Other than to make money, reasons people often go into business are to fulfill a need and to solve a problem.
Wednesday, April 29 the Women’s Business Enterprise Council through a panel of corporate and women business enterprises addressed the issue of women businesses furthering their reasons of entrepreneurship by sponsoring a panel called How Women Business Enterprises Can Gain a Competitive Advantage Through Innovation.
More than 200 women business enterprises, corporate and government officials were on hand during the groups Women’s Business Enterprise Program and MatchMaker Meeting held in Pittsburgh.
Moderated by Lance Hyde, Supplier Diversity Manager of the EQT Corporation, the discussion addressed and offered guidance around topics on innovation. The purpose of the panel, according to Hyde was to evoke meaningful dialogue to provide women business enterprises with insight from a broad range of perspectives and to assist them to gain a competitive advantage in their competitive landscapes.
The panel members consisted of Steven Anthos, Senior Manager Strategic Sourcing at EQT Corporation,
Karl Coke, EQT Senior Vice-President of Innovation also of the EQT Corporation, Jim Szilagy, Chief Supply Chain Officer at UPMC, Sharmagne Taylor, owner of On-Site Partners and Ann Pawlick, owner of Frac Water Resources.
“I started Frac Water Resources because I saw a need,” explained Pawlick. “I attended events to meet people, did my homework on customers and pricing and have been creative throughout the whole process.”
Fulfilling a need in the oil and gas industry, servicing parts of Washington, Allegheny and Greene counties, Frac Water Resources provides trucks with water to be used for fracking shale wells.
Recommending examining ones strengths and the needs of industries, Pawlick stressed that business owners have to do what it takes to make a business work. Doing research, getting feedback and committing 100 percent are her keys to success.
Based in Houston, for nearly two decades Taylor through her business On-Site Partners on a national level has been offering her clients full-service meeting and event planning. The business provides site and vendor selection, housing services, registration processing, event coordination, program development, production and on-site management for meetings hosted by corporations, professional and trade associations and community organizations.
Concurring with Pawlick, Taylor says by networking and listening to her customers throughout the years her business has prospered. “It adds up to knowing your customer and turning problems around to solutions.” She also emphasized the significance of collaborating and forming strategic alliances. “It helps to do more with less and provides a feeling of accomplishment. By working with and getting to know the area and national business groups and forming alliances my footprint has expanded.”
Taylor also suggests developing trust, being committed to the quality of work and services provided, having a shared value system and often being in the position of having the capability and capacity to handle at least 70 percent of the work with your own resources. She recommends not letting failures stagnate you. “Fail fast and don’t let the distraction get in your way.”
EQT and UPMC officials said that WBEs should conduct business differently but at the same time continue to do what they do well. “Communicating, staying in front of people and building engagement are important,” explained Coke.”
Anthos views being prepared and being unique as an added tool to gaining a competitive advantage. Like Coke he agrees that communication is a valuable.
“We look for businesses to bring creativity to our team,” pointed out Szilagy. “With great ideas entrepreneurs need determination, to be frugal and patient. You can’t expect your idea to jump off quickly. Capital is needed to sustain until then.”
Other activities of the event included roundtable discussions and MatchMaker Meetings. The roundtable discussions provided entrepreneurs the opportunity to hear how to gain access and build relationships using Women’s Business Enterprise National Council certification as a marketing tool, to understand the impact of the U.S. SBA Woman-Owned Small Business certification and contracting program, to meet and introduce their products and services to WBENC certified women business enterprises, WBEC corporations, and government agencies. Participating agencies included the Allegheny County Department of Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, EQT, the Pennsylvania Department of General Services, Rivers Casino, Shell, and the U.S. Small Business Association.
The matchmaker sessions provided the opportunity for WBENC certified WBE firms to meet with suppliers sharing mutual interests. Participating companies or institutions included Chevron USA, Communications Test Design, Inc., EQT Corporation, First Energy Corporation, Highmark Health, PNC Financial Services Group, Shell and UPMC.
After the panel discussion, Pamela Prince-Easton, president of the WBENC based in Washington, DC outlined the CORE of the organization. Prince-Easton said that the WBENC, which was founded in 1997, is the largest third-party certifier of businesses owned, controlled, and operated by women in the United States. The national non-profit associates with 14 Regional Partner Organizations provides its world-class standard of certification to women-owned businesses throughout the country. Mentioning that the group is aiming to portray a new image of joining forces to succeed together that the hope is to create a movement where women owned businesses are valued and recognized as the powerful force that they are. “We are staying true to our CORE,” she said outlining that it stands for certification, opportunity, resources and engagement.
Appreciative of the assistance received from Doris Carson Williams president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania, Alexander Nichols, COO of the Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council and Greg Spenser owner of Randall Industries, WBECS local partners, Geri Swift, president of WBEC PA-DE-sNJ said she is pleased with the outcome of the event. “The Program and MatchMaker Meetings were successful. We achieved our objective. The women enterprises had the opportunity to learn from each other as well as how to improve their opportunities to earn business through innovation.”
“Programs like this are valuable for the growth and development of women and minority businesses within the region,” points out Hyde. “They are also significant to corporations. Anytime you have people like Steve Schlotterbeck, President of EQT Exploration at the EQT Corporation attending, it demonstrates the value of small businesses, corporations and government working together.”
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