Auburn Hills’ Stellantis and the National Business League (NBL) have launched the inaugural collective of National Black Supplier Development Program, a group of 15 Black-owned businesses representing geographic diversity and a range of disciplines and commodities.
The program also announced the addition of a diverse group of eight corporate partners that will enhance the development and business opportunities for participating companies. Corporate partners include additional auto manufacturers, Tier 1 suppliers, finance, banking, and other business service providers.
“These are exciting next steps for the Stellantis-National Business League National Black Supplier Development Program on its journey to ensure that all Black business enterprises and suppliers have an equitable and inclusive stake in the global marketplace,” says Mark Stewart, COO of Stellantis North America.
“The launch of the inaugural collective and addition of outstanding corporate partners ensures the program will be a sustainable source of significant business and development opportunities for Black businesses, entrepreneurs and communities for many years to come.”
These important developments build on a successful pilot in which participating companies either secured or were considered for contracts on some of Stellantis’ most significant marketing projects and vehicle programs, such as the Chrysler Pacifica, Dodge Durango, Jeep Wagoneer, and Jeep Grand Wagoneer. The pilot ran from October 2021 to February 2022.
Moving forward, Stellantis will continue to provide resources to the NBL to support continued development of the online portal at the heart of the program. Detroit-based Computech Corp. is the program’s website portal developer.
Stellantis and NBL will also continue to create the virtual training tools that comprise the program’s resource marketplace. This marketplace will provide access to capital, mentorship and executive coaching, supplier training and development, bid posting, match-making and more.
During the pilot, the group actively participated in coursework on these topics and benefited from direct interaction with Stellantis leaders, business experts, and Tier 1 suppliers. The program’s new corporate partners will contribute their expertise to expand on an already rich menu of development tools available through the resource marketplace.
“Launching the inaugural collective of the Stellantis-National Business League National Black Supplier Development Program is an important milestone moment on the road to leveling the playing field and achieving economic justice for Black communities and millions of Black businesses,” says Kenneth L. Harris, president and CEO of the NBL.
“The program is expected to realize 20 to 30 percent of the untapped potential of Black businesses. The goal is to develop sustainable Black businesses that will impact local and global economies, creating jobs through entrepreneurship and growing the number of Black businesses of all sizes.”
At scale, the program will aim to create equity for more than 2.9 million Black businesses in future contracting and procurement opportunities enabling future success.
A complete list of companies and corporate partners is available here.
