PRIME PURPOSE
Expanding the NVBDC mission of Veteran business certification remains our primary focus! Our Corporate members have asked us to capture more details, add more searchability, and provide better insight into veteran business skills and product offerings. Our Veterans have asked us to provide them a way to communicate with each other and for a faster, more streamlined process. In response to both requests we have launched the Veteran Owned Certification System (VOCS) our third-generation on-line certification program. Our new IT provider is a NVBDC certified veteran owned business and brings us the highest levels of AI and advanced technology. We will have a full report and update on the VOCS program in 2020. NVBDC HAS CERTIFIED TWO SD/VOBS WITH ANNUAL REVENUES OF OVER A BILLION DOLLARS EACH.
STAFFING
NVBDC continues to hire new staff members to join our team. Each person has been hired for specific skills and knowledge to continue our growth and solidify our organization. With over 700+ SD/VOBs certified to date and 80+ corporate members, the addition of staff has provided our corporate members and veterans with a higher level of service. We plan to continue adding Veterans to our team in 2020.
TRAINING & CERTIFICATION
Our growth in 2019 includes the training and certification of nine new “on-site assessors” via our training webinar that was made available to our corporate members and certified Veteran business owners. Participants had to take the training program and pass the test at a minimum score of 80% to be accepted and receive an official NVBDC certificate naming them as a certified NVBDC assessor. We plan to offer the on-site assessors training program again in 2020 to add to our national footprint.
LEADERSHIP
NVBDC added Corporate members to our board of directors and we are looking to add one more in 2020. We are actively looking for Purchasing and Supplier Diversity Professionals who are also Veterans to join the board. We plan to add more Supplier Diversity Professionals to our Advisory Board and committees, who do not need to be Veterans.
INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT
The “What is a Veteran” presentation with support from Microsoft was presented at the NMSDC, NGLCC, WBENC & NVBDC national conferences throughout 2019. 84% of the corporate supplier diversity managers who attended the presentation strongly agreed when asked: “Do you agree that this information should be shared with other supplier diversity professionals”? The full survey results are now available for you to download. Invitations to form a “working group” to establish industry standards for Veteran identification is in progress. The working group intends to develop an in-depth “Doctrine” on Veteran laws with our corporate members. This guide will be detailed and interactive for all supplier diversity professionals and the members of our certification committee. Expected release is mid-2020 and will be made available to our certification resource partners.
INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES
In 2019 we announced our intent to become international via the US ex-pats running business in various countries around the world. We are proud to announce that we have a signed reciprocal agreement with the Inclusive Workplace and Supply Council of Canada (IWSCC) to accept their certification of Canadian Veterans and they accept ours. We are working with them to find US Veteran Business owners operating companies in Canada and to get them certified by NVBDC. We’ve talked to senior level government officials in several European countries already and they want us to work with them to create a similar program for their Vets. We are in discussions with We Connect and look forward to our international expansion in 2020.
MENTORING PROGRAM
With the support and backing of the initial eight corporations we launched a “Veteran Business Mentoring Program”, which includes a NVBDC Veteran Advisory Board member managing the initial administration and vetting program. As this endeavor grows, we will focus on identifying the younger SD/VOBs and getting them enrolled. The veteran enrollment and corporate selection process has begun and continues to expand.
STATE MANAGERS & SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
We have initiated a plan to locate and appoint 50 State Managers. They will be the key NVBDC representative in each state and we will train them based upon the program role descriptions and responsibilities. The State Manager program includes a $10,000 Scholarship program that would award $2,500 per year, per State to a High School or College ROTC member or a CHILD or Grandchild of an HONORABLY DISCHARGED VETERAN. Please contact Mr. Sid Taylor, staylor@nvbdc.org our program director, for specific details.
Corporate members, non-Veterans and Veterans are welcome to apply for the State Managers position.
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Our Communications Committee continues to add professionals in Public Relations, social media and video production skills to expand our marketing efforts. Our Veteran marketing efforts continue to grow with approximately 27,000 SD/VOB emails and over 250,000 SD/VOBs in our social media contacts. Year over year website analytics show a 48% increase in NEW users. With the creation of our blog and a dramatic increase of social media we are now ready to redesign and launch an updated website in 2020.
CONFERENCES
Planning for 2020 conferences is underway now and we have hired a professional event company (women owned) to coordinate our events after an extensive national review. Our two main events are the “Federal Reserve Bank/NVBDC Veteran conference” and our “National Veterans Business Matchmaking Conference and Vets Night Out event” both events will continue. Dates and locations will be confirmed in early 2020.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Fund raising continues to be a major focus, obviously necessary to assuring we can provide our certification to Service Disabled and Veteran-owned businesses of ALL sizes and continue to expand our data services to our corporate members. Recognizing the competitiveness of soliciting donations, we now have several board members specifically tasked with gaining additional funds. In 2019 we hired a professional non-profit fund raiser to help us focus on identifying the best organizations and decision maker contacts that will support our efforts to help veteran businesses succeed. We welcome the involvement of our corporate members who have a philanthropic foundation.
SUMMARY
Lastly, and most fortunately, we have a very talented and motivated team who have assumed essential organizational responsibilities. We continue to ask for additions to our Advisory Board and Board of Directors. “We aggressively solicit ideas and suggestions to improve our Veteran-owned business outreach efforts and how we can increase our value to our corporate members.” said Brigadier General (ret) Dick Miller, President, NVBDC.
Download the State of NVBDC 2019 Report and 2020 Plans below.
Please, consider offering us your suggestions and personal involvement.
Sincerely,
NVBDC Board of Directors and Officers
If you are interested in getting your business certified, please visit our website: www.nvbdc.org to review the certification process, see the opportunities or learn more about the organization.
NVBDC’s Mission:
The NVBDC is the only Veteran Owned Business Certification organization developed by Veterans, for Veterans. The purpose is to provide a credible and reliable certifying authority for all size businesses ensuring that valid documentation exists of Veteran ownership and control.