| Diversity News
Press Release Southport,
CT, December 9, 2004
Power of Choice: Diversity Businesses Vote on Top
Corporations
Source: DiversityBusiness.com
Bank of America was today declared the Top Corporation for Multicultural Business
Opportunities of 2004 by over 350,000 diversity business owners. The honor
extends to another forty-nine major corporations and is collectively called
the Div50. The 5th annual list was produced by DiversityBusiness.com,
the nation's leading multicultural B2B online portal. The voting business owners
based their decisions on such factors as the volume, consistency and quality
of business opportunities granted to women and minority-owned companies. Other
large companies at the top of the list are Lockheed Martin, OfficeMax, Dell,
BellSouth, General Motors and IBM.
Top Honors for Top Corporations
While other awards and top lists crown companies for overall economic
growth, returns to shareholders and similar metrics, the Div50 is an
indicator of which organizations provide the best and the most business
for diversity-owned companies. In a marketplace that is increasingly
as sensitive to diversity as it is to revenues, recognizing the top buyers
of multicultural products and services is becoming a natural part of
the new socioeconomic food chain. "Those organizations that buy the most
products and services, most consistently, from diversity businesses,
and that sustain the most mutually beneficial business relationships
with their multicultural suppliers, should be recognized not only by
the suppliers but also by the general public," said Kenton Clarke, CEO
of DiversityBusiness.com.
The Business Power of Diversity
As minorities gain more buying power and their lifestyles become more affluent,
multicultural markets are growing in economic muscle. This in turn attracts
more corporations, as they compete for market share in minority communities.
The Div50 list has become, by virtue of association, a consumer guide of
sorts for women and minority consumers. "As a diversity business owner,
I appreciate the business we receive from corporate buyers; and in turn,
when I buy products and services, either as a company or as a private
individual, I am much more likely to buy from the same companies that
are supporting my business, or that I know are supporting businesses like
mine," said Nancy Connolly, owner of Lasertone Corporation, headquartered
in Littleton, MA.
The list is circulated to over 1,000 organizations that distribute it to their
members and associates; it thus reaches millions of consumers every year. In
5 short years, it has become a highly valued metric of corporate excellence
in the diversity procurement space.
The Div50
The Div50 is a listing of the top 50 corporate and organizational buyers of
diversity products and services throughout the country. It represents the voices
of over 350,000 diversity-owned (women, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Indian
and other minority groups) businesses in the U.S., in sectors such as technology,
manufacturing, food service and professional services. The Div50 is produced
annually by DiversityBusiness.com, the nation's leading multicultural B2B Internet
portal that links large organizational buyers to multicultural product and
service suppliers.
Over 350,000 women and minority owned businesses had the opportunity to vote
in the 2004 online election. The winning companies will be honored at a special
awards ceremony at DiversityBusiness.coms 5th Annual Multicultural Business
Conference, taking place March 30 April 1, 2005 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino
in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
A complete list of the winners is available at:
http://www.div2000.com/div50.
RI Business Leadership Network (RI BLN) Forming
-- Join Now!
by Vicki Ferrara, Employment Coordinator, Sherlock Center on Disabilities
The RI Business Leadership Network (RI BLN) is being formed by
a group of Rhode Island employers working to improve their ability
to hire and retain people with disabilities. Membership in the RI
BLN is free and open to all employers
both large and small.
A steering committee, comprised of eight local companies, has
been meeting since early 2004 to determine the future direction
of the RI BLN. Across the United States, there are 36 other BLN
chapters, working to increase employment of people with disabilities
in their own states.
Members of the RI BLN realize that people with disabilities are
an untapped resource that can help strengthen Rhode Island's economy
by being productive members of our work-
force. The RI BLN seeks to change this by encouraging other employers
to embrace the hiring of Rhode Islanders with disabilities. BLN
members include companies that have had
positive experiences with hiring people with disabilities. The BLN
will create a forum where these experiences can be shared from company
to company.
The RI BLN will be part of a national network, US BLN (www.usbln.com.)
RI employers interested in learning more about joining the RI Business
Leadership Network are urged to call either Sanford Lupovitz
at 401-421-0900 or Pat Orr at 401-528-1365.
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![[US BLN logo]](../../images/usbln_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
