PISCATAWAY, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / March 24, 2023 / In a landmark show of support for diversity and inclusion, several big corporates have pledged to increase procurement from diverse businesses. Novel initiatives Diverse Yellow Pages & Diverse Marketplace by LSInextGen aim to provide diverse entrepreneurs with increased access to opportunities to help grow their businesses.

This move comes at a critical time when the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately hurt small, minority-owned businesses. According to a recent survey conducted by the Small Business Administration, 90% of minority-owned businesses reported steep declines in revenues since the onset of the pandemic. Additionally, minority-owned businesses face systemic inequities when it comes to getting access to capital and contracts.

Diverse Yellow Pages & Diverse Marketplace's vision is to help businesses owned by women, people of color, veterans, LGBTQ+, and individuals with disabilities secure more contracts and opportunities from corporates that will, in turn, help these businesses thrive and create more job opportunities.

The platforms also enable tracking and reporting on procurement spend from diverse suppliers annually. By tracking spending, the corporates can measure progress towards the commitment and make adjustments as needed.

Five regional councils of the National Minority Supplier Development Council - EMSDC , NYNJMSDC , GNEMSDC , NWMSDC & MMSDC have come forward in the support of Diverse Yellow Pages and Diverse Marketplace and to celebrate this momentous occasion on the sidelines of the WBENC conference in Nashville, Al Limaye of LSInextGen organized a sit-down dinner with Michael Robinson (Ex IBM), and Michelle Robinson, President MMSDC as Special Guests at a women-owned restaurant in Nashville. The dinner was attended by Presidents from the regional councils along with leaders & diversity champions from top corporates like Accenture, AIG, ALOM, CDW, CITIBANK, The Coca-Cola Company, Deloitte, GSK , Guardian Life , JP Morgan Chase, KPMG & Tishman Speyer.

Here is what top industry leaders have to say about our initiatives:

In line with the theme of supporting diverse businesses, LSInextGen teamed up with diverse-owned event managers, shuttle providers, photographers etc. for the dinner event.

In conclusion, this initiative is a significant step towards addressing the systemic inequities faced by diverse businesses. By creating more opportunities and tracking procurement spend, big corporates are taking tangible steps to support diversity and promote inclusion.

About Our Board, Mentors & LSInextGen

Our Board of advisors :

Michael Robinson - Program Director, Global Supplier Diversity, Ex-IBM

Valarie Cofield - Executive Vice President BD - Carr & Duff

Brian Oglesby - President & CEO, EMSDC

Darrien. M. Pinkman - Global Head - Operations & Procurement, Tishman Speyer

Our Mentors :

Fernando Hernandez - Sr. Director Supplier Diversity, The Coca-Cola Company

Fernando Martinez - Vice President, NMSDC, Ex-President, NWMSDC

Michelle Robinson - President MMSDC & Matchmaker 365

Nedra Dickson - MD, Global SD & Sustainability Lead - Accenture, Board Chair, WBENC

Paul Williams - Chief Procurement Officer, University of California

Peter Hurst - President, GNEMSDC

Rondu Vincent - Executive Director - SD & Sustainability, Bristol Meyers Squibb

Terrance Clark - President, NYNJMSDC

Diverse Yellow Pages - Platform sponsored by Coca-Cola to promote local-diverse suppliers and make them more discoverable to corporates and retail buyers. It has 2.7 million diverse suppliers across 30+ states, 2300+ counties, and 350+ subcategories. For further details - www.diverseyp.com

Diverse Marketplace - Sponsored by Coca-Cola, Diverse Marketplace is a B2B E-marketplace built to bring all the diverse suppliers on one platform. Currently, Diverse Marketplace offers commodities and services in 100+ subcategories. For further details - www.diverse-marketplace.com

LSInextGen - an award-winning NMSDC-certified MBE, for more than two decades, has been providing robust IT solutions & domain-rich execution capabilities for corporates & diverse businesses. As a diverse business, we are committed to solving the challenges of corporations through constant innovation and technology solutions. For further details - https://www.lsinextgen.com/

Contact Information:
Aiswarya Sankar
Aiswarya.sankar@lsinextgen.com
+1 (732) 810-0741

Jim Satija
Jim.satija@lsinextgen.com
+1 (732) 534-3099

SOURCE: LSInextGen