Working with the Private Sector

Many Fortune 100, 500, 1000 companies purchase a portion of their goods and services from minority owned, women owned and/or veteran owned businesses. Some of the companies do their own in house certifications. Others outsource to national organizations. There are numerous reasons why private entities give set asides, preferences or have a goal regarding giving business to minority, women and/or veteran owned firms: (1) the company may have a federal or state contract that requires this action; (2) the company’s target clients may consist largely of minorities , women  and/or veterans; (3) the company may consider it the “right thing to do,” a moral or social imperative, etc. No matter what the reason, as a small business you should use any advantage. Check with the company to which you want to sell to see if it “favors” any particular categories of business. If you are one of them, see if the company certifies in house or outsources. And get your company certified.  On the national level there are several  nonprofit organizations that certify minority, women and /or veteran owned businesses for private sector companies. In addition to certification, these nonprofits also conduct periodic conferences with the major corporations to provide face to face opportunities to the  proposed vendors:

• Women Owned Businesses National Women Business Owners Corporation - www.nwboc.org

• Minority Owned Businesses
  • National Minority Supplier Development Council - www.nmsdc.org


• Veteran Owned Businesses
  • US Small Business Administration - www.sba.gov
  • US Veterans Administration - www.va.gov
  • National Women Business Owners Corporation - www.nwboc.org.