Comcast/NBCUniversal recently hosted the National Women's Business Council (NWBC) in an exciting event focused on increasing corporate supplier diversity to women owned businesses (WOBs). Held at the Comcast Center in Philadelphia on March 27th 2015, the event featured corporate officers along with women's business enterprises and their representatives, in an effort to determine how best to match WOBs with opportunities to contract with these firms.
Diversity is a winning strategy and many companies are seeing the value in having a supply chain that reflects the cultural, ethnic and sexual mosaic of its clientele. Embracing supplier diversity has proven to be smart business -- maximizing profits by giving a company access to previously untapped reservoirs of different ideas, opinions, needs and perceptions, which are all necessary to create and improve products and services.
It's good business and good for business. Research has shown that increased supplier diversity has a net positive impact on both women business enterprises and the companies that hire diverse firms.
We are grateful to Comcast for their leadership with supplier diversity and partnering with us on this important event.
Says Carla Harris, chair of the NWBC board of directors.
Among minority owned business, women owned firms in the U.S. generate $1.4 trillion in annual revenue while employing over 9 million people, and are growing at almost two times the rate of all privately held firms. (State of Women Owned Businesses, 2014). And while, the strides made are significant, WOBs still face major challenges and continue to be hindered in their growth by deficiencies in access to capital and corporate and government procurement opportunities.
Harris continues:
It's clear that women can play in this space. Key relationships are the way to start the conversation, and flawless execution is the way to build the business. Successful women business enterprises are the ones that differentiate themselves, have the ability and willingness to pivot, and take advantage of every opportunity to cultivate relationships.
WOB leaders, their representatives and NWBC are very excited about Comcast's vote of confidence through this event that defines them as a leader in the diversity supplier space and a role model for other corporations to, "put their money where their mouth is." With a strong showing of ready, willing and capable women business enterprises, the event serves as evidence that this population is ready to do business with Comcast and its partners Arris and Accenture.
The National Women's Business Council is a nonpartisan federal advisory council created to serve as an independent source of advice and counsel to the President, Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues of importance to women business owners. To learn more about NWBC visit www.nwbc.gov.