Tag: diverse business

Moving from Protest to Economic Equality

July 20, 2020

It is better to protest than to accept injustice.

Rosa Parks

The largely peaceful protests surrounding police brutality, a broken justice system, systemic racism, and disproportionate economic and health disparity have died down. Now the media and journalists, as well as all persuasions of protesters are seeking to determine what will be the actions that represent meaningful change on these issues. 

A blast from the past

Circling back to the 1960s and 1970s, here we are again reviewing the aftermath of protests.  The stakeholders on both sides are watching, listening, and participating in political combat at the local level, with those supporting protesters hoping to correct the injustices and move their municipality or state in a fair and equitable direction. In the next four months, it will be interesting to see if and how many of the themes of the recent unrest will be parlayed into national political party planks and tangible policies given the current pandemic-related economic strains. What protest-supporting stakeholders have seen thus far are knee-jerk grants, corporate promises, and the hiring of a few more diverse staffers.

The undeniable present

As the already well-documented economic and broken justice system “learnings” are re-examined by a broader audience, maybe they will lead to policy changes. But as businesspersons, let’s keep in mind there are “programs” that have been in place since the 1970s to assist and grow small underrepresented businesses. 

Small, diverse businesses are some of the fastest-growing, yet they garner significantly less corporate and institutional spending. This fact seems to illustrate another economic disparity underpinning systemic racism.  An undeniable argument is that the programs to support and grow underrepresented small businesses need to be challenged to ensure they are delivering meaningful results to these businesses.

Where do we go from here?

We must make sure that existing procurement diversity programs work. This will be a meaningful basic step to address not only the known economic disparities in goods and services purchased from underrepresented businesses, but also be an impetus to promote health and social well-being within diverse communities. 

If these programs have the ability to do all this — one might ask — then why have these programs that seek to bring about more opportunities, economic equity, and prosperity for diverse businesses not been effective? Are they just window-dressing? Are they political cover? 

What do these programs need to ensure they are delivering the opportunities and change we are all seeking.

  1. Procurement diversity programs should be staffed professionally and sufficiently. That staffing should not only be based on spend and reach but also on the needed monitoring to determine program effectiveness.  
  2. Public agencies and private corporations that actually want to make a substantial change should start by securing the commitment from the top. Higher-level leadership adoption makes a difference when policy and goal setting include their involvement.
  3. All agencies and corporations must make all their “spend” in every department available to underrepresented diverse businesses with goals of no less than 25% across the board.
  4. Require every buyer, every department, and every executive to be held accountable if underrepresented diversity spend goals are not met consistently on a quarter-by-quarter and annual basis.
  5. Ancillary programs are fantastic ways to support diverse businesses, and also make a difference. These programs include mentoring and training.

MWBEs can help themselves as well. Here are a few things you can do to keep these procurement diversity programs viable and strong:

  1. Seek out and pursue the many opportunities that have been designed specifically to help minority and women-owned businesses receive more contracts and grow. Far too many MWBE goals go unmet due to insufficient participation.
  2. Locate and get involved with groups such as Greenlining Institute and NAACP who prepare and send report cards to those agencies and companies on their spend results – successes and failures. If there are none in your area, advocate for the creation of report cards through purchasing-based associations like Minority Business Round Table, The Women Business Enterprise National Council, or the Latin American Management Association.
  3. Contact the boards of the public agencies and private corporations and make your concerns known about their procurement diversity activities and performance.

In a capitalist democratic society, it makes more sense to invest in people for them to learn to compete and earn a living than to create pledges of millions of dollars hoping the damage of civil unrest fades and racial tensions are mollified. The time is now. Let’s quit fooling around and make what we know can work actually work.

Don’t give up the fight.

MWBE Certification: Why Diverse Businesses Should Get Certified

June 5, 2020

If you are a diverse business owner, you may have wondered if you should take the steps to formally certify your business as a diverse business enterprise. You may be asking yourself, “Will certification really help my business in any tangible way? How many hoops will I have to jump through? Is it a waste of time?”

Well, if you are asking yourself those questions, certification may be a good fit for you if:

  1. your current customer recognizes and place value on certification,
  2. you plan to sell to customers who recognize and place value on certification in the future or,
  3. you have determined how becoming a Diverse Business Enterprise can be incorporated into your marketing strategy.

What is a Diverse Business?

A business is generally considered to be a diverse business if it is at least 51% owned by a minority or a woman. In the United States, a person who is: American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; whose ethnicity is Hispanic or Latino; female; and/or a veteran or service-disabled veteran of U.S. Armed Forces are members of a diversity group. 

Aside from the 51% ownership, the owner must also demonstrate their financial control of the business, their day-to-day managerial control of the business, and that they have relevant experience and technical knowledge to operate the business. These factors are determined through a rigorous and detailed application process by governmental or third-party certifying agencies. 

Benefits and Perks of Certification

What can a diverse business certification do for your company? Considering the time and effort required to prove and obtain formal certification, a diverse business owner should decide first if it will be worth it. There are many reasons to get your MWDVBE Certification, but the following two rank high on the list of justifications to undertake the certification process.

Reason 1 – Get more opportunities

Did you know that diverse business spend goals, depending on the agency’s procurement policies, range from 10% to 25% of a significant portion of their annual eligible procurement dollars? Many government agencies, higher education institutions, and Fortune 1000 companies have programs for diverse business spend goals.

It’s simple math. The more opportunities that you have in front of you, the better sales potential, and the more bids you’re likely to win.

Often, your client or target client has a supplier or procurement diversity program that strongly encourages they meet spend goals with diverse business owners. These clients will seek to meet their diverse spend goals one of two ways:

  • contracting directly with certified diverse business owners
  • requiring their prime vendors to subcontract with certified diverse business owners. 

Either way, there is a market opportunity for certified diverse businesses that non-certified diverse businesses don’t have. 

Just having a diverse business certification does not guarantee sales, but it will position your business to be in a select pool that enhances your opportunity to make a sale.

Reason 2 – Be approached, instead of always reaching out yourself

When you are certified as a diverse business enterprise, supplier or procurement diversity programs will target your business for opportunities. 

These programs:

  • only engage and utilize certified diverse businesses to meet their government or corporate diversity spend goals
  • seek to expose certified diverse businesses to their internal buyers and decision-makers through a variety of networking events
  • include meet-and-greet events, specific procurement informational meetings, and workshops that focus on assisting diverse vendors to learn about their procurement processes and systems. 

Quick tip
The networking events are opportunities to sell your business, make sure you are connecting with the right buyers or departments, and learn about other opportunities within the agency or corporation.

How to Start Applying For MWBE Certifications

The path to certification no matter where you live starts initially with the business owner and their business records.

The detail requested in the application process may appear to be overwhelming, but each government or third-party certifying agency asks 90% of the same questions to verify and validate ownership, control, and experience of the business owner. Once you have all the information for one certification, you most likely will have the information aligned for any other diverse business certification as well.

When compiling your business records, remember, these are the documents relating to the start and on-going operation of the business. If a business owner has maintained reasonable records, much of the application stress is alleviated. 

When your business record have been kept in order, it’s much easier to begin the certification process and move through it with less hiccups.

Convinced that your company should become a certified Diverse Business Enterprise, what are you waiting for? Perhaps you want a go-to resource who is familiar with the data requested, understands and can interpret application questions, and will assist you through the process so you can reach your goal of becoming a certified diverse business owner. 

CAI consults for a number of diverse businesses that have successfully obtained their MWDVBE certification. Schedule your free 30-minute certification consultation today and see how we can help you, too.