|
Delgado: Global Business Connection develops synergy across northern Ohio
By Kevin Milliken for La Prensa
Latino contractors and small business owners will have a chance to network with others and learn more about an upcoming business conference during a free luncheon and trade show on Tuesday, July 9, 2013, at Hotel UTMC, 3100 Glendale Ave.
|
Bernadette Delgado
|
|
The Northwest Ohio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is helping to promote the luncheon with the hope of helping its members to expand their networks and to discover more business opportunities. Featured speakers at the luncheon will be Tom Lake, vice president of North American purchasing, Honda of America Mfg. Inc. and Scott S. Hardwick, manager, Strategic Sourcing Supplier Diversity, Rockwell Automation, Inc.
“Our members tend to be small businesses with limited access to opportunities to work with global corporations. This is a way for Toledo’s small businesses to get that access, market their goods and services, and become suppliers for these large corporations,” said Bernadette Delgado, NOHCC secretary.
The Ohio Development Services Agency, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (Ohio BWC), as well as universities and a collection of large companies are among the sponsors of an upcoming conference called The Global Business Connection, which is designed to connect international corporations with small companies. The conference will be held Wed., Sept. 18, at the I-X Center in Cleveland.
The mission of The Global Business Connection is to create a link between corporations and small businesses, cultivate partnerships, build mutually-beneficial relationships, and further business and social responsibilities of corporations.
Ms. Delgado, who is an Ohio BWC service office manager, sees the conference as a way to further develop synergy across northern Ohio, which has traditionally been divided into two separate regions: Northwest and Northeast Ohio.
“Our common goal is to promote Ohio as a whole. We have valuable and diverse resources in our small businesses that we want to shine the light on for large and global corporations to see,” she said.
“If we continue to wall ourselves off by region, we lose that broader access and the opportunity to bring benefits to Ohio at all. We’ve already shown that Toledo businesses can not only win contracts in Northeast Ohio but are able to effectively provide high quality services everywhere in Ohio, not just here in the Toledo area. We can now start turning eyes toward what Toledo has to offer in the broader marketplace.”
During “matchmaker sessions,” representatives of corporations and agencies will participate in one-on-one meetings with veteran-owned, multi-cultural, disadvantaged, and small business suppliers in order to identify new sources of supply and find businesses that are a fit for future sourcing.
Workshops at the conference are designed to help businesses grow and thrive. The topics included are preparation of capability statements; how to stay engaged after matchmaker meetings; OSHA recordkeeping, building safety and health teams, information for veterans, and updates on opportunities in the growing oil, gas, and shale extraction industries.
Reservations must be made in advance by calling 800-774-3971 or by emailing [email protected].
|
