Florida Minority Supplier Development Council

Florida Minority Supplier Development Council (FMSDC) has been in existence since 1984. They work with all aspects of minority business development They are one of Florida Minority Supplier Development Council’s 39 Regional Councils (located across the United States.) Their objective has been, and remains to assist the private sector develop, install, improve and benchmark minority supplier diversity programs.

FMSDC has been the leader in Florida in minority business development; responsible for starting MBE programs at the City of Orlando, Orange County, the Orange County School Board and the State of Florida. They are also responsible for the creation of the Florida Black Business Investment Fund, a $10,000,000 loan fund. They have an existing membership of 188 major corporations, government agencies, financial institutions and representatives of organizations that conduct substantial purchasing or are involved with economic activity within the regional economy.

Access to Markets

Since 1984, FMSDC has promoted relationship building and the sharing of information between substantial purchasing organizations and MBE's that provide the services and products sought by these organizations. The FMSDC has over 180 corporate and government purchasing members and:
* Encourages and assists minority owned firms to use the network for the promotion of their products and services, and to help those firms develop and market their capabilities. They email information daily regarding business and networking opportunities. They provide a website with hundreds of links to major corporate and government purchasing sites. They provide networking meetings throughout the State of Florida every month.
* Conducts trade fairs, seminars and other activities to promote information exchange and effective communication between government and private enterprise and minority suppliers. Their annual trade fair is the largest in the southeast and brings together over 2000 Corporate Buyers and MBEs for business opportunities and networking.
* Maintains a database of over 5,000 corporations nationally (one of the largest in the nation) that is available for NMSDC certified MBEs.
* Maintains the largest MBE database in the United States, over 270,000 companies.

Sustained Advocacy on Behalf of the MBE Sector

FMSDC has been responsible for enhancing minority business development efforts at many private sector companies through management forums, buyer training, mini-fairs, and p↔rocurement conferences. They have developed the methodology for attending private sector shareholder meetings (after buying one share) and been successful in articulating the business case for supplier diversity and working with those companies to developed MBE programs.

FMSDC sponsors workshops and seminars on topics that promote utilization of minority-owned companies within the regional economy. For example, they arrange and promote workshops on marketing to corporate and institutional clients. They arrange training for structuring diversity. The President, Malik Ali, is a Harvard MBA, a university professor and a national expert in supplier diversity with over 20 years of experience. He has done over 200 presentations and spoken before tens of thousands of people.

Business Ownership Opportunities & Entrepreneurship

FMSDC encourages entrepreneurial and business ownership levels in line with minority population percentages (Parity) in their monthly seminars and yearly Trade Fair workshops.

Resource Development

The FMSDC maintains a constant inventory of the various resource providers within Florida that offer services that could assist minority companies. Such resource providers include banks and other financial institutions, bonding companies, business consultants, small business development centers and other networking groups, trade associations active in all viable local industries, state, local and private technical assistance providers, etc.

Operational Quality

FMSDC has been recognized by its peers and in the national media regarding its operational efficiency and use of technology. Earning ISO Certification in 2002, FMSDC has re-certifed as a Quality Management System ever since. It designed its owned database to efficiently manage its information. This software is being used by other minority business development organizations because of its effectiveness. The FMSDC is rated number one in a survey of 39 regional NMSDC councils. It has the latest hardware and software, broadband Internet access, its own email server and remote backup of its files.

Access to Capital

The FMSDC uses the Business Consortium Fund, Inc. (BCF) - a not-for-profit minority business development program that provides working capital funds to NMSDC certified minority businesses. The BCF relies on the participation and coordination of a vast network of partners to achieve its mission. These partners include depository and non-depository lenders, public and private financial institutions, and corporate America. The BCF and/or its subsidiaries and strategic partners provide access to a wide range of products and services, including: Accounts Receivable and Inventory Financing, Term Loans, Equipment Financing, Long Term Debt, Subordinated Debt, Equity, Business and Financial Advisory Services, and Specialized Financing.

FMSDC works to create an environment within the finance and investment community that values the business assets of minority-owned companies. Not only do they communicate with their member bankers and work with them to provide lending opportunities to MBEs through their own programs and the Business Consortium Fund. They will also work with non-traditional financial sources such as the Alliance Micro-loan program and the SunTrust/Walt Disney Micro-loan fund. Factoring companies and other non-traditional sources will be used. They will refer firms and individuals to free or low cost loan packaging sources such as the Small Business Development Centers.

In addition, they assist MBE firms in the identification of sources of equity capital for minority firms, such as venture capital funds, institutional investors (insurance companies, pension funds, etc.), and high net-worth individuals.

Certification

The public and private sector have set goals to increase the percentage of purchasing dollars spent with minority and women owned businesses each year. However, buyers from major corporations say that their biggest problem in meeting those goals is the identification of MBEs and having sufficient information to make a buying decision. Certification insures that a company meets criteria that determines minority business status. It also gets them into minority business directories and databases used by corporations for referrals.

What is Certification?

Certification is the process of verifying that a business is owned and managed by minority individuals or women. The documentation required will depend on the structure of the company. For example: The documentation required from a company that has incorporated will differ from the documentation required by a partnership or sole proprietorship; and also, the information required from a distributor will differ from that required by a manufacturer. In general, an agency will request proof of ethnicity, all professional and business licenses, resumes, financial statements, tax documents, stock certificates/proof of capital investment. An on site visit to the company may also be required.

Most agencies recognize “minority group members” as US citizens who are African-American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian-Pacific American and Asian-Indian American. Government agencies certify woman owned businesses as well.

There are numerous agencies to register with, including FMSDC, Orange County, Hillsborough County, the City of Jacksonville, the city of Tampa, the City of Orlando, the State of Florida just to name a few. For private sector corporations, only FMSDC certification is required. FMSDC is the only agency that can certify on a national level; however, they only certify ethnic minority owned, operated and controlled businesses. You should certify only with those certifying bodies that you want to do business with.

Business Ownership Opportunities

FMSDC has developed programs to bring entrepreneurial and business ownership levels in line with minority population percentages and bring members of the minority and non-minority business communities together through the following activities: networking, workshops and other activities designed to promote the sharing of information. They will partner with the African-American Chambers and the Hispanic-American Chambers in Orlando, Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville.

External links

* [http://www.fmsdc.org Florida Minority Supplier Development Council (FMSDC)]