Business Opportunity Expo 2009

The Business Opportunity Expo is considered New York City’s top conference on outsourcing to minority businesses.

[Business News: Expo]

Things are rough so the timing couldn’t have been better.

Strategies for minority business owners to win corporate contracts in the current economy will be explored at the New York & New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council’s Business Opportunity Expo 2009 on Tuesday, June 16 at the New York Marriott Marquis, 1535 Broadway in New York City.  

At the expo, the State of New Jersey will sign a Memo of Understanding with The Council that permits Council-certified minority businesses to bid on state contracts. There are similar agreements with New York State and New York City.

“This is a win-win situation for New Jersey and minority businesses,” said Lynda Ireland, president and CEO of The Council. “New Jersey receives a pool of accomplished businesses and minority businesses gain growth opportunities.”

The Business Opportunity Expo is considered New York City’s top conference on outsourcing to minority businesses.

This year’s theme is “Staying in the Game: Winning in the New Economy” and is packed with a breakfast, luncheon, evening reception, a chief procurement officer workshop, seminars and the popular trade fair.

Attendees will network with some of the nation’s leading supplier diversity executives and minority business owners.

“This year, The Council has witnessed some of our major corporate members dissolving, merging and restructuring. Still, our corporate members have remained committed to supplier diversity,” said Ireland.

“Even in this challenging economy, several of our minority business owners have reported business expansions. This has led to job growth in communities.”

Speakers include Harvard MBA Kwame Jackson, founder of the neckwear line Krimson by Kwame and star of “The Apprentice” and former NBA player Walter Bond, president of Walter Bond Worldwide and a national franchise owner,
who discusses using sports techniques to achieve business success.

The expo will also feature The Council’s official corporate video, produced by RoaDDoggZ Productions, which won the “Award of Excellence in Direct Marketing” from the Communicator Awards.

John E. Lane, executive vice president, general services and corporate real estate sector, The Bank of New York Mellon is the corporate co-chair.

This year marks The Bank of New York Mellon’s 225th anniversary. The MBE co-chair Karen Martinez is founder and president of New Jersey-based Bravo! Building Services, Inc., one of the largest Hispanic and women-owned businesses in the nation.

The luncheon host is DeMarco Morgan, WNBC-TV anchor-reporter. Sponsors include: The Bank of New York Mellon, Bravo! Building Services, Con Edison, MasterCard Worldwide, PepsiCo, and PSEG.

In 2008, The Council earned the prestigious “Council of the Year Award” from the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), which includes 38 regional councils nationwide–making it the leading supplier diversity council in the nation.

The Council’s innovative impact on minority business development ranges from partnering with PSEG to establish a New Jersey storefront office in downtown Newark to collaborating with Rutgers University to develop the educational course Supplier Diversity Online, now available nationwide. 

Currently, 1,300 New York and New Jersey African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American and Native-American businesses with annual revenues from $100,000 to $3 billion are certified by The Council.

Also, The Council has over 200 corporate members, including Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies and educational institutions. According to a NMSDC study, in 2007, The Council’s corporate members spent over $8 billion with minority businesses in New York and New Jersey.

For more information contact 212-502-5663 or www.nynjmsdc.org/expo2009.

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