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Minority Businesses Top $1B
Sales benchmark points to procurement progress
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Business New Haven
9/15/2003
By: M.C.B.
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Sales benchmark points to procurement progress
Minority-owned businesses in Connecticut are gaining traction. In 2002, they generated a record $1 billion in sales, according to the Connecticut Minority Supplier Development Council.
Nevertheless, state and local governments, mandated by law to do business with minority-owned firms, "need to do better," according to CMSDC President Fred McKinney, especially considering that when his group was formed in 1976, member minority businesses sold just $15 million annually in goods and services.
A state law enacted in the late 1980s mandates that state government earmark 25 percent of all dollars spent on subcontractors for small businesses. Twenty-five percent of those dollars are supposed to go to minority- and female-owned businesses.
McKinney says that goal has not been met. He estimates that just "two or three percent" of state government dollars are spent with minority businesses — far short of the mandated 6.25 percent.
"We can do better," says McKinney. "They [state government] need to spend more [with minority subcontractors]."
The CMSDC includes 178 minority-owned companies in the state. The industries they represent range from manufacturing to IT to transportation, says McKinney.
A 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, the CMSDC was founded to increase the procurement opportunities between corporate members and minority owned businesses. It is an affiliate of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) and one of the 39 regional councils in the NMSDC network.
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