Growth Pattern

There is little doubt that building the momentum often needed to accomplish goals becomes increasingly easier as numbers grow. After all, with more people in the fold, the collaborative needs become clearer, and the stamina required to move forward and face obstacles appears.
Currently in its 10th year, the Northern Ohio Minority Business Council is in a position where it is experiencing the benefits holistic growth provides. Over the past decade the council has grown to include 110 local and national corporate members in addition to 388 certified minority-owned businesses. “As a result, our focus for this year is to strengthen our leadership through the expansion of our board while also establishing new collaborative relationships that will benefit our certified MBEs,” said NOMBC President Alexis Clark-Amison.

Fueling expansion
Understandably, one of the key factors in continued expansion rests with the ability to meet the needs of the clientele. It is this understanding that has driven NOMBC to continuously focus on delivering documentable benefits to its MBEs and corporate mem­bers alike.

For the council’s certified MBEs, NOMBC offers a compre­hensive and continuously expanding educational series. This pro­gram is designed for CEO/owners of certified NOMBC businesses who are ready to master the tools and skills needed to achieve and sustain an accelerated growth curve. The workshops in the series include three focus areas — boosting leadership capacity, improv­ing business performance and building human capital.

For its corporate base, the council has developed and embraced a Supplier Diversity 101 and 102 training program. By design, the course teaches corporations the basic elements on how to implement a successful supplier diversity program as well as teaches proven strategies for tracking 2nd tier purchasing dollars. In addition, the council has bene­fited its corporate members through its third-party certifica­tion services. According to Clark-Amison, the NOMBC makes sure a business is owned, operated and managed by a minority. “We do site visits, examine birth certificates, financial records and ask the owner questions about the busi­ness to ensure that it is not a front company. We do the work so that corporations don’t have to,” she said. “We have been offering this certification service for 10 years.”

However, the true benefits appear when the council success­fully marries services to meet the needs of both MBEs and corpo­rate members. Partners First is a prime example. Partners First is a one- to two-year mentoring program where the council staff matches corporate volunteer mentors with the most active MBEs, who have the capabilities to compete for corporate contracts. “The program affords them the mutual opportunity to learn from each other’s competitive strengths and provides MBEs with specific coaching on doing business with corporate America by concentrat­ing on long-term relationships versus short-term gains,” Clark-Amison said.

Looking forward
According to Clark-Amison, the council’s continued growth rests with its ability to stay attune to the needs of corporate members and certified MBE alike. “We have been diligent in maintaining close communications with our entire constituency including face-to-face
meetings as well as surveys,” she said. “The more we stay in touch, the better we understand what they need. This will ultimately lead to the council enhancing its offering in years to come.”

In utilizing the continued feedback, Clark-Amison foresees the development of additional programs while continuously refining existing offering. The goal is to be effective in helping nurture and grow MBEs in a manner that results in a noticeably improved organization which benefits from increased purchasing opportunities. “I also see an increase in collaborative relationships with other
economic development organizations and other affiliate councils, which should also lead to additional MBE purchasing opportunities,” she said.