Celebrating Diversity
Successful business owners share insight on supplier diversity programs
For Celebrating Diversity
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
SANDEEP GAUBA: METASYS TECHNOLOGIES INC.
Photos by Philip McCollum
Adam C. Walker, President & CEO of Homestead Packaging Solutions at the Georgia Minority Supplier Deveopment Council.
When Sandeep Gauba started Metasys Technologies Inc. in 2000, he knew from experience that minority certification was a good way to get a foot in the door, so he got certified immediately.
Today, his Duluth-based company employs 132 workers and provides supply chain solutions, business process outsourcing, IT consulting and staffing solutions to large and midsized companies.
“More than 80 percent of our business comes from companies we were introduced to” through the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council or the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Gauba said. Those clients include Home Depot Inc., UPS and BellSouth.
While certification can put a supplier in contact with “the right people,” it’s still up to the supplier to earn the account, Gauba said. “You have to prove yourself day in and day out, work hard and make a name for yourself.”
MTI has made a name for itself, including recognition as the NMSDC’s Supplier of the Year in 2007 and as one of Home Depot’s top 10 minority suppliers. That recognition helps bring in new clients, Gauba said.
“When Home Depot has any special events, they invite us and promote us,” he said.
“Atlanta is a great place for diversity. It has some global corporations that see the need to support diversity programs, and we are thankful for that,” he added.
CHUCK TORRES: LEAPING CAT GRAPHICS
When large companies started downsizing, Chuck Torres saw an opportunity to turn his marketing and print-management skills into a new business venture. He realized that corporations would require help with their printing needs, so in 2001 he started Leaping Cat Graphics to fill that void.
After Leaping Cat became a certified minority enterprise, Torres met with Delta Air Lines representatives at a diversity meet-and-greet session and landed the company as a client in 2003. Leaping Cat builds route maps that run in Delta’s in-flight magazine.
In 2007, Delta listed Leaping Cat as its Entrepreneurial Supplier of the Year.
Torres’ experience with Delta led to a multiyear contract with another major airline to provide similar mapping services.
The Roswell-based firm also provides printing and related services, including posters, banners and life-sized, die-cut standees for stores and fast-food restaurants. Torres has four employees.
“Diversity in itself is not the key to entry” as a supplier for a major corporation, Torres said. Certification as an MBE is just the beginning.
“Like everything in life, what you put into it will drive what you get out of it,” he explained.
As a member of both the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council and the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Torres’ advice to other MBEs is “go to the meetings and get involved to get maximum advantage. It has made a huge difference for Leaping Cat Graphics.”
ADAM WALKER: HOMESTEAD SETTLEMENT, HOMESTEAD PERFORMANCE, HOMESTEAD PACKAGING
Adam Walker learned about the importance of minority supplier programs before he became an entrepreneur.
While working as an IT consultant, some of his clients told him about the advantages of the programs and how they can help companies grow. All three of his Roswell-based companies are certified minority-owned businesses.
Walker started Homestead Settlement, his first business, which handles real estate settlement activities — appraisals, title insurance, closings and abstracts — for home and commercial loans.
When the mortgage market started slowing down, Walker diversified two years ago, creating Homestead Performance, a distributor of automotive water pumps, and Homestead Packaging, which manufactures and distributes high-graphic corrugated cartons.
The companies are suppliers to Aisin World Corp. of America, a Fortune Global 500 company that supplies Toyota and other automakers.
“Being a certified minority supplier gives us the opportunity to meet and tell our story a lot sooner,” Walker said. “It cuts the sales cycle down, but we still have to be qualified and deliver a good product at a competitive price.”
NANCY WILLIAMS: ASAP STAFFING LLC
Being certified and involved with organizations for women-owned businesses has provided a boost to Nancy Williams’ company, ASAP Staffing LLC, because “corporate America takes notice” of those activities.
But if the company couldn’t do the work, the certification wouldn’t help.
“Certification is just the icing on the cake. The company still has to be best in class within their industry,” to earn business with large corporations, Williams said. “When ASAP goes after a major client, we do not lead with our minority status. ASAP has gained an incredible reputation of delivering value to our clients,” who are primarily Fortune 100 corporations, including AT&T, IBM and UPS.
Atlanta-based ASAP Staffing has been certified as a woman-owned business since it was founded in 1989.
The company, with a staff of 65 and nearly 600 consultants, projects 2008 revenues of $57 million.
“We were very calculated in our approach to the clients that we went after, making sure that we did not overextend our capabilities or size,” Williams said. “The [corporations] are highly networked together, thus if you do not do what you promise you will, it gets around.”
Her advice to other women business owners: “Get certified, get involved and build partnerships not only with [corporations] but with other WBEs [women’s business enterprises].”