SUPPLIER DIVERSITY SEMINAR AT SMALL BUSINESS INQUIRER.net
June 19, 2009
Learn the ropes of landing contracts from utilities companies
SAN FRANCISCO, June 16, 2009 – Small businesses particularly owned by women, minorities and disabled have great opportunities for landing contracts from utilities companies if only they know how. On July 22, 2009, PG&E in collaboration with the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations, Region 8 (NaFFAA, Region 8) and San Francisco Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce (SFFACC) will spearhead a free seminar on the ABC’s of getting certified in “Doing Business with PG&E and the California Public Utilities.”
Along with PG&E, AT&T has recently confirmed its attendance and will be on hand to participate in the event as well. Invitations to Comcast, Sprint Verizon and others have been sent in hopes of leveraging this event to allow the participating Filipino-American Small businesses the many opportunities available to provide a service or product to a host of public utilities to help in reaching Supplier Diversity Goals established by each of the participating agencies.
California is committed to small business and as a result, all California State Agencies are under Executive Order to conduct 25 percent of their procurement and contracts with small businesses and 3 percent with Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprises.
These small business programs complement the California Public Utilities Commission’s Supplier Diversity Program, which encourages participating utilities to increase procurement levels with women, minority, and disabled veteran-owned business enterprises. The seminar will provide one-on-one meetings with procurement specialists from the Supplier Diversity Team from PG&E, AT&T and other participating agencies
“This will definitely empower our community and position our Fil-Am businesses to take advantage of the many business opportunities available with the dozens of agencies that make up the public utilities in the State,” said Jose Pecho, Chair of NaFFAA, Region 8.
Asian, Inc. a clearinghouse for certification of small businesses will have their representatives on hand to help attendees with getting certified as a Women/Minority Business Enterprise (WMBE/MBE) allowing their businesses to be entered into their supplier and vendor data base.
Victor Barrios, President of SFFACC said that this seminar fits very well with the “Chamber’s primary strategy of achieving its goals through greater understanding, communication and interaction between its members and the local mainstream business community.’”
The Business Expo and Matchmaking session will be held at the PG&E Offices on 245 Market Street in San Francisco from 3pm to 7pm.
For additional information and to register, email Jose Pecho, at jose@jpinvests.com 925.286.6607, or Victor Barrios at vicbarrios21@gmail.com.
