FYI
Inclusion Dividends: Taking the Initiative
During the summer, we talked about The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off by Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan, intending to relate the book’s concepts to supplier diversity and how we SDMWVBE (Small, Disadvantaged, Minority, Women, or Veteran Business Enterprise) businesses might be able to incorporate this information in our organizations.…
Read MoreSpotlight on USBLN
The US Business Leadership Network (USBLN) like WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council) and NMSDC (National Minority Supplier Development Council) is a national third-party certifier. USBLN certifies business that are owned and operated by a person or persons challenged with a disability – those with physical and/or mental impairment; including disabled veteran businesses, regardless of gender or ethnicity. Like the other…
Read MoreShameless Request for Votes!
We’ve applied for a Mission Main Street℠ Grant in Chase’s program that will award twelve (12) small businesses with grants of $250,000 in January 2014. You can learn about last year’s program and listen to interviews with last year’s winners. Abator, always a WBE, knows getting certified as diversity owned can be challenging for small businesses. And…
Read MoreSimilar, But Not the Same
Having researched the UCP (Unified Certification Program) for all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands; I thought I had a pretty good handle on what to expect from the certification process. Recently though we’ve experienced some new quirks as we’ve sought certification in additional states as a part of our…
Read MoreLean In and the Chaos Imperative
By now it is probably evident that we’re a bunch of readers here. This time we’re taking another break from The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off by Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan to talk about Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work and Will to Lead and The Chaos Imperative: How Change…
Read MoreInclusion Dividend: Concepts
Earlier this summer, we talked a bit about The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off by Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan, with the intent of relating its concepts to supplier diversity; and, how it might apply to us as SDMWVBE (Small, Disadvantaged, Minority, Women or Veteran Business Enterprise) businesses. Chapter three…
Read MoreInclusion Dividend: Business Case
In late June, we talked a bit about The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off by Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan, with the intent of relating its concepts to supplier diversity; and, how it might apply to us as SDMWVBE (Small, Disadvantaged, Minority, Women or Veteran Business Enterprise) businesses. Chapter two’s…
Read MoreAccountability
We planned a series on The Inclusion Dividend, and we’ll get back to that next post — but we discovered a stunning article about the SBA’s new WOSB (women owned small business) certification that merits comment. Fierce Government reports that NASA audited their fiscal 2010 contracts awarded to self-certified WOSB firms and found that 35…
Read MoreNOT One Size Fits All
There may be just one disadvantaged certification program based on the memorandum of understanding between the United States Department of Transportation and the Small Business Administration, but it would be inaccurate to say the program is standardized … each state can have completely different forms, interpretations and requirements. You can think of it as 52…
Read MoreThoughts on Supplier Diversity
It is almost spring, that time of year when many supplier diversity systems send out emails about updating records and providing copies of recently issued or re-issued certifications, again. I’m not sure whether our targeted clients understand how disheartened a SDMWVBE (Small, Disadvantaged, Minority, Women or Veteran Business Enterprise) can become when we’ve taken great care to research and prepare presentations to show…
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