The Month of May is designated National Small Business Month across the nation. It is well documented how significant small businesses are to the overall economic health and well-being of any community, and the outsized impact they have on the global economy. In markets around the world, employers of just a handful of people are the straw that stirs the drink, even though global brands with huge advertising budgets might appear to dominate based on their visibility. In reality, big companies employ large chunks of the labor force globally, but the small business community vastly outperforms them statistically. Some 35 million small businesses in the US represent 99.9% of American companies and have accounted for nearly two-thirds of job growth nationally over the last 30 years. The Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council is the leading small business development and supplier diversity advocacy organization in our state, facilitating supply chain partnerships that generate more than $13 billion in revenues annually.
The GMSDC enjoys a rather unique positioning among supplier diversity advocates, in that the Council supports small and minority businesses. Programs like the Council’s mentoring initiative – the Georgia Mentor Protégé Connection – are open to any small business in Georgia that meets the eligibility requirements, not just minority firms. Through a landmark partnership with the state of Georgia’s Economic Development Department and Georgia Tech, the GMSDC matches up a cohort of Georgia corporate mentors and high-potential small businesses each year, for a one-year partnership focused on business acumen, systems infrastructure, fiscal excellence, technology, leadership development and other critical growth areas that are identified in the program’s assessment and goal-setting process. Alumni from the GMPC, routinely among the largest and fastest growing small businesses in Georgia, are winners of countless national awards and the recipients of major contract opportunities that they attribute to their time with highly engaged mentors who help them optimize their enterprises.
The GMSDC constituency also represents another key aspect of economic diversity, which is company size. Certified suppliers are grouped into four classes according to annual revenue – Class I (up to $1 million) at roughly 59% of the supplier base, Class II ($1 to 10 million) at 28%, Class III ($10 to 50 million) at 10%, and Class IV (> $50 million) at 3%. This broad span of company size statistics makes for a constituent base that ranges from recent startups all the way to multi-billion-dollar conglomerates that serve global Fortune 500 clients. Even though the GMSDC is a Georgia entity, almost 75% of certified suppliers do business nationally or internationally, a byproduct of the marketing reach of small companies in the Internet era. Roughly 60% of GMSDC suppliers are owned by men and 40% by women, whose numbers are rapidly increasing across all sectors. One of the most noteworthy Council statistics is the 50,000 people GMSDC suppliers employ, in addition to many thousands of downstream jobs created by subcontractors and other businesses tied to various contracts.
Throughout this month, we will continue to look at small business at large and the GMSDC’s role in Georgia’s economy. We would not be the Number One State for Business if it were not for a thriving small business ecosystem. Kudos to the State of Georgia for facilitating a climate in which small businesses can thrive. Clearly, we can agree that Small Business Month is a really big deal.
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