Minority Businesses Encouraged To Get Involved In Oil Spill Disaster Clean-up EffortsThe Gulf Coast Deepwater Horizon Incident is a tragedy of epic proportions, to be sure, and the effects from its damage on businesses, communities, wildlife and the environment will be felt for years, possibly decades, and many of the things being harmed or destroyed by this incident can never be replaced. However, if anyone is looking for a silver lining in this disaster – thin or short as the lining may be – there are some ways the incident can be a vehicle to new business for minority business owners in the south.
In late May, for example, BP participated in a town hall meeting in Gulfport, Miss., designed to educate minority business owners on how they can participate in the Deepwater Horizon Incident response. The town meeting in Gulfport was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) along with the Mississippi Minority Business Enterprise Center (MSMBEC).
BP’s Dawn Bobbitt served as a panelist at the event, along with representatives from the MBDA, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Harrison County Emergency Management Agency, a private environmental consultant and other local officials.
Following the panelists’ presentation, the business owners – mostly from Mississippi and Alabama – were able to ask questions – and there were many - ranging from how one goes about signing up as a contract translator for the Vietnamese community to wanting to know more information about the $25 million in block grants that BP recently provided to Mississippi.
Bobbitt said that BP is committed to hiring Mississippi-based resources when possible to support the response and that the company has an established minority supplier diversity program in place to encourage opportunities for minority- and female-owned business enterprises.
“I thought the town meeting proved an excellent forum for a two-way channel of information,” said Bobbitt. “Local minority business owners hopefully learned how they can participate in the response, and BP heard the questions and concerns of the business owners and learned how we can assist them better and reach the communities that have been impacted.”
Numerous calls were made and emails sent to BP by this writer over a several week period to find out if such a town hall meeting would also be held in Louisiana, however BP failed to respond. One public relations person who answered the phone during one call said she did “not believe” such a meeting was planned, but noted our deadline and said she would find out for sure and get back to us within a couple days. Unfortunately, that had not happened as of press time, nor did it happen in the many days that followed that deadline. Multiple attempts by phone and email were also made to speak to BP representatives directly about its supplier diversity program, however BP was equally unresponsive to those requests. The company’s web site, however, indicates an active supplier diversity program dating back to 1999.
Supplier diversity programs incorporate minority-, women-, and disabled veteran-owned companies into corporate supply chains. Social unrest over issues of parity in the 1960s made such programs a near necessity for Corporate America in order to ensure that business opportunities within those companies were available to everyone.
Today, supplier diversity professionals and the organizations where they work understand that as our country’s demographics change, supplier diversity is not a social initiative or politically correct program, but rather a consumer-driven necessity for successful, savvy businesses. When demographics and buying power are tied to the supply chain, the impact is obvious; and it cannot be disputed that supplier diversity provides a measurable return on investment for companies.
According to BP’s web site “Strategically integrating Supplier Diversity into the sourcing process assists in maximizing value to the business, consulting each segment and business provides a central diverse supplier repository and supplier development ensures we have the right product, from the right supplier, at the right time and at the right price. BP Supplier Diversity supports local, state and federal supplier diversity initiatives, certifications and classifications. All diverse suppliers must show ownership, control and operation.”
Since the inception of BP’s supplier diversity program the company says it has spent more than $2.8 billion with minority- and women-owned businesses. The company works with many national and local organizations that advocate for supplier diversity, including the National Minority Supplier Development Council, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Women’s Business Enterprise Development National Council, where it serves as a member of the council’s board of directors.
Even though there may be no town hall meeting planned for Louisiana as was held in Mississippi, business owners in Louisiana are able to and should be encouraged to find out how they can participate in the Deepwater Horizon Incident response in their state or local community. Parties interested in the BP Supplier Diversity Program can visit the company’s website at www.bp.com/supplierdiversity or call the program at 1-630-836-5257.
All suppliers tracked by the BP Supplier Diversity Program are required to be certified through an approved third party. These include the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSC), Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the Small Business Administration (SBA), or the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). You can learn more about how to become certified by visiting that web site or calling them. The web site also provides links that can assist you with the registration process.
[Cheryl Hentz, Contributing Writer]
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