Just weeks after BuyDetroit’s official launch, the program is connecting businesses in Detroit’s supply chain community and posting actual opportunities for Detroit-based suppliers to pursue. To date, nearly a dozen major corporate buyers and 121 Detroit-based buyers have registered on the program’s procurement portal. There have been 18 opportunities posted, one of which includes another 20 spin-off projects.
Through this exclusive procurement portal, BuyDetroit has become the City’s central hub for buyers and sellers, helping to grow Detroit businesses and increase the overall spend with local companies. BuyDetroit program manager Keyra Cokley said more and more businesses are registering on the portal, uploading new opportunities, and seeking to make connections in the procurement ecosystem.
“Everyone is very pleased with the interest we’re seeing in the portal and in the BuyDetroit program as a whole,” said Cokley. “It’s important to know that the portal is just one element of the BuyDetroit program. It is helping to facilitate business-to-business relationships and small business growth, drive supply chain diversity and create jobs in the City.”
Cokley is creating a variety of technical resources to help Detroit-based suppliers compete for new opportunities, including scaling and capacity building. A series of expert workshops begins May 25 with a virtual session on Business Negotiation featuring Mori Taheripour, a globally recognized expert in negotiation and business development. She will lead businesses through a discussion on procurement contracts and ways to negotiate successful deals.
Topics for upcoming workshops in the series include Pitch Training/Capability Statements, Financial Management, Digital Training, RFP Completion and Food Manufacturing. Cokley said the workshops will be held monthly throughout 2021.
To participate in the workshop, businesses must be located in the City of Detroit. Please register on the BuyDetroit portal or Eventbrite to participate in the event. The first 100 businesses to register will receive a free copy of Taheripour’s book, Bring Yourself.
“By making real opportunities accessible to all Detroit businesses, BuyDetroit is helping grow the small- and mid-sized business community,” Cokley said.
Steering the BuyDetroit program is the Buyer Council, a group of top purchasing executives from for- and nonprofit organizations poised to increase their own local buys.
“BuyDetroit is driving access, inclusion, job growth and new investment in local firms,” said Anthony Tomczak, DTE Chief Procurement Officer and member of the Buyer Council. “There are hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts available every year from the City of Detroit. BuyDetroit is working to ensure a greater portion of those contracts are won by local and diverse businesses.”
“Every business is both a supplier and a buyer,” said Cokley. “BuyDetroit is about creating a commitment to local procurement. When local businesses bid on and successfully secure new contracts, we are strengthening our economy.”
BuyDetroit is a program of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and Detroit Means Business. The “Let’s Talk” Business Negotiation” workshop is sponsored by DTE. To access the procurement portal, along with training videos, eligibility requirements, registration details and other information visit https:// www.degc.org/buydetroit/.
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