A bold new approach to connecting GLBT businesses to major Fortune 500 companies will be unveiled next Thursday, March 24, at a free event at Top of the Park from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Co-founder and CEO of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), Justin Nelson will introduce San Diego’s GLBT business owners and entrepreneurs to an initiative that has previously made trade worth $80 billion available to other minority groups.

This will mark the first time a national program has opened itself to the vibrant range of GLBT businesses in San Diego.

The scheme is modeled after the national supply councils for women and minorities, Nelson said, but “there wasn’t a third-party certifying body for LGBT business, so many of our gay-owned businesses were missing out on these opportunities.”

The NGLCC’s Diversity Development and Procurement Program (DDPP) works by registering and certifying companies that can prove they are at least 51 percent gay or lesbian owned.

These certified companies are then listed on the NGLCC Internet database, which is accessed by participating heavyweight conglomerates including IBM, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Chase, Motorola, Cendant, Intel, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts and American Airlines.

The NGLCC also sends monthly updates to corporate procurement departments and gives certified GLBT suppliers in-house contact details for participating companies, accessing a network that has until now been untapped.

“More and more companies are understanding that we [the GLBT community] are a viable segment of the population, with a lot to offer,” said Joyce Marieb, executive director of the Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA). “When we get recognized as a community of conscience, that we identify together, work together, we have an incredible amount of buying power; that’s the business case for equality.”

Nelson is keen to emphasize that suppliers of any kind of goods or service can benefit from DDPP certification, which was successfully piloted at the end of last year.

“Anything a corporation purchases and sells to a customer or [uses] to help in their day-to-day operations, they buy from other contractors,” he said. “From paperclips to semi-conductors, advertising to editorial services, anything under the sun. The LGBT supplier certification now puts LGBT businesses into the supply chain and opens the door to corporate contracts.”

The NGLCC was founded three years ago on a commitment to education, certification, representation, exposure, recognition and opportunity for GLBT businesses nationwide.

The NGLCC are also advocates for the GLBT business community in Congress and see 2005 as the year of “implementation and utilization,” spreading the word about their range of financial programs to their 50 affiliated GLBT chambers throughout the U.S.

“The GSDBA has 750 members [and] by linking ourselves with a national organization like the NGLCC, we have more credibility,” Marieb said. “Any time you broaden something from a local level to a national level, you gain in mainstream acceptance, and I mean that in the positive sense.”

Nelson is speaking on behalf of the NGLCC for the Greater San Diego Business Association. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the GSDBA office at (619) 296-4543 or visit this article at www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the NGLCC website.