state office of minority and women business assistance (somwba)

Yesterday I attended an informational workshop for the State Office of Minority and Women Business Assistance (SOMWBA). Each year state and federal agencies purchase millions of dollars worth of products and services from businesses certified as minority or women-owned. To participate in these opportunities, each business must be certified through SOMWBA. 


I stumbled upon the info regarding this program through the Massachusetts Department of Revenue site when I was trying to sort through some sales tax info. Massachusetts is historically big on taxes so my theory is if I'm paying for these programs I might as well check them out and see how they might serve me and my business. 


I would imagine that laborers and contractors would certainly benefit more from this certification process than say a ...jewelry designer. (I was dreading that there wasn't a "meet and greet" portion of the workshop - all of a sudden it seemed so comical to be offering my services to the State of Massachusetts sitting there amongst 30 or so plumbers, transportation providers, laborers, IT Specialists, etc.) Who knows - maybe there's a gift bag out there that needs to be filled during one of the conventions housed in our brand new Convention Center and I can see Boston Baked Beads fitting in quite nicely. It's a long shot but what the heck...a girl's gotta dream!