As NVBDC concludes its fifth year of operation and the fourth year of certifying service disabled and veteran owned businesses, we have lots to report. 2018 was a year of great growth and learning for all involved. With over 500 SD/VOBs certified to date, the biggest learning curve for NVBDC was the loss of certified businesses due to the number of businesses that were sold, owners who retired, bankruptcies or simply closed. This “churn” rate was unexpected but as we found out from our fellow certification organizations, (women and minority groups), these results are not unusual for certification agencies. To date, NVBDC has over 250 “active” certified SD/VOBs in our current database.
NVBDC continues to increase its corporate membership, adding more every month, and currently has over 70. The corporations affiliated with NVBDC have reported over $2 Billion in supplier spending with Veteran businesses over the past two years. To further measure corporate spending with our SD/VOBs, in 2019, NVBDC will launch a “off-the-record” survey with our corporate members in order to capture their annual Veteran spend.
A new NVBDC Certification platform has been launched in conjunction with Adapt One who was hired to provide an upgraded system, and we’re pleased to work with a company that is used by various minority councils around the country. The new platform will streamline the certification process and provide expanded search parameters for purchasers.
NVBDC continues to hire new staff members to join our team. We now have sixteen people working to provide our corporate members and veterans a higher level of service. Each person has been hired for specific skills and knowledge to further our growth and solidify our organization.
Earlier this year, NVBDC published a White Paper titled “A History and Business Case for the National Veterans Business Development Council” detailing the history of the certification agency as well as the establishment of Veteran businesses as a recognized classification within the Federal government. The NVBDC White Paper was very well received and picked up by numerous online business publications.
An ongoing issue for Veteran certification is the highly misunderstood topic of “what is a Veteran.” The challenge of educating Veterans and our corporate members on this topic has led to the creation of two upcoming webinars. The first webinar targets our Veteran business owners, explaining the need for higher certification standards, and the role of supplier diversity professionals. The second webinar will be directed to our corporate members explaining why accepting discharge paperwork from veterans could potentially expose the corporation to fraud. The webinars will be launched in 2019 and include information on the DD214 and other related information.
Another development involves opening an “on-site assessor” training webinar for all NVBDC corporate members as well as select Veterans in the first quarter of 2019. Participants involved in the training will have to pass a test to be accepted and receive an official NVBDC certificate naming them as a certified NVBDC assessor.
NVBDC is also creating an in-depth guide detailing our policies and existing Veteran laws. The goal is to develop a guide that is interactive and detailed for all members of the certification and appeals committee, and new hires. The guide will be made available to corporate members in 2019.
Our Communications Committee continues to add professionals in public relations, social media and video production in order to expand our marketing efforts. The 2019 marketing plan and budget is in development and will be presented for approval to our board of Directors in January, 2019. Veteran marketing efforts continue to grow with approximately 25,000 SD/VOB emails and over 250,000 SD/VOBs in our social media contacts.
In 2018, NVBDC hosted four events including; the Doing Business with the Federal Reserve and Private Industry Conference, the annual Golf outing, the National Veteran Business Matchmaking event and the Northeast Veterans Business Development Conference hosted by JP Morgan Chase & Co. Upcoming in 2019, NVBDC will host three events, one in the southeast region, Doing Business with the Federal Reserve Bank in Detroit, and we are excited to announce our national event will be held in Columbus, Ohio at the newly opened and architecturally stunning National Veteran Memorial and Museum. After an extensive national search, NVBDC has hired an event company to organize all upcoming events.
The NVBDC Board of Directors also expanded in 2018 and is currently looking to add more members in the coming year. The board is looking for purchasing and supplier diversity professionals who are also Veterans. Furthermore, NVBDC would like to add supplier diversity professionals to the advisory board and working committees. In the advisory/committee role, members would not need to be veterans.
2018 was a year of enormous growth for NVBDC. We have much to be thankful for, the acceptance of our certification process by our corporate members and the Veterans is an honor that we protect. Our organization was created by Veterans for Veterans, but without the support of our corporate members it would have little value. On behalf of our fellow Veterans: THANK YOU.
