Greater Women's Business Council

Written by Heather MacLeod Wednesday, October 07 2009

Corporations should think of suppliers also as consumers.

Lewis: Fulfilling a dream

For Roz Lewis, promoting women-owned businesses has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream that had its roots in a Montessori preschool in south Florida. Lewis, the founder and now executive director of the Greater Women's Business Council, which covers Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, provides services from which she feels her mother, the owner of that Montessori school, could have benefited.

Lewis travels the country speaking to corporations about how supplier diversity just makes good business sense. Lewis's organization is part of the national Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

Q: What do you say to people who want to know why supplier diversity is important?

A: I say look at women as consumers. If you put a women's business out of business, you're also putting a consumer out of business.

ROI [Return on Investment] should be redefined to include Return on Impact and Return on Influence. These are the sustainable actions that WBEs engage every day in their purchases as consumers. So why should a corporation not support the very customer that is purchasing the corporation's product or service?

Q: What's your background?

A: I spent 27 years with Delta Air Lines and then redirected my career to do what I am passionate about – promoting women-owned businesses. My mother was a business owner; she was the first African-American owner of a Montessori preschool in south Florida.

Q: The GWBC.biz website is very specific that women should view certification as a jumping-off point to begin their own active marketing of that certification.

A: That's right, because at the end of the day, when they're sitting there with that procurement team making that decision, we're not with them. It's merely a tool.

We held a Power and Partnering Marketplace event in Atlanta in early September, and our theme this year was Choices, Challenges, Connections. All our events are designed to equip our WBEs with more opportunities to weather this economic storm.

WBENC certification is one of the most recognized certifications for women businesses. Corporations who "get it" understand the total cost of doing business with WBEs. It is this forward thinking that is preparing the most powerful customer to become the most loyal consumer, thus creating a supply chain effect of sustainability.

Heather MacLeod has written for Atlanta Business Chronicle, ChopTalk magazine, and CNN. She was assistant editor for Counterpart, a women’s magazine published by the Chronicle. When she is not practicing journalism or taking care of her three sons, she slips off to Martha’s Vineyard with her husband and boys.