Small Business Supplier Diversity

Certified small DMWVLGBTBEs (Disadvantaged or Disabled, Minority, Women, Veteran, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgendered Business Enterprises) reap the benefits of the diversity spend goals set by government agencies and large corporations. These organizations understand the compelling business case for diversity and inclusion.  A couple years ago, we wrote several posts based on the book The Inclusion Dividend:…

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You Should Get Certified!

If you’re a DMWVLGBTBE (Disadvantaged or Disabled, Minority, Women, Veteran, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgendered Business Enterprise), particularly if you’re a small business, you’ve probably heard that advice. We’ve talked about having a strategy when it comes to selecting the certifications that are right for your business, but just jumping right into filling out a…

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Working ON Your Business

Work ON your business, not in it. As SDMWVLGBTBE (Small, Disadvantaged, Disabled, Minority, Women, Veteran, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgendered Business Enterprises) entrepreneurs, we frequently hear that phrase.  Sometimes, many of us aren’t even sure what it means because the phrase can encompass many activities … training or education, networking, volunteerism, public speaking, memberships, conferences or mentoring just to list a few. …

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The Need for Supplier Diversity?

Back in 2010 we wrote  a brief history of Supplier Diversity, the highlights of which included a brief synopsis of the following Executive Orders: 10925 11246, 11458, 11625, and 12432. At the federal level these orders formed the basis for the process of identifying and vetting businesses claiming diverse status. Again, diverse is an easy…

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Getting Out and About

We overheard a comment the other day, that “so and so spends a lot of time going to meetings and networking events”.  The speaker seemed critical of the person attending events, even though this person’s job involved establishing business relationships on behalf of an organization.  It occurred to us that networking events is one of the most…

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Required Certification Documents – Governance

Why does a SDMWVLGBTBE (Small, Disadvantaged, Disabled, Minority, Women, Veteran, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgendered Business Enterprise) get denied certification over Governance? Governance is certifier short hand that refers to the documents governing a diverse SDMWVLGBT business and its operations. Certifiers (the SBA, VA, state agencies or third party organizations) review these documents to make…

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Getting Certified ~ Six Simple Steps

Our company has always been a women-owned business enterprise (WBE), and getting WBE certified in 1989 was a piece of cake compared to today’s rigorous process. Through various organizations and events we have met many other small business owners who became minority- or women-owned certified at the recommendation of a large corporate supplier diversity contact.…

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Geek Strong

If you’ve been reading our posts, it may be apparent we’re readers (for some of us, books are the drug of choice).  So what do quirky actress Felicia Day [author of You’re Never Weird on the Internet (almost)] and social scientist Brené Brown [author of Rising Strong] have of interest to SDMWVLGBTBE (Small, Disadvantaged/Disabled, Minority,…

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Power of SDMWVLGBTBE Listings

The intent behind SDMWVLGBTBE (Small, Disadvantaged/Disabled, Minority, Women, Veteran, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgendered Business Enterprise) participation goals is to help the SDMWVLGBTBE firm mature and grow our own capacity to directly support large companies and government agencies.  A New York State Comptroller’s report says the programs are “…  intended to provide direct economic benefit to…

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Confidence

Summer time is reading time, especially if you can find time to bask in the sunshine with a good book.  The Confidence Code by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman was on our list this year.  We talked last time about the many mixed messages we overheard growing up and as we ventured out into entrepreneurship.…

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