The annual NMSDC Conference and Business Opportunity Fair is the US benchmark forum on minority supplier development which brings together Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American business owners, corporate minority supplier development professionals, purchasing executives and corporate decision-makers for four days, this year in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Despite the economic climate the conference was very well attended not just by US colleagues but with participants and Affiliates from around the World including Australia, China, Canada, South Africa and of course, the UK.

The theme of this year's conference was "Minority Businesses and Corporate America: A Recipe for Success" and it certainly was a success for the MSDUK team. Mayank and Snowia attended the event this year with a small but select group of suppliers from the MSDUK network; Harish Bhayani from PRM Diversity Consultants, Gregg Strangway and Cal Stafford from Octavian and Lee Williams, Universal Service Solutions. Alongside our suppliers we also had two representatives from our corporate membership, Kiran Duhra from GlaxoSmithKline and Matthew Newall from Merck.
Harish Bhayani had this to say; “I knew this would be a worthwhile trip. It was a large investment, more in time than money, but we knew we had to make this particular commitment as an opportunity to further build our business and connections. I had a great time because we made some fantastic contacts for our business. It was also gratifying to see some senior people from world class companies seeking us out while we were there to learn more about our diversity consulting and training services, and thank us for making the trip out there. There is every chance that we will grow our revenues significantly as a result of the trip, and we have definitely grown our profile and reputation. The whole programme facilitated networking with the days and evenings packed with business or social events. There was a good balance of business and pleasure, all provided on a plate”

Along with the main business of the Conference, MSDUK were involved in 2 further events; the annual Global Link Reception, which we co-hosted and organised alongside the Canadian and US Councils and a separate MSDUK reception.

The Global Link Reception is fast becoming the highlight pre-conference event and we had great attendance again this year with our very own Mayank Shah acting as compere for the evening. The event provides an International air to the Conference and allows the NMSDCs worldwide affiliated organisations to provide updates on their programmes and to speak with potential and current corporate members.

Our own MSDUK reception on Tuesday evening was also a great success with a number of attendees from companies including ATT, Boeing, JP Morgan and American Express. Thanks again to Capital One for generously sponsoring this reception.

The conference ended with a glittering awards gala, recognising some of the most talented minority business owners from across the USA and honouring corporations and corporate executives for their exemplary work on supplier diversity. For MSDUK, this event became special as PepsiCo were honoured with the Corporation of the Year Award by NMSDC. (see full story)