Software House International, Burt Automotive lead off fifth annual "Div500" list from DiversityBusiness.com
Southport, CT — November 1, 2004 — DiversityBusiness.com, a multicultural B2B online portal, has announced the Div500, the fifth annual listing of the nation's top 500 diversity-owned businesses.
Ranging in revenue size from $20 million to over $1 billion, the companies listed on the Div500 represent the nation's top multicultural earners and challenge the long-held notion that diversity-owned businesses are small or insignificant, DiversityBusiness.com said in announcing the list of winners.
At the top of 2004's Div500 are Software House International, headquartered in Somerset, N.J., with $2.1 billion in 2003 revenues; Burt Automotive, based in Centennial, Colo., with $1.7 billion in 2003 revenues; Omega World Travel, based in Fairfax, Va., with $1 billion in 2003 revenues; and World Wide Technology, headquartered in St. Louis, with $1.1 billion in 2003 revenues.
These four businesses are Asian Pacific American-, Hispanic-, woman- and African American-owned, respectively. The top companies will be honored at a special awards ceremony at DiversityBusiness.com's Fifth Annual Multicultural Business Conference, taking place March 30 - April 1, 2005, at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn..
"Diversity-owned businesses contribute over $1.4 trillion in sales to the U.S. economy," said Kenton Clarke, CEO of Computer Consulting Associates International, the company that built DiversityBusiness.com. "It is no longer just 'the right thing' to do business with diversity suppliers. Because of recent economic and demographic trends and changes, major corporations are realizing that having a diverse supplier list positively impacts their business."
The Div500 is a classification that represents the top 500 diversity-owned (women, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Indian and other minority groups) businesses in the United States, covering such sectors as technology, manufacturing, food service and professional services.
According to DiversityBusiness.com, corporations, government agencies and college/universities throughout the country that do business with multicultural and women-owned businesses use the Div500 list.
"The Div500 companies are the heroes of diversity-owned business in America," said Clarke. "These are the people that have conquered the hurdles and made the sacrifices, building and strengthening their communities, providing jobs and helping to keep the fabric of the U.S. economy together."
The complete list of winning companies is available on the DiversityBusiness.com Web site.
Launched in 1999, DiversityBusiness.com, with over 26,000 members, stakes a claim as the largest organization of diversity-owned businesses throughout the United States that provide goods and services to Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and colleges and universities.
For an in-depth look at how supplier diversity and supply chain enablement initiatives are coexisting within the enterprise today, see the article "Supplier Diversity and e-Procurement: Why Your Initiatives Are Not At Odds" in the August 2001 issue of iSource Business (now Supply & Demand Chain Executive).
Southport, CT — November 1, 2004 — DiversityBusiness.com, a multicultural B2B online portal, has announced the Div500, the fifth annual listing of the nation's top 500 diversity-owned businesses.
Ranging in revenue size from $20 million to over $1 billion, the companies listed on the Div500 represent the nation's top multicultural earners and challenge the long-held notion that diversity-owned businesses are small or insignificant, DiversityBusiness.com said in announcing the list of winners.
At the top of 2004's Div500 are Software House International, headquartered in Somerset, N.J., with $2.1 billion in 2003 revenues; Burt Automotive, based in Centennial, Colo., with $1.7 billion in 2003 revenues; Omega World Travel, based in Fairfax, Va., with $1 billion in 2003 revenues; and World Wide Technology, headquartered in St. Louis, with $1.1 billion in 2003 revenues.
These four businesses are Asian Pacific American-, Hispanic-, woman- and African American-owned, respectively. The top companies will be honored at a special awards ceremony at DiversityBusiness.com's Fifth Annual Multicultural Business Conference, taking place March 30 - April 1, 2005, at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn..
"Diversity-owned businesses contribute over $1.4 trillion in sales to the U.S. economy," said Kenton Clarke, CEO of Computer Consulting Associates International, the company that built DiversityBusiness.com. "It is no longer just 'the right thing' to do business with diversity suppliers. Because of recent economic and demographic trends and changes, major corporations are realizing that having a diverse supplier list positively impacts their business."
The Div500 is a classification that represents the top 500 diversity-owned (women, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Indian and other minority groups) businesses in the United States, covering such sectors as technology, manufacturing, food service and professional services.
According to DiversityBusiness.com, corporations, government agencies and college/universities throughout the country that do business with multicultural and women-owned businesses use the Div500 list.
"The Div500 companies are the heroes of diversity-owned business in America," said Clarke. "These are the people that have conquered the hurdles and made the sacrifices, building and strengthening their communities, providing jobs and helping to keep the fabric of the U.S. economy together."
The complete list of winning companies is available on the DiversityBusiness.com Web site.
Launched in 1999, DiversityBusiness.com, with over 26,000 members, stakes a claim as the largest organization of diversity-owned businesses throughout the United States that provide goods and services to Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and colleges and universities.
For an in-depth look at how supplier diversity and supply chain enablement initiatives are coexisting within the enterprise today, see the article "Supplier Diversity and e-Procurement: Why Your Initiatives Are Not At Odds" in the August 2001 issue of iSource Business (now Supply & Demand Chain Executive).
