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3 2 CHAMPIONS OF DIVERSITY newsletter
2017 Fall GOCA Conference
45! NMSDC turns New Video: Cisco South Africa’s Offset Program Impacts
Skills Shortage
The Global Offset and Coun-
tertrade Association (GOCA)
convened its fall 2017 conference in Key
Biscayne, Florida, with attendees from
across the globe representing many indus-
tries, including the technology industry.
GOCA’s mission is to promote global trade
and understanding.
Cisco and Bell Helicopter, a Textron com-
pany, were sponsors of the conference.
Cisco is a GOCA corporate member and
participated in training and knowledge-
sharing sessions that took place over two
days. Attendees were treated to informa-
tive sessions on topics such as U.S. government offset regulations,
customer solutions for satisfying offset obligations, and Korean offset
issues, to name a few.
A knowledge-sharing session on global science and technology part-
nerships was led by Cisco’s own offset manager, Edrei DuToit. Du Toit’s
session addressed how Cisco South Africa has been successful in ad-
dressing the country’s skills shortage. Instrumental to the ongoing
success of Cisco South Africa’s offset programs has been its global sci-
ence and technology partnerships. Du Toit addressed the skills short-
age and shared that the root of unemployment is not only a lack of
jobs but also an inadequately educated workforce. Sobering reports
about the pending amplification of the undereducated workforce from
the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
and the both with representatives
of major organizations involved in education and related activities
across the world, were shared and include the following:
• The global “talent shortage” is currently 38 percent.
• The top 10 hardest jobs to fill are in science, technology, en-
gineering, and mathematics.
• There is currently a 200 million person shortage of workers
with information, communications, and technology (ICT) skills
around the world.
Solutions were then provided to bridge the skills gap and aid unem-
ployment. Du Toit urged her peers to consider partnerships with in-
dustries, governments, and compliance agencies, in addition to their
MG3: Share your top two or more successes/
highlights from this year’s annual conference
and business opportunity exchange as the in-
terim president of the council.
LG: This year's NMSDC conference was a re-
sounding success, bringing in more sponsor-
ship dollars and booth sales than ever before.
Of all the moments that stand out to me, two
come to mind. The first was a plenary session
we did featuring Janice Bryant Howroyd, Car-
men Castillo, and Andra Rush—three women
of color who do over a billion dollars in sales
per year. Second, I would say that having our
esteemed former president Harriet Michel
host a portion of the awards banquet was very
special. I was delighted to present a new award
named after her with her in attendance. Those
are the moments that I'll never forget.
MG3: What do you consider the impact of this
year’s conference programming, “the future of
the supply chain through technology-focused
programming,” which included the following:
Cybersecurity: A Serious Security Challenge;
Supply Chain of the Future: A Self Organizing
Network; and How Small Business Can Lever-
age Technology?
LG: It's no secret that technology is changing
how many industries operate, and will even
eliminate a number of industries in the coming
years. We need to prepare our MBEs for these
changes so that they are not caught flat-footed
when the dollars dry up or shift away. Cyber-
security, blockchain, Internet of Things—these
are all hot opportunity areas that our MBEs
need to embrace, sooner rather than later.
There is huge potential for MBEs in technology,
security, and software.
MG3: What do you see as the technology
trends for MBEs over the next five years or so?
LG: It pains me to say it, but a lot of low-over-
head industries that have been key to MBE suc-
cess are going to disappear or be transformed
very quickly. We need to be ready for that. Staff-
ing firms, trucking companies, and facilities
management are three industries that come to
mind. We are urging all of our MBEs, regardless
of industry, to start building competencies in
software and professional services in order to
adapt to the changing technology.
MG3: Share with us how NMSDC and its re-
gional affiliates will support these technol-
ogy trends as it achieves its mission to work
through the NMSDC network to support and
facilitate MBE integration into corporate and
public-sector supply chains; build MBE capac-
ity and capabilities through programs and
other educational offerings; and facilitate
MBE-to-MBE partnerships to meet the needs
of corporate members.
LG: Our regional affiliates play a critical role in
our organization’s success. They are the ones
working directly with MBEs to offer training
and development at the local level. As a na-
tional organization, we are placing extra em-
phasis on building strategic capabilities for our
work with training institutions. She stressed the importance of under-
standing offset requirements versus the value-added outcome, and
advised her peers to be transparent as they teach, advise, mentor, and
actively participate in their offset training programs. She also credited
the successes of Cisco South Africa’s offset program in the creation of
360 degree programs that are flexible for any
environment and/or enterprise and include
technical and professional skills training for
network consulting engineers, software de-
velopers, and cybersecurity engineers.
Du Toit concluded her knowledge-sharing
session by debuting a video that demon-
strates the impact offset programs can have
on job creation, innovation, the develop-
ment of small to midsize enterprises, and
the increase in economic opportunities. The
video can be viewed
The next GOCA conference will be held
in Paris, France, in April 2018. Learn more
about
MBEs, in addition to the usual training about sales, marketing, book-
keeping, etc. When it comes to capacity building, we are focused on
delivering access to capital solutions so that our MBEs can grow their
businesses from Tier I to Tier IV suppliers.
And finally, we see the future of MBE growth relying heavily on strate-
gic joint ventures between diverse firms with complementary exper-
tise. Wherever we can facilitate joint ventures that make sense, we will
work to make them happen.
NMSDC
turns
continued on next page
45!
OUTREACH GALLERY
2017 NMSDC BOE 2017 NMSDC BOE 2017 NMSDC BOE
This past October in Detroit, Michigan, the National Minority Supplier Development Council held its annual conference and
business opportunity exchange, but that’s not all. NMSDC turned 45!
Just a few months prior to the council turning 45, the board named Louis Green interim executive director and president of NMSDC. Green is a
former chairman of the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council and is currently CEO of Supplier Success, LLC. The board also elected a
new vice chairman and named the three following items the council will focus on going forward:
1. Continuing to build on teamwork that supports the network and affiliates
2. Establishing and maintaining a framework of leadership and organizational structure that provides value to all key stakeholders:
• Certified minority business enterprises (MBEs)
• Corporate members
• Communities in which NMSDC makes an economic impact
• Employees and staff who are vital to ensuring that the mission and vision of NMSDC are carried out in a customer-centric way
3. Reviewing NMSDC’s global initiatives and reestablishing linkage with existing global affiliates
With an obviously full plate, Green was gracious enough to share with us his thoughts and impressions of this year’s annual conference and his
predictions on technology trends for MBEs in the next five years or so.
continued from page 2
Edrei Du Toit, Cisco S.A.
Du Toit and Madison
Gunter III