First night of the NMSDC Conference

Miami is gorgeous- as expected. The NMSDC has done a great job with the conference center and pulled off a wonderful welcome reception. I will not bore you with the details of the food and drink (both excellent), but the delegation met with a variety of minority owned U.S. suppliers, many of whom expresed an interest in partnering with South African companies.

Perhaps more importantly, the SASDC delegation exchanged contact information with the Presidents of several regional chapters of NMSDC who were very interested in organizing trade missions to South Africa. Ths is exactly the kind of activity SAIBL can help promote. Tomorrow morning the action kicks off in earnest, and I will be keeping you up to date throughout the day. At the end of the day the SAIBL team will put our heads toghether to bring you the best ideas and the latest trends in supplier diversity. It is fantastic to be surrounded by so many people who understand the potential of supplier diversity to transform communities - I am sure the delegation will take this energy, in addition to the contacts they make, back to South Africa. Stay tuned for our update tomorrow, and please leave comments or email your thoughts to cgodfrey@africacncl.org... I will try to respond to every question or comment I recieve.