New Events and Opportunities

By Barbara Kasoff, WIPP President/CEO

Since the last edition of e-news, several new events and opportunities have surfaced. Many of you participated in the Nationwide Instant Impact Team meetings and/or the regional meeting in Chicago. WIPP has been providing extensive programming throughout the year on business opportunities in the federal sector. In fact, it was just a little over a year ago that we launched Give Me 5, a program focused on providing the education, resources and tools for women business owners to successfully compete for federal contracts with American Express OPEN.    Within weeks of signing our contract, we launched an extensive series of webinars, podcasts and training sessions that are held weekly for business owners at all levels of expertise - those that are just considering public sector contracting, to more advanced courses ranging from fine-tuning your capability statement and federal page, certification strategies and building a powerful and strategic roadmap to bring your sales to the next level.

More recently, WIPP and OPEN are hosting day-long regional meetings, providing specific procurement opportunities and strategies resulting from the stimulus package. If you want to know what the opportunities are, how much, what industries, and how to position yourself, then you need to attend one. You will leave with specific information and a strategic roadmap. You can find our course offerings on GiveMe5.com, or WIPP.org. If you think that the opportunities for small business owners are all gone - think again. Check Ann Sullivan's Washington Week article - she addresses this very issue. Over 143,000 have been educated through Give Me 5 so far. Today, we are proud to partner with Business Matchmaking, the premier organization focused on putting you face to face with top federal buyers. I don't know of anyone else that is providing this level of access. Frankly none of this would be possible without OPEN. They recognized the opportunity, they sought out a team of highly qualified and competent organizations to deliver the very best programming in this area. They made it a priority, they invested in the program, and they invested in you. Small businesses are and will continue to be the future, and will lead the way to economic recovery. American Express OPEN is a committed partner in this process and is with all of you every step of the way, ensuring our success.

August 13th  will mark the beginning of our Pennsylvania tour providing specific procurement opportunities and strategies resulting from the stimulus package. Details on the event, and future events in Philadelphia and Harrisburg can be found on the WIPP website. WIPP and OPEN are presenting this event in cooperation and partnership with the Department of Treasury of the State of Pennsylvania and several business organizations. As in Chicago, in addition to noted speakers from the state, WIPP members will provide breakout sessions. WIPP partners from SCORE and Business Matchmaking will be there as well to round out this day-long event. For more information, please contact Oriana Camacho at the WIPP office, ocamacho@wipp.org. 

Also last month, on May 27th and 28th, Magdalah Silva, a member of WIPP's Board of Directors represented WIPP at the Billion Dollar Roundtable. Participants are major corporations that individually purchase in excess of $1 billion from first tier M/WBE suppliers. There are currently 15 members and Verizon invited us to attend. The program began with a key note address from the new Administrator of the SBA, Karen Mills. There were roundtables on high impact initiatives from corporate, government and non-profit perspectives, as well as a session on moving forward to increase M/WBE inclusion. Everyone has come to the realization that with the economic situation, we are all going to be called upon to respond and be accountable at a higher level. Each of the key partners (corporate, M/WBE, non-profit and government) must collaborate and help build capacity in small businesses. It's high time that we built a cohesive strategy and tackled economic development together.

Tuesday, June 17, the results of a new women's energy survey will be released. The survey was commissioned by WIPP in collaboration with Women's Council on Energy and the Environment. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, the international public-opinion research and consulting firm conducted the national telephone and web survey. The survey results will be posted on the WIPP website on Tuesday. Please check it out - there is interesting information to report.

October 1st will herald WIPP's annual legislative meeting. Once again, you will be greeted with excellent information, policy experts and content. You will be able to not only meet but interact with policy-makers. With significant policy initiatives rolling out of Congress, our participation and voice has never been more important or your presence more critical. Within the next two weeks more information will be available.

October 2nd, WIPP and Wal-Mart will host an Economic Summit for women business leaders in Washington, DC. This invitation only event will be a land-mark event for the recognition, collaboration and participation of the women's business community in the policy-making process of our nation.

For those of you who are interested in getting more engaged at a "party" level, WIPP has just launched two teams: a democratic small business leadership team and a republican small business leadership team. For those of you that want to become more actively engaged in your party, or want to contribute your voice as input to our policy team, this is the spot for you. Please contact Jason Lalak if you would like to join one of the teams, jlalak@wipp.org.

As always, please feel free to contact the office, 1-888-488-WIPP at any time. And certainly, please don't hesitate ever to contact me.