WPEO-NY Announces Dramatic 62% Increase In Spend With Certified Women Business Enterprises

NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today's business world is digital: data-driven, edge-centric and cloud-enabled. To wow customers in this digital age, a customer-first outlook is critical in all aspects of business, driven by big data as the competitive differentiator of market success. The 2019 Women Presidents' Educational Organization (WPEO) Breakthrough Breakfast on Friday, October 4^th took a close look at The Power of Digital Disruption and how it is impacting women entrepreneurs and the companies with which they do business.

This annual event showcases winners of the Done Deals^™ Challenge -- representing contracts completed with certified, women business enterprises (WBEs) from April 2018 through March 2019. These awards help measure the impact WPEO has achieved in increasing business opportunities and contracting activity -- between WBEs doing business with each other, as well as with WBEs and WPEO's Corporate Members. A total of 13,622 contracts worth over $703 million, completed with certified women's business enterprises (WBEs) in the New York region, were announced, representing a 62% increase in dollar volume from $433 million reported last year.

Being officially certified as a woman-owned diverse supplier can result in opportunities previously inaccessible to women's business enterprises (WBEs). WPEO provides WBENC certification, the most widely-recognized and respected third-party national certification for WBEs in the U.S. WPEO serves two northeast regions: WPEO-NY (New York State, Northern and Central New Jersey -- through Trenton -- and counties on the Southern Connecticut shoreline – including Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London) and WPEO-DC (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia).

"Capital One is committed to making supplier diversity an integral part of the way we do business. We've continued to implement new programs that bring opportunities to certified women-owned businesses and help them develop financial and technical skills. Our partnership with WBENC and WPEO has been a large part of this," said Jim Gorzalski, Chief Procurement Officer, Capital One. "Over the past three years, we have collaborated with WPEO on the Strategies to Advance and Grow Enterprise (SAGE) Advice program, which helps provide women business owners the leadership skills and financial acumen needed to accelerate the growth of their companies. More than thirty businesses have graduated from the program and attribute it to their ongoing success, with one business growing from $400,000 to $1 million in the 12 months following their participation."

The 2019 WPEO Done Deals Award Winners are:

• CORPORATE OPPORTUNITY AWARD – SERVICE CATEGORY: NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY
• CORPORATE OPPORTUNITY AWARD – MANUFACTURING CATEGORY: PFIZER INC.
• CORPORATE CHAMPION AWARD – IBM
• WBE CONNECTION AWARD – STACKABLE SENSATIONS
• WBE CONNECTION AWARD – SHI INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
• WBE DONE DEALS CHAMPION AWARD – SUBURBAN AUTO SEATS
• ACCESS NEW YORK CITY AWARD – ERIKSEN TRANSLATIONS
• ACCESS NEW YORK STATE AWARD – COPY GRAPHICS INC. DBA MRS. PAPER
• ACCESS NEW JERSEY AWARD – COPY GRAPHICS INC. DBA MRS. PAPER

"Moving an enterprise into the digital era requires a new, disruptive way of thinking, driven by the application of cutting-edge technologies. Customer data and analytics are key enablers of disruption. To effectively monetize datasets collected we need to understand how enterprises create and consume data and what insights can be gained to create differentiation and innovation," said Eliseo T. Rojas, CEO and Founder, ETR Business Solutions, Inc., and Board Chair, Women Presidents' Educational Organization.

"The digital era is not just about improving productivity, doing more with less and reducing costs. Women entrepreneurs need to look at new business models and sources of revenue. They also need to forge new relationships with their customers and competitors, with a laser focus on data as the key driver of success," said Dr. Marsha Firestone, President & Founder, WPEO.

About the Women Presidents' Educational Organization:
The Women Presidents' Educational Organization (WPEO) is a regional affiliate of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation's premier third-party certification organization for women-owned businesses. The mission of the WPEO is to create increased access to business opportunities for WBEs. Its programs develop skills and knowledge for WBEs, advocate in the public and private sectors, foster relationships between WBEs, corporations and the government, and provide certification services.

WPEO provides full service third-party certification to women entrepreneurs in the New York, Northern New Jersey, Southern Connecticut and the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas. WPEO is incorporated in the state of New York and is recognized as a 501(c) (3) organization. For more information please visit www.wpeo.us. Follow us on Twitter@WPEONYDC; like us on Facebook@TheWPEO.

SOURCE Women Presidents' Educational Organization

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