Stop & Shop, along with the Stop & Shop NextGen Associate Resource Group, has invested $55,000 in the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council. This investment will be used to enhance the content and delivery of the Council’s Development Program for minority-owned businesses, with a special focus on Black-owned businesses.
The program focuses on companies certified as a minority business enterprise, known as MBEs, by the Council. The funding will support the program through one-on-one business consulting tailored to each business, and will help to build sustainable businesses with a specific focus on financial management, operational and process improvements, strategic planning, and marketing.
"This investment by Stop & Shop and its NextGen Associate Resource Group will allow us to continue to build an even more effective Development Program to make more of New England's minority businesses stronger," said Peter Hurst, the president and CEO of GNEMSDC, in a statement. "Minority business development helps reduce the country's racial wealth gap, and our MBE Development Program will continue to contribute to the health and growth of our current and future MBEs. Covid-19's adverse impact on minority-owned businesses requires a laser-like focus on the levers that drive MBEs' success, including access to contracts with buyers in the private sector and the public sector; access to intellectual capital that allows MBEs' owners to be more effective leaders and managers; and access to financial capital that supports their growth, whether one contract at a time or through mergers and acquisitions."
"Stop & Shop is committed to supporting to the communities where our associates and customers work and live," shared Gordon Reid, president of Stop & Shop, in a statement. "We hope this investment to GNEMSDC serves as a building block for Black-owned businesses, allowing them to grow, develop and flourish."
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Image: Stop & Shop