At left, Jasmin Espy

Greetings MBEs

Over the Summer, I attended the 3^rd Quarter NMBEIC meeting in Boston. It was an informative session with lively input and feedback from MBEIC Chairs, Council President's and the NMSDC staff. A good portion of the session focused on the strategic planning efforts of the NMSDC. Clearly the intent is to ensure the NMSDC is strategically aligned with our corporate member's supplier diversity goals but also the needs of our MBE's as well.  

What was clear was a focus on the following areas:

• Technology
• Website Improvements
• Use of Social Media
• Database Management
• CRM - Customer Relationship Management

Accenture is leading the effort and this meeting offered the attendees the ability to provide input into the current analysis. The output will be a 5-year plan with completion not expected until early 2012. I applaud Joset B. Wright and her leadership team for undertaking this task.

We also heard from two senior corporate leaders on what is necessary for MBEs to be successful with their companies.  There were several areas in the talks by Joseph Black, CPO of Aetna and Kevin Kelleher, CEO of Cartus.  The one thing that I took away from their remarks was the need for MBEs to clearly understand what business they were in and what the value proposition was for doing business with them. MBE's/Suppliers who provide goods and services that are necessary components of the products or services that corporate members sell to their consumers are of being viewed by some corporations as much greater value to them than suppliers who provide "supportive" services that all businesses use and require - indirect products and services. While this might mean fewer potential customers, it might also translate into greater profits and sustainability. Bottom line is that MBEs have to get in the kitchen where corporations are doing the cooking and understand all piece parts of their product or service offering and find the value add you can bring to the table.

One way of learning more about our corporate members and what they provide is through the relationships that you build with them. The RMMSDC affords us all a myriad of opportunities to do just that. The calendar is full of events where you can network socially as well as more specific with the Access Opportunity Meetings. As I mentioned in my last In Touch article, the MBEIC Committee and the Contracts Committee have developed a Checklist that provides a list of suggestions to assist our MBE's in being prepared for the Access Opportunity Meetings. We have completed the list and it's being provided now for your reference. You will note that it incorporates a wide range of items as we have a broad group of MBE's with varied level of experience so we have covered the full spectrum of suggestions.  

Lastly, don't forget that the Minority Business Development Center is now open for business. Make you appointment today to learn more about how you can benefit from their expertise and experience in helping MBE's Secure financial capital., Identify and access opportunities, Categorize immediate and long-term business needs, and Provide group and one on one training and education.

CPI Card Group is not your ordinary card manufacturer. We have maintained an excellent reputation in the card manufacturing industry for more than 20 years. CPI is different from other card manufacturers in that we offer three separate plants, each uniquely designed for a specific purpose. Unlike other companies who have card manufacturing as a secondary focus, we are only concerned about providing the best cards and service to our customers. It's all we do, so it's most important to us.

• We developed the first biodegradable PVC for plastic cards. This PVC has been in development for the past several years and is patent pending.
• CPI began investing in contactless smart chip technology before any other manufacturer in the United States. CPI continually leads the industry and card market by delivering the latest in contactless cards.
• We offer translucent cards for both commercial and financial markets, and provide full-face foil, textured, and scented cards.
• CPI offers the first secured spot-on lenticular card available in the market. This lenticular card provides 3-dimensional images which can be applied over the entire card face or in selected areas.

Two of Rocky Mountain MSDC-certified MBEs won top honors on May 4, 2011:

Minority Owned Business of the Year nominees:   

     Sky Blue Builders and Triunity Engineering & Management 

The David E. Bailey Award:   

     Richard Lewis of RTL Networks, Inc.  (Winner) 

Congratulations to the winners!