Business Partnering Works! Conference Convenes Washington Small Business Owners September 26th in Seattle
Seattle, WA – Business owners from across Washington State will gather at the Westin Hotel Friday, September 26th, for a day-long conference aimed at promoting the growth of small business, especially those drawn from ethnic minority communities. Entitled “Business – Partnering Works!” the conference will feature training sessions in marketing, business finance, information technology, workforce recruitment, international trade and supplier diversity and will be capped by a business matching session that pairs Fortune 500 companies and government agencies with small business suppliers. The conference has been organized by the Filipino Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Greater Seattle Chamber’s Urban Enterprise Center and the Prosperity Partnership’s Minority Enterprise Development Working Group.
As a conference within the 8th National Empowerment Conference of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) September 26-28, this business portion fulfills one of the basic element of NaFFAA’s mission, economic empowerment.
“Growing your small business is challenge enough,” said Alexander Borromeo, Chairman of the Filipino Chamber, “without the added burden of discovering how to open doors at big business and government. Our partners in Washington’s business community and government have joined with us in bringing together the training resources as well as purchasing agents to connect small business owners, especially minorities, with the right opportunities.”
Keynote speakers for the conference include Scott Oki, former senior vice president for sales and marketing at Microsoft and founder of Oki Developments, Inc as well as Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon and former KCPQ-13 anchor and entrepreneur Christine Chen. Washington State Representative Phyllis Gutierrez-Kenney, chairwoman of the House Committee on Community and Economic Development and Trade will unveil a new legislative initiative aimed at small business in conjunction with State Representative Bob Hasegawa. The Prosperity Partnership in a plenary address will announce its new initiative on improving the “eco-system” for minority business owners and the creation of a new database of pre-qualified suppliers drawn from the minority community to supply larger members of the Partnership’s five targeted business clusters. Philippine Trade and Investment Commissioner Maria Alvero Roseni will be presenting on trade opportunities and business process outsourcing in the Philippines.
A new statewide initiative at promoting minority-owned businesses, Project 60, is also a co-sponsor of the conference. Project 60 has identified sixty top minority-owned businesses in architecture and engineering, construction, and professional services and over the next eighteen months will connect those businesses with government and larger corporate enterprises in the Pacific Northwest. Familiar Pacific Northwest corporations participating as co sponsors are: Microsoft and its Small Business Division and Washington Mutual. A business matching forum will allow small business attendees to meet one-on-one with supplier diversity and purchasing agents for those corporations, state and local governments and other Fortune 500 companies.
Fee for participation in Business – Partnering Works! is $125, including meals, and registration can be done on-line at www.partneringworks.org or via fax to (206) 364-2305. Contact: Alexander Borromeo, Chairman Filipino Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest Tel: (206) 306-9887 / alex@nucoindustries.com.