Business Matchmaking, the nation's leading public-private sector procurement program for small business, will complete its 2007 schedule with a South-Central Regional event on December 11 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Originated by the U.S. Small Business Administration in cooperation with Hewlett-Packard (HP), Business Matchmaking regional events are now presented by HP and a host of major national corporations committed to providing procurement opportunities to small business owners with particular emphasis on women, minority and veteran owned companies. The private sector leaders of Business Matchmaking are supported by SCORE, the SBA's resource partner providing counseling services.
Business Matchmaking has completed more than 55,000 face-to-face meetings between entrepreneurs and buyers from all federal agencies and several hundred major corporations. As a result of these selling opportunities for growing business, the program has facilitated $750M in contracts.
"To date, we have produced our Matchmaking events in major markets including Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Philadelphia. But, the Little Rock business community is so energetic and committed to small business opportunities, that we felt it was time to move this event to a strong secondary market," said Hector Barreto, Chairman of Business Matchmaking and former administrator of the United States Small Business Administration.
The day-long event in Little Rock will include a workshop and scheduled face-to-face meetings for more than 500 small businesses and some 150 US government, state and local agency and private corporation buyers.
"I am very pleased that Business Matchmaking has selected Arkansas as the venue to bring together nationwide corporate and government buyers to provide procurement opportunities to small businesses around our state. We are proud to partner with the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, the Arkansas Minority Business Development Roundtable, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, and our congressional offices to ensure that small businesses in Arkansas are positioned to be more competitive," said Governor Mike Beebe.
In addition to the national companies supporting the HP/SCORE sponsored Business Matchmaking events such as American Airlines, Alfac and FedEx there will be a pavilion for Arkansas regional organizations anxious to meet with the small businesses to pursue new relationships.
Registration for the South-Central Business Matchmaking regional event in Little Rock will open on October 1, 2007 at www.BusinessMatchmaking.com. Registration is free and requires a registration pass-code that may be obtained by calling 1-800-944-4762 after that date. Companies that wish to register must first validate their current standing in the Central Contractor Registry (www.ccr.gov) and possess a D-U-N-S number. Complete details on participation and eligibility may be found at www.BusinessMatchmaking.com
