CERTIFY YOUR BUSINESS

WHAT AND HOW TO CERTIFY YOUR WOMAN, MINORITY, VETERAN OR LGBTQ - OWNED BUSINESS

Certifying your business opens up doors and opportunities to increase your customer base and support network. Learn more by watching the Why Certify video, and then the How to Certify video that pertains to your business, below. 
 
 
 
 

Why Certify Your Business?

 
Jennifer Owens, president of Lakeshore Advantage, discusses the importance of women, minority, veteran or LGBTQ-owned businesses becoming certified suppliers in Michigan. Joining her are Jim Bos, Vice President, Global Procurement at Yanfeng Automotive Interiors and Joe Matthews, Vice President of Purchasing, Diversity Officer at Gentex Corporation to talk about why their corporations choose to purchase from certified Minority Business Enterprises.

WOMAN-OWNED BUSINESS

 

Jennifer Owens, president of Lakeshore Advantage, talks to Michelle Richards, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Women's Business Council, on how to certify your woman-owned business.


 
 
 

LGBTQ-OWNED BUSINESS 

 
 
Disclaimer: The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce cannot certify people who identify as queer-only as the legal statute is written, only those that identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender.

Jennifer Owens, president of Lakeshore Advantage, talks with Kevin Heard, president of the Board of Directors of Detroit Regional LGBT Chamber of Commerce, on how to certify your LGBTQ-owned business in Michigan.






 

MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESS

 
 


Jennifer Owens, president of Lakeshore Advantage, talks to Andrew Sims, Vice President of the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, on how to certify your minority-owned business.






 

VETERAN-OWNED BUSINESS

 
 

Jennifer Owens, president of Lakeshore Advantage, talks to Roderick Rickman, president of the Veteran-Owned Business Roundtable, on how to certify your veteran-owned business.


 
 

The Corporate Buying Process

 
 

Co-sponsored with the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, Lakeshore Advantage hosted a panel of major corporate buying leads who shared tips, expectations and the process for purchasing product / services from new vendors. 
 
The panelist included: 
Jim Bos, Vice President, Global Procurement at Yanfeng Automotive Interiors 
Joe Matthews, Vice-President, Purchasing & Diversity Officer at Gentex Corporation
Kavy Lenon, Supplier Diversity Manager at Meijer
Kurt Knoth, Senior Vice President, System Supply Chain & Security Services at Spectrum Health
Jeweral Washington, Owner at J-Max Transportation and Logistics Services Inc. 
 



This series was made possible through a grant from the Consumers Energy Foundation.



Additional Resources for your Business