Business of technology providers can do all the right marketing, ensure security best practices and do thousands of sales calls but sometimes business comes because you’re being your authentic self. During the combined Workforce Community meeting at ChannelCon 2019, Angel Pi√±eiro Jr., CompTIA’s Member of the Year, said that throughout his career, his identity as a Puerto Rican from New York City’s Bronx neighborhood connected him to new clients and new work.
Even recently, a CIO friend needed someone fluent in Spanish with a Puerto Rican background to help migrate data to the cloud. “I am Puerto Rican, I lived in the Bronx,” Pi√±eiro said. “It so happens that he lives less than a quarter mile from where I spent many years.”
Leaning into what makes you unique as a managed services provider (MSP) can give minority-owned businesses an edge, especially if it’s backed up with certification, said Marquiesha Gillispie from the U.S. Small Business Administration during the same session at ChannelCon. Certifying as a minority-owned business gives MSPs a competitive opportunity on state and federal contracts and gets them access to the billions of dollars set aside for small business contracts.
“The government and its contracting partners have to set aside a certain dollar amount to hire small businesses,” she said. Double down on your unique perspective as an MSP to get funding, make connections to new business and win bigger contracts by certifying as a minority-owned business.
