
