BROWARD, FL - In celebration of Small Business Month,
Broward County is pleased to announce that it has joined the South Florida
Anchor Alliance's (SFAA) partnership as one of 11 influential institutions to participate
in a Regional Marketplace. It's an innovative, AI-powered tech platform intended to
create a free, streamlined "one-stop shop" for Broward and Miami-Dade County small
businesses to scale their operations through easier and greater access to
procurement opportunities.
This unique partnership, powered by the Health
Foundation of South Florida, allows participating partners to expand their vendor
resources, while affording registered vendors an environment to nurture and
expand business relationships with a curated group of anchor institutions,
including:
·
Broward
College
·
Broward
County
·
Broward
County Public Schools
·
Broward
Health
·
City
of Miami
·
Florida
International University
·
Jackson
Health System
·
Miami-Dade
County
·
Miami-Dade
County Public Schools
·
University
of Miami
·
University
of Miami Health System
The SFAA, University of Miami and Broward
County will host two launch events for vendors and suppliers to learn how they
can use the Avisare user-friendly platform to unlock procurement opportunities
and increase their visibility to the 11 participating anchor institutions:
· Monday,
May 22 from 9:30-11:30AM, hosted by University of Miami at the Robert and Judi
Prokop Newman Alumni Center, 6200 San Amaro Drive, Coral Gables 33146. Registration
begins at 9AM.
· Thursday,
May 25 from 10:30AM-12:30PM, hosted by Broward County Office of Economic &
Small Business Development (OESBD) at the West Regional Library, 8601 W Broward Blvd, Plantation 33324. Registration begins at
10AM.
Through a $1.38 million investment and the
collective effort of the SFAA and its participating anchors, the Regional
Marketplace promises to simplify the process of large institution contracting. This
initiative is the first in Florida to see anchor institutions come together to
pool contracting opportunities and vendor lists. While the platform is open to
any business, regardless of size, South Florida location or minority
designation, its purpose is to help reduce barriers for small businesses, primarily
those owned by underrepresented minorities.
Local
businesses interested in catapulting their contracting opportunities are
invited to join the Regional Marketplace by visiting southfloridaanchoralliance.org/marketplace/ or
for general information about SFAA, visit southfloridaanchoralliance.org.
ABOUT THE
SOUTH FLORIDA ANCHOR ALLIANCE
The South Florida Anchor Alliance is a
collaborative of regional institutions-hospitals and healthcare systems,
education enterprises and municipalities-coming together to harness their
collective multi-billion-dollar spending power and vast human and intellectual
capital in order to create a more just and inclusive local economy. It was
founded by the Health Foundation of South Florida in partnership with
Citi.
ABOUT HEALTH FOUNDATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA
The mission
of Health Foundation of South Florida is to invest in and be a
catalyst for collaborations and policy and systems changes that improve
the health of South Florida communities, with a focus on vulnerable,
low to moderate-income populations. Established in 1993,
the foundation has awarded more than $131 million to nonprofits that
provide programs and services in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties.
For more information, visit www.hfsf.org or
follow us on Twitter @HealthSFL
ABOUT BROWARD COUNTY OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND SMALL BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT (OESBD)
The Office of Economic and Small Business
Development is responsible for promoting economic development and supporting
Broward County's small businesses. Areas of focus include: workforce
development, business expansion and retention, small business growth, business
development and outreach, international trade and export readiness,
entrepreneurial development, and promoting Broward County as a film
destination. Services are delivered by the agency and through partnerships with
federal, state, local and private sector organizations. The office promotes
equal access to Broward County's procurement opportunities for small business
enterprises in local and federal small business programs and helps position
small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs to take advantage of opportunities
and grow their businesses beyond Broward.
ABOUT AVISARE
Avisare is a procurement and eCertification
SaaS platform built to enable small businesses to compete for public and
private sector contract opportunities. The platform leverages artificial
intelligence to help government entities and private institutions find and
certify vendors while promoting innovation, environmental sustainability, and
diversity in the global supply chain. By
taking the guesswork out of the process, Avisare is the vendor-facing layer in
the procurement stack that can connect with all back-end systems to provide one
seamless, interconnected sourcing and eCertification experience.
MEDIA CONTACT: Monique S. Headley, MSOL
Broward County Office of Economic and Small Business Development
954-357-6400 ext. 8076