Southport, CT, April 07, 2006/DiversityBusiness.com/ DiversityBusiness.com's latest event, the Sixth National Multicultural Business Conference brought together 850 people from all over the United States. Once again, the diversity business world came together under one roof, to network, to learn from one another, to exchange ideas, approaches and strategies, and, in the case of some, to be formally recognized for their hard work and commitment to multicultural markets in the United States.

Participants took full advantage of the speeches, workshops and panels-as well as the social and networking aspects of the conference. Produced for diversity business owners and the corporations, government agencies and academic institutions that utilize their services, the DiversityBusiness.com conference offered a solid platform for the kind of interactivity, exchange and networking that is usually missing from daily business life, due to physical distance, busy work schedules and other factors.

Companies formally honored at the conference were the winners of the Div50 and the Div100 listings, which honor, respectively, the Fortune 500 companies and government agencies most dedicated to supporting diversity and the nation's top diversity-owned businesses.

"We're looking forward to another dynamic, successful year of multicultural business," said Kenton Clarke, CEO of DiversityBusiness.com. "The U.S. is so vast, and business moves so fast, that were it not for events such as this one, the key underpinning of lasting, rewarding business relationships-face-to-face contact-would slowly fade into the background. Each year we see new faces, and they bring fresh ideas, new perspectives, strategies and of course new technologies and processes. This is the value core of our conference-facilitating valuable knowledge and networking to our attendees."

Conference Highlights

• Keynote address by Hector Barreto Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
• Presentations by some of the world’s leading diversity experts including: Miriam Muley CEO of 85% Niche, Jane Sanders, Rosalyn Taylor O’Neale and Xiao-Hua Shen from China.
• DiversityBusiness.com honored Lockheed Martin and the United States Postal Service as the Top Corporation and Government Agency for Multicultural Business Opportunities of 2006. Sitting at the top of DiversityBusiness.com's Div50 list, an indicator of which organizations provide the best and the most business for multicultural companies, they are bestowed with this honor by over 500,000 voting diversity business owners.
• The rest of the Div50 corporations and government agencies were also honored at the event: the Minority Business Development Agency, NASA, the SBA and others for the agencies, and for the companies, Cisco, Dell, IBM, BellSouth, and many others. 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.
• Not to be left behind, the top diversity-owned businesses were honored as well: their list is called the Div100, a classification that represents the top 100 U.S. diversity-owned (women, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Indian and other minority groups) businesses in sectors such as technology, manufacturing, food service and professional services. Ranging in revenue size from $60 million to over $1 billion, these companies represent the nation's top multicultural earners and challenge the long-held notion that a diversity-owned business is small or insignificant.

Personal Connections
Perhaps the most valuable take-away for conference attendees were the new personal connections forged during the event. Held in a non-traditional conference environment (the Mirage in Las Vegas, participants were able to network, attend speeches, take part in workshops and socialize.

Sponsors
Major Sponsors for the event included: Wal-Mart, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Deloitte & Touché, Dell, Raytheon, Bellsouth, U.S. Postal Service, Office Depot, Major League Baseball, Time Warner, Pitney Bowes, GE and Lockheed Martin.

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 500,000 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 500,000 women and minority owned businesses had the opportunity to vote in the 2005 online election. A complete list of the winners is available at: www.DiversityBusiness.com/Div50

The Div100
The Div100 List honors the nation's top diversity-owned businesses. It is a classification that represents the top 100 U.S. diversity-owned (women, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Indian and other minority groups) businesses in sectors such as technology, manufacturing, food service and professional services. Ranging in revenue size from $60 million to over $1 billion, these companies represent the nation's top multicultural earners and challenge the long-held notion that a diversity-owned business is small or insignificant.

The Div100 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.

A complete list of the winners is available at: www.DiversityBusiness.com/Div50

About DiversityBusiness.com
Launched in 1999, DiversityBusiness.com with over 30,000 members is the largest organization of diversity-owned businesses throughout the United States that provide goods and services to Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and colleges and universities. The site has gained national recognition and has won numerous awards for its content and design. It is a membership-based exchange platform that facilitates contacts and communication, streamlines business processes and provides vital business news and information. DiversityBusiness.com is produced by Computer Consulting Associates International Inc. (CCAii.com) of Southport, CT. Founded in 1980, CCAii has garnered many awards by entities such as the Small Business Administration, Ernst & Young and Black Enterprise Magazine.

 

From Left: The Honorable Hector V. Barreto, Administrator U.S. Small Business Administration
Odetta Rogers-Clarke, Director Communications, DiversityBusiness.com
Kenton Clarke, President & CEO, DiversityBusiness.com

 

Press Contact:
Odetta Rogers, Click here to Contact
Director of Communications
DiversityBusiness.com

Source: DiversityBusiness.com
DiversityBusiness.com is the online hub for Minority Business. Supplier Diversity Program of DiversityBusiness is the best online centralized upto date tool utilized by all major corporations including OfficeMax, Bellsouth, Master Foods, Deloitte and Waste Management. The heart of this website is its' informative database of Women and Minority Business Enterprises (W/MBE's) and contact's within Fortune 1000 companies. DiversityBusiness.com also facilitates your ability to remain abreast of activities and news that affect W/MBE's and Blue Chip Companies. DiversityBusiness.com is the only e-procurement resource that maintains a national database with up to date information, as well as providing all the data necessary for the expansion of Minority Businesses on a national basis.