National Urban League Partners with ConnXus to Grow Minority-Owned Businesses

National Initiative Connects Small Businesses with Corporate Purchasers

 
NEW YORK (April 17, 2012) --  The National Urban League has partnered with ConnXus, a revolutionary online supplier diversity service, on a strategic initiative to accelerate the growth of small, woman- and minority-owned businesses across the United States, National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial announced today.
 
Together, ConnXus and the National Urban League will host special events for small, minority- and woman-owned businesses at the National Urban League’s 10 Entrepreneurship Centers over the coming year.  The events will offer the opportunity for business owners to hear from corporate procurement experts, learn about management skill training, network and join the fast-growing ConnXus community. Both groups will also provide each other’s members with training and education opportunities to support entrepreneurs.
 
“At the National Urban League, our mission is to help minority-owned businesses grow and develop through management training, technical assistance and access to new markets, and ConnXus provides a new way to do that,” Morial said. “The website ConnXus.com provides minority businesses, no matter where they are located, with access to corporate buyers responsible for more than $20 billion in annual spending and real contract opportunities with companies nationwide.”
 
“We’re honored to work with the National Urban League, an organization so dedicated to creating opportunity for minority-owned businesses,” said ConnXus Founder and CEO Rod Robinson.  “Together, we’ll be opening doors for small businesses with large corporations all over the country and providing them with sales opportunities they never would have known about, or had access to, otherwise.”
 
The National Urban League’s Entrepreneurship Center Program enables minority entrepreneurs to take advantage of new business opportunities and qualify for financing that will put them on the path towards high-level business growth through the application of proper management skills. Ten centers operate in Urban League affiliate offices in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Jacksonville, Fla., Kansas City, Mo., Los Angeles, New Orleans and Philadelphia.
 
“The growth of minority-owned businesses has been one of the rare bright spots throughout the Great Recession,” Morial said. “Our Entrepreneurship Centers are focused on creating and expanding opportunity, and our partnership with ConnXus tremendously enhances our ability to do just that.”
 
ConnXus.com launched in December 2010 and since then, corporate buyer members have posted $100 million in contract opportunities on the site for diverse supplier members. The online service makes it easy and affordable for corporations to locate, evaluate and engage performance-rated diverse businesses across hundreds of product and service categories.

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About The National Urban League

The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. Founded in 1910 and headquartered in New York City, the National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy. Today, there are nearly 100 local affiliates in 36 states and the District of Columbia, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people nationwide.
 
About ConnXus

ConnXus.com is an online service that revolutionizes supplier diversity by making it easy and affordable for corporations to locate, evaluate and engage performance-rated small, minority- or woman-owned businesses. It matches buyers with diverse suppliers in more than 100 product or service categories. Buyers can conduct searches for suppliers or post contract opportunities for suppliers to submit bids. Suppliers request performance ratings from prior customers, and just like many consumer-focused websites, more and better ratings translate into better search results. ConnXus also provides turnkey solutions for corporate procurement organizations: supplier diversity program assessment, design and implementation; comprehensive diverse supplier validation, classification and reporting; training; supplier outreach and qualification; and custom bid preparation. ConnXus also offers branded customized supplier diversity portals for corporations, chambers of commerce and other associations.
 

Contacts:

Teresa Candori
National Urban League
212-558-5433
tcandori@nul.org

Sandi Straetker
Priority Public Relations LLC
513-545-7146
sstraetker@prioritypublicrelations.com