Minority-owned businesses move ahead on the tech track

“Diverse suppliers add value, innovation and a new perspective” to the technology supply chain. – Harriet R. Michel, NMSDC

“The companies in our diversity supply chain are extremely valuable to us.”
– Kathy Greco, Manpower

By Angela M. Hutchinson
Contributing Editor

The forward-looking companies that support the development of diverse, technology-oriented suppliers benefit from working with minority business enterprises (MBEs) in many ways. By sharing information and resources with diverse partners, they not only meet the requirements of their supplier diversity initiatives, but also accelerate their own companies’ growth and profitability.

Corporate supplier diversity programs are increasingly successful and sustainable thanks to the companies themselves, and to certifying organizations like the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC, www.nmsdc.org).

NMSDC, “the place to be”
NMSDC and its many regional affiliates provide MBEs with relevant information and technical resources. In fact, conferences, business opportunity fairs and other functions put on by these organizations often contribute to launching solid and enduring relationships between corporations and diverse suppliers.

Chartered in 1972, NMSDC offers increased procurement and business opportunities for minority businesses of all sizes. “Diverse suppliers add value, innovation and a new perspective through the products, services and solutions they provide,” says Harriet R. Michel, president of NMSDC.

Michel considers the council “the place to be.” Minority business development, she notes, “has such great potential to contribute to employment, and the economic health and well-being of minority communities and the country as a whole.”

Vincent Rossy is president and CEO of tech staffer CorTech LLC
Founded in 1999 by Vincent Rossy, president and CEO, CorTech LLC (Atlanta, GA) started as a technical staffing operation. The business has diversified since then. It now serves both the U.S. and Canada, “and we also diversified with regard to skill sets serviced,” Rossy notes. “We started with a technical core and evolved into engineering, professional, finance, accounting, admin, pharma and more.”

Rossy runs CorTech’s daily North American operations. His family background is Puerto Rican, but he was born and raised in Connecticut. He received his BS in economics from Central Connecticut State University, spent several years in the workforce, then launched CorTech to provide contract, contract-to-permanent and permanent placement.

“We’ve built our own suite of staffing software, which we call PowerRecruiter,” he says. “We use it to manage our business. We’ve also built Jobstalker, a free Internet job posting site with direct tie-in to many other job posting sites.”

The company is growing with the demands for techies across the U.S. It services multinational ops for Manpower, Motorola, Verizon, Nokia, Siemens, Cisco Systems, Arris, Hitachi, Nortel, Sprint, Abbott Labs and more.

CorTech and Manpower started developing their relationship in 2002. “Manpower had just taken over the vendor management role at Motorola, where we were on the staffing vendors list,” Rossy says. “Manpower really cares about supplier diversity and is making a substantial effort to see that its diverse suppliers have what they need to be successful.

“It really feels good when you can call your customer, who happens to be your biggest competitor in the marketplace, and know they will help you any way they can.”

NMSDC is another valuable resource for CorTech. “They’ll set up networking meetings for diverse vendors with large corporations,” says Rossy. “They also offer classes and other educational meetings to make sure diverse suppliers have what they need to compete and be successful in today’s business world.”

In the future, CorTech hopes to supply more international operations in English-speaking countries, Rossy notes. “Servicing English-speaking countries will allow us to keep our centralized operational model. But if the opportunity arises we will look into servicing non-English-speaking countries too.”

Tom Longan is Dominion account exec at SHI International
Tom Longan is an account executive at SHI International Corp (Somerset, NJ). He’s responsible for coordinating the company’s extensive relationship with utility giant Dominion (Richmond, VA).

SHI is an Asian American-owned company certified by the New York/New Jersey MSDC. The company is also a Corporate Plus member of the NMSDC. In fact, Longan says, “The NMSDC plays a significant role in our business since many of our major customers are corporate members. We’ve seen that submitting our credentials to NMSDC was a very positive process.”

SHI provides business-to-business solutions for computer and IT products and services. It
also offers a wide range of value-added services and products, and more than 150,000 software, hardware, peripheral and networking products for corporate, government and education clients.

Dominion is one of SHI’s primary clients, and Longan is the point of contact for Dominion’s IT requirements: hardware, software, IT services and more. “SHI gives Dominion a single source for thousands of software titles from major and third-party software publishers around the world,” he says. “We also provide the reporting and tracking necessary for Dominion to comply with its software licensing agreements.

“As a full-service IT provider, SHI is committed to sourcing any technology product or service to meet Dominion’s requirements. We can call on our considerable resources in terms of capacity, financial strength and global reach.”

SHI first met Dominion at a Virginia MSDC networking event. “We began talking with some of their supply chain personnel and were asked to respond to a request for quotation that they submitted to suppliers in the marketplace.

“Dominion is a very forward-thinking company, both in its commitment to supplier diversity and its adoption of cutting-edge technology,” Longan adds. “And on a personal level, Dominion’s extremely knowledgeable staff has helped us improve as a vendor, pointing out ways to enhance the services we provide.”

Carmen Castillo is president of Superior Design International, Inc
In 1993 Carmen Castillo founded Superior Design International, Inc (SDI, Fort Lauderdale, FL). Since then, SDI has become an international enterprise with business ops in the U.S., Canada, Europe, China, India, Argentina and Slovakia. Its core competencies include supply-chain management, consolidator/integrator programs, payroll services, independent contractor compliance programs and recruiting. Castillo has been president of the organization since its inception.

Castillo always dreamed of running her own business. “As a Latina from a poor background I faced much adversity in business, but my effort has paid off,” she notes with pride. “I now run a multinational firm that is expanding into a truly global service provider.”

Today, she declares, “SDI is one of the largest certified minority- and woman-owned workforce solutions firms with a global reach. We offer business solutions, technical, professional and creative staffing and specialized outsourcing programs to clients from mid-sized businesses to Fortune 500s.”

One highly valued client is IBM. SDI provides IBM with consolidator services, a small-supplier managed services program, and recruitment and payroll services as well.

SDI got its first service contract with IBM by networking. “A great deal of our marketing relies on getting out there and knocking on doors. I met the decision-makers face to face,” Castillo remembers. Minority-owned business certifications were also helpful.

“The key is to provide quality-rich services,” she declares. “You have to offer added value to your potential customers; your minority status alone won’t keep you in business!”

IBM’s executive mentorship program has helped SDI establish “best-in-class” programs
and services, Castillo says. “Once you’re in, all you have to do is deliver and IBM will keep
you busy.”

Corporate partners speak: Manpower
Kathy Greco, director of supplier diversity and program services for Manpower, notes that supplier diversity is becoming a key driver in Manpower’s workforce management programs for large organizations.

“The companies in our diversity supply chain are extremely valuable to us,” she declares. “They offer additional assistance as we service our clients in specific skill sets, and the diverse workforce they represent is appreciated and needed by Manpower and all our clients.

“Cultivating diversity is an essential business strategy. A sound diversity program widens the recruiting net in a market experiencing a crunch for talent. Companies that tap into this employee pool are investing in the $1 trillion purchasing power of the minority population and nearly $4 trillion in women’s purchasing power.”

Dominion: a core value
“Our supplier diversity efforts started nearly twenty-five years ago as a Federal mandate,” says Anne Oliver, Dominion’s director of supplier diversity. They have evolved not only into a business strategy but a core value for Dominion.

This large electric utility’s focus on supplier diversity is part of its commitment to corporate excellence, Oliver declares. “We have created a stand-alone supplier diversity organization of six people. They work with Dominion’s business units, supply-chain organizations and the business community to identify diverse suppliers that offer safe work practices, competitive pricing, excellent quality and innovative supply solutions.”

Dominion, says Oliver, believes strongly that “procuring technology services and materials from diverse suppliers brings innovation and competitive value to our purchases and contracts. It also leads to a supplier base that reflects the diversity of the communities where Dominion provides service, and increases and supports the economic development of these communities.”

IBM: one of the oldest programs in the country
Michael K. Robinson, IBM’s global supplier diversity program director, dates the company’s supplier diversity heritage back to 1968. “Diversity is part of IBM’s DNA,” he says. “We hired our first female employees and our first African American employee in 1899, so creating a supplier diversity program forty years ago was a natural evolution. It’s global, and led by a global program director.”

IBM has been a member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable since 2000, Robinson points out. It
has exceeded a billion dollars in expenditures with diverse suppliers every year since. The company works closely with NMSDC and other organizations that support supplier diversity initiatives.

“IBM has a robust first and second tier program. We aggressively track our outreach and spend with companies owned by black Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, GLBT Americans, people with disabilities and veterans,” says Robinson.

Pitney Bowes: the strength of the program
Peter Panzarella, Six Sigma VP and chief procurement officer for Pitney Bowes Inc, shares the company’s commitment to helping MBEs grow their businesses through mentoring and supplier development activities. “Our supplier diversity program helps us to be more agile and competitive in the marketplace. Because of the strength of our program we can win new business and retain and increase existing business,” he points out.

Panzarella explains that customers ask about the program “and look to us to partner with them to achieve results.”

Pitney Bowes has an enterprise procurement group that purchases goods and services on behalf of the entire corporation. “We cascade our supplier diversity goals down to each commodity manager and buyer within the direct and indirect procurement areas,”
Panzarella says.

D/C

Angela M. Hutchinson is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

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