January 2, 2014

Dear GNEMSDC Stakeholders - An Open Letter to You

The beginning of a new year is always a good time to think about goals and objectives. Many people use the start of the New Year to proclaim changes that they are committed to make in their lives. These resolutions are sometimes faithfully kept, and other times quickly discarded. I also like to use the New Year to think about where the GNEMSDC is and changes that we can institute that will make us more successful developing MBEs and increasing minority business participation in corporate supply chains. I also have learned over the years that less really is more. That unlike a State of Union address, that must address every touch-point of the federal government, I believe we need to focus on just a few things that can provide the greatest impact. To borrow a method of thinking from the quality and six sigma approach, if we do a Pareto analysis, we will see clearly the 80 - 20 rule at work. So I will address what are the big challenges first and perhaps only in 2014. These are the challenges that will yield the biggest returns with regards to furthering our mission. The three areas that we will concentrate on this year are: 1)     MBE Development; 2)     Corporate Development and Participation; and 3)     MBE to MBE Sales. MBE Development This past year we introduced a number of activities and programs that focused on MBE development. The GNEMSDC Advanced Leadership Program (GALP) brought Ivy League business school faculty to our Bridgeport facility to share practical and actionable concepts to help MBEs grow. The program was so successful we were able get a generous grant from the Fairfield County Community Foundation to help us to continue the program in 2014. As a result of this support, we will open the program up to MBEs of all sizes, with two provisos, you must be a Category 2 or higher MBE, or you must be interested in getting to that level within the next 18 months.  The 2014 GALP will start on Friday, October 10 and run each Friday for five weeks.  We will skip the week of the NMSDC Conference.  Please mark your calendars if you are interested in attending.  Contact Jennifer Little-Greer if you are interested, 203-288-9744. In 2014, we have two new programs that we are offering MBEs in the area of MBE development. The first is our Growing to Scale program that is a two-day program that will take place in our Bridgeport classroom. The purpose of this program is to help MBEs accomplish the goal of profitability. This program is open to certified MBEs and will be limited to 25 companies. The program starts on February 18 and ends on February 20. If you are growing your business' top line, but not your bottom line, you need to consider participating in this program. To sign-up, call Jennifer Little-Greer, the director of the MBE Services Group, 203-288-9744. A second new program that we are supporting in 2014 is the Diverse Supplier Development Academy (DSDA). The DSDA program is specifically designed for early stage Category 1 MBEs who may have just started their business in the past three years. This program incorporates some of the GNEMSDC BusinessLINC program. The DSDA has a mentoring component along with class-room style technical assistance. MBEs who are interested in this program can apply for a scholarship from the GNEMSDC to attend. Again, give Jennifer Little-Greer a call for more information, or to sign up for the DSDA program. This program will last for 12 weeks and kicks off on February 12, 2014. A major MBE development program that the GNEMSDC has in place now is the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency Business Center program.  The GNEMSDC now operates two MBDA Business Centers; Boston and Bridgeport.  MBEs are the  clients of the two Centers.. The centers work closely with MBEs on their specific business development needs. The MBDA hands-on approach also has very specific goals for clients in terms of contracts, employment, financings, exports and strategic alliances. We will need to help MBEs generate $200 million in new sales and over 200 new jobs in 2014. We are currently looking for MBEs who are interested in helping us accomplish those goals to sign up as clients to the Centers. In 2013, we helped Boston MBDA Center clients attain over $100 million in new business. And unlike the three other MBE programs with specific time periods, the MBDA Business Center approach is 24/7/365. If you are interested in participating in this laser-focused business development program, call Joanne Wang at 617-986-6366. I know we can help your business grow its sales and profits through this proven MBE development approach. On Saturday, March 1, 2014 we will launch the GNEMSDC Community Business School in our Bridgeport classroom. Something that has become abundantly clear since our move to Bridgeport a year ago is the great need in our community for entrepreneurial and business education that is accessible to minority and inner-city business owners. The GNEMSDC - CBS will offer basic business information to any entrepreneur that wants to come to learn every Saturday morning. This program is FREE. The plan is to utilize our MBEs as instructors, to use local business school professors as faculty, and to ask representatives from our corporate membership to come in to share their experiences with these early stage entrepreneurs. If you are interested in participating as a presenter to discuss some experience that taught you an important lesson, please send me an email so we can discuss how and when to include in the program. It is my belief that in order to create the generation of successful minority businesses we have to create an environment for business creativity to take root. As a former full-time professor, I always believed that entrepreneurship can be taught, but to be successful, entrepreneurs need to be with other entrepreneurs. The GNEMSDC - CBS will test my hypothesis. In the last days of 2013, the GNEMSDC signed an agreement with Google to assist MBEs in this rapidly changing on-line world of business. This program is designed to provide technical assistant to MBEs looking to grow their on-line presence and to assist MBEs with marketing their products and services on-line. We are very proud to have been selected by Google as a business partner. I think it speaks to our work and your commitment to excellence. We will be sharing details of this program in coming weeks. In addition to these MBE development programs, we will continue to work with MBEs on demand, but we will strongly encourage all of our MBEs to utilize these programs as the way for the GNEMSDC to assist in their development. These programs are for you.    Corporate Development and Participation We understand that we can accomplish nothing without the support of our corporate members. In 2014, we are going to ask more of our corporate members to participate with the GNEMSDC in some creative and effective programming. The primary corporate program we are soliciting corporate members to consider in 2014 is to host a "Corporate Showcase". Corporate Showcases are events hosted by a corporate member at their facility or at another location. The purpose of the Corporate Showcase is to introduce MBEs to corporate procurement decision makers and to provide an opportunity for corporate members to share with MBEs information about their company that any supplier would need in order to be successful with that company, Corporate Showcases come in two basic forms. The first is a targeted event, where the corporate member identifies products and services that they are looking to procure. The GNEMSDC works with the corporate member to identify MBEs that fit the specific needs of the corporation and only those MBEs are invited to the event.   Corporate members and MBEs like these types of Corporate Showcases, because there is little wasted time or effort by either the MBE or the corporate member. The second type of Corporate Showcase is an event that is open to all MBEs. This also can be a very effective way to promote opportunities for MBEs. We often find that there are many MBEs who provide goods and services that are not directly related to the core products or services of the corporate membership. However, we know that many corporate members buy these goods and services. The realization of opportunities for MBEs may not be on the top of mind of corporate procurement and supplier diversity professionals until, those MBEs are in the room explaining their value proposition. These all-MBEs welcome event are excellent ways for MBEs operating on the fringes to get opportunities with corporate members and for corporate members to learn of the excellent services of some of these highly skilled business professionals. Whether a targeted event or an all comers event, the GNEMSDC supports the event by identifying the MBEs, helping with the planning of the event, marketing the event, registering participants, providing directions, and other generally helping making these events highly productive. We are asking our corporate members, to consider hosting one of these events in 2014. If you are interested in hosting a Corporate Showcase, please call our Director of Corporate Services, Andie Kim at 617-578-8900. The second major corporate development and participation activity we will introduce in 2014 is the GNEMSDC Supplier Diversity e-Learning course. This course was developed to help corporate members develop an effective supplier diversity program by training procurement professionals within the from the best supplier diversity programs. The course is customizable for any corporate member so that senior management can convey the importance of supplier diversity in the overall strategic objectives of the corporation. The tool covers all aspects of supplier diversity. We are very excited about this course and its ability to fast track the development of more effective corporate supplier diversity programs. If you are interested in this program also call Andie Kim. We would be happy to provide you with a demonstration of how this could work for you and your procurement team. MBE to MBE Sales One of the things we have learned in reviewing the economic impact of supplier diversity and MBE development is that there is tremendous undeveloped potential for MBEs to assist each other. In 2013, our MBEs had sales of over $13 billion. This translates into tremendous opportunities for MBE to MBE sales. In 2014, we will dedicate a section of the weekly e-newsletter to MBEs looking to source products and services from other MBEs. This service will be free to MBEs. All we need is to know what you are looking to procure from other MBEs. We want to use the tremendous reach of our e-newsletter that this year had over a quarter million opens, to share opportunity information for MBEs by MBEs. So before you call that usual supplier of goods and services you typically utilize, give an MBE an opportunity to bid on your business. By helping other MBEs, you will end up helping yourself. And Finally ,   We will continue to offer the very best programs that are our signature events. They are; 1)     The Capital Summit - Wednesday, March 12, 2014 at the Bank of America, Boston, MA; 2)     The GNEMSDC Awards Gala - Tuesday, May 6 2014 at the Aqua Turf, Southington, CT; 3)     The Boston Supplier Diversity Golf Classic -Monday, June 9, 2014 at Ferncroft CC, Middleton MA; 4)     The Connecticut Supplier Diversity Golf Classic and New England Championship - Friday, July 11, 2014 at Lyman Orchards Golf Club, Middlefield, CT; 5)     The GNEMSDC Business Expo - Tuesday and Wednesday September 30 and October 1, 2014 at The Mohegan Sun; and 6)     The GNEMSDC Best Practices Forum - Date to be Determined at Fenway Park, Boston, MA. In addition to these we will also have four quarterly meetings around the region for MBEs and corporate members to attend. More on these quarterly meeting in coming days. So you can see, 2014 is shaping up to be a very special year. It is our goal to make the GNEMSDC the most effective business development organization in the region for MBEs and corporate members. We have a very full plate, but if you want to introduce something to the GNEMSDC to consider, we want to hear from you.   And none of this is possible without your help and support.  I want to thank a very supportive Board of Directors for providing the necessary strategic leadership.  I want to thank a phenomenal staff of dedicated professionals; we all depend on you. I have to thank the great volunteers; you make our events special.   I thank the corporate sponsors and corporate members for providing the resources, and more importantly, providing the opportunities.  I thank the U.S. Department of Commerce, MBDA for their faith in our ability to deliver.  I thank the MBEs for putting a healthy amount of trust in us.  We have trust in you and your success.  Thank you and I wish each of you a spectacularly successful 2014.  I love this mission! In your service, Dr. Fred