Advocacy and Outreach - Matchmaker Activities
Advocacy and Outreach
With a view toward fostering positive working relationships between business owners and state agencies, the Office of Supplier Diversity serves as an advocate for minority, women and service-disabled veteran business enterprises in state contracting, and as an information resource for business owners, state agencies, vendors and the public. The Office of Supplier Diversity also serves as an advocate to entities such as the Florida Small Business Development Center Network, Florida Black Business Investment Board, Chambers of Commerce, and Florida Legislature, to name a few.
MatchMaking Activities
In recent years, the Office of Supplier Diversity has focused its attention toward "matchmaking" activities which are designed to build relationships between minority, women and service-disabled veteran businesses and state agency purchasing specialists, non-minority vendors, and other decision makers. These matchmaking activities include, among other things, assisting certified business owners in identifying state agencies most likely to purchase the type of goods and/or services their businesses provide, hosting the annual MatchMaker Conference and Trade Show as well as numerous regional workshops that are held January through June of each year.
