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GNEMSDC connects MBE/WBE’s to lucrative private-sector contracts

Martin Desmarais
GNEMSDC connects MBE/WBE’s to lucrative private-sector contracts
Dr. Fred McKinney, Director of GNEMSDC

Just as the Supplier Diversity Office arranges for business opportunities with state agencies, the Unified Certification Program does the same with federal agencies. Also, the Greater New England Minority Supplier Diversity Council has its own certification programs that can connect minority- and women-owned businesses to lucrative private-sector contracts.

The GNEMSDC has a minority-certification program that grants businesses Certified MBE status. Businesses with this certification are eligible to do business with the council’s 3,600 corporate members. The certification requirements are similar to that of the state minority-business certification. The GNEMSDC certification process can take up to 90 days.

According to GNEMSDC President and CEO Fred McKinney, the companies that are council members seek minority firms in an effort to increase or to meet their supplier diversity benchmarks and goals. He said that about 400 businesses have Certified MBE status. These businesses are typically medium-sized, with an average revenue of about $3.5 million a year.

According to numbers from his organization, about two-thirds of the companies that have MBE certification report an increase in revenue as a result of business with council corporate members.

Like Nunnally at the state Supplier Diversity Office, McKinney also believes the council’s minority certification program is underutilized by minority businesses.

He also agrees with the assertion that the certification alone is not enough to get new business. He calls it just one step in the process.

“It is not the only thing and it is not the most important thing … the most important thing is that the business is good at what they do. And if the business is good at what they do, then the certification can be very helpful,” McKinney said. “This is a very competitive world we live in. And the minority businesses that are successful are very good at what they do. They just happened to be minority and they just happen to be minority-certified.”

McKinney also says that businesses should take advantage of any and all minority certification that is out there. “Business owners should essentially certify with as many and all the organizations they can get certified with,” he said. “To me that really is the most determining factor to success of the business and that is how a minority business owner should be thinking on how to grow their business.”