Minority owned businesses encouraged to become county vendors

If I can help other business owners as well as women in business, I’d like to be able to do that”

Julie Marchesella, president of the Elmont Chamber of Commerce

The Elmont Chamber of Commerce hopes to educate businesses on how to navigate through the process of becoming a Nassau County vendor and filing a request for proposal.

Twenty minority and minority women-owned businesses came out to D’Joys Event Hall on Aug. 16 to learn more about registeringto be a county-approved vendor and to become aware of the county’s application process to file for a request for proposal. 

To file a request for proposal in Nassau County, businesses can apply as long as they are a registered vendor with the county. Businesses owners learned tofind the paperwork online at the Nassau County Vendor Portal to become a registered county vendor with no fee.

Request for proposals are publicly published by the governmentfor certain services or products needed. When filling out a request for proposal, a business owner must answer the questions provided and give a quote for how much its proposal will cost.

If a business’ request for proposal is not honored, it may request the RFP documents for the company that won the proposal to see how it can improve or how it compares to the recipient. 

“I always tell business owners, whatever business you go into, keep yourself more unique than the next business,” President of the Elmont Chamber of Commerce Julie Marchesella said. “What’s going to keep your business that much more unique than the one that won the proposal? Was it staying within the confines of the proposal and just adding something extra about what your business does? That can be helpful.”

According to Dana McDowell, owner of D’Joys Event Hall, the seminar was inviting and made her feel that she should call the county to become a registered vendor. She received support from the chamber following the seminar to work one-on-one on her application.

“It was definitely an experience that I can’t wait to pursue because it seems like a lot of people have been successful,” McDowell said about the request for proposal process. “There were a lot of people in there that had a little bit more knowledge about this than I did and they were all very excited to learn.”

McDowell said the event provided clarification on different application processes for businesses. Most business ownersin attendance didn’t know they had to be registered with the county as a vendor. She also became a certified minority-owned business the day of the event.

The event came to fruition after Marchesella spoke with Lionel Chitty, executive director of Nassau County Office of Minority Affairs, about the opportunity to educate small business owners.

With many government contracts coming up and many requests for proposals up for grabs, the sooner businesses get their paperwork together,the quicker they’ll be able to apply. Applications are at both the federal and state levels.

The event was held in cooperation with the Nassau Council of Chambers and other chambers were present to get information for their members. In October, the county will be holding another informational event at Nassau County Community College.

“This is going to be expanded on and I think it’s a very good idea,” said Marchesella.

In Elmont, where there is a high concentration of minority and minority women-owned businesses, Marchesella stressed the importance of becoming a county vendor and getting a certification.

Many government contracts have a requirement that a certain number of the jobs or projects be given to minority-owned businesses, particularly if they are owned by women.

“Times have changed,” Marchesella said. “There are many women in businesses today, which is a good thing. Myself being one of them.”

Having been a business owner for the past 32 years running Queen of Hearts, a plus size formal wear store, Marchesella hopes she can help others thrive. Joining a local chamber of commerce is just one way businesses can expand their knowledge and increase opportunities.

“If I can help other business owners as well as women in business, I’d like to be able to do that,” Marchesella said.

Since joining the chamber six months ago, McDowell said she has met and networked with wonderful people and received great support.

“I came there not too sure whether this is what I wanted to do,” McDowell said regarding initial hesitations about joining the chamber. “But since I’ve joined, everybody has been so welcoming and the networking that I’ve been to has been awesome.”