NMSDC AT 50: TIME TO DISRUPT OUR OWN STATUS QUO
New Voices. New Vision. New Goals. New Gains.
For 50 years, the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) has been connecting minority business enterprises (MBEs) with large corporations, the public sector, and other businesses to foster entrepreneurship and development. But rather than look back, NMSDC is looking forward with: New Voices. New Vision. New Goals. New Gains.
The theme for the 2022 NMSDC 50th Anniversary Annual Conference & Exchange is: ‘It’s time to disrupt our own status quo.’ This year’s conference will be held in a hybrid format with the in-person portion in New Orleans from October 30-November 2.
Ying McGuire, NMSDC CEO and president says, “Over the last five decades, NMSDC has made unprecedented strides, building a membership of over 1,500 corporate leaders, certifying over 15,000 MBEs, and helping them grow their annual economic output to $400 billion. However, this year’s conference is not just about reflecting on this past. Instead, we need to harness the momentum of the last 50 years to propel us forward on our march toward $1 trillion in annual revenue for certified MBEs.”
NMSDC has reimagined the 50th Anniversary Conference & Exchange and will premiere:
■ Impact Labs – Breakout sessions where MBEs and corporate leaders work together to turn keynote takeaways into springboards to action.
■ Community-Driven Content – The topics attendees want discussed, presented by and to the people they want to discuss them with.
■ Moment to Movement – Activities aimed at leveraging this moment to accelerate the movement toward $1 trillion in certified MBE annual revenues and true economic equity.
In May 2022, NMSDC set the stage for the upcoming 50th Anniversary Annual Conference & Exchange with the inaugural Minority Business Economic Forum held in Chicago. The Forum was a gathering of some of the nation’s most influential policymakers, academics, and business and community leaders all looking forward to bringing about economic equity. For without it, there can be little or no ability to access the untapped collective of minority businesses that make up NMSDC.
With over 100 Chief Procurement Officers in attendance, McGuire took the first important steps to moving current and future NMSDC-certified MBEs toward a combined $1 trillion in annual revenue. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke about the infrastructure bill and how his department works in coordination with NMSDC and other federal agencies to make money within the act accessible to MBEs and, in turn, their communities.
Recently, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act which will serve to unlock domestic energy and transmission projects, invest in disadvantaged communities, and protect small businesses making $400,000 or less, all of which will go a long way to assisting the move toward economic equity. Both the infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act will be front and center in the community-driven content and moment to movement roundtables at the annual conference.
In addition to the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress also passed the CHIPS Act, short for the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act of 2022, which will provide $54 billion in grants for semiconductor manufacturing and research, tens of billions to support regional technology hubs, and a tax credit covering 25% of investments in semiconductor manufacturing through 2026.
“We are confident that the CHIPS Act will create more opportunities for the small business community as domestic manufacturing capacity increases. We encourage Congress and private sector leaders to ensure that minority business enterprises have equal access to opportunities that flow from CHIPS once it is signed into law,” McGuire said of the Senate passage of the CHIPS Act.
On the program front, NMSDC is also continuing to embody the spirit of its 50th anniversary by innovating and looking forward. It recently launched CyberReadyMBE™, a program aimed at providing MBEs much needed cybersecurity training. CyberReadyMBE™ is a five-week program developed by Industry Workforce Solutions (IWS) to provide pathways for companies to increase their cyber capabilities and resiliency, allowing them to become better integrated into corporate and public sector supply chains.
“We are proud to offer this innovative program to our certified MBEs, to not only meet basic cybersecurity standards to protect themselves and their partners but more so to give them a competitive edge when they bid on contracts,” McGuire said of the program. “Being certified has first-mover advantages, and we hope programs like this will show other MBEs the value of NMSDC certification.”
NMSDC at 50. The stage is set to celebrate, disrupt, and move forward on the road to economic equity and the goal of $1 trillion in annual revenue for MBEs. The time is now to welcome: New Voices. New Vision. New Goals. New Gains.