##VIDEO ID:ozh9-puNvTw## so good morning and thank you for coming I'm Jennifer AC I'm the mayor of Bernard's Township and we are so pleased to work with the brba the Basking Ridge business Alliance to bring together this certification Workshop um how we got here actually is because of the wonderful Somerset County Eda which we have two representatives in the back Jessica and Ben so thanks to their support this year that I've been working with them and they gave us a heads up that there's this resource that exists and so next thing you know we're we're speaking with Don and his team to come to us so this is something that um isn't often done so we feel very special for them to travel from throughout the state to come and and spend with our businesses so what we are going to do is we are going to um have Don speak about the benefits of of seeking state certification for women's own businesses veterans owned businesses minority owned businesses Etc and then after that then we will transition into the workshop portion where um thanks to chrisy and her staff she reached out to the businesses that rsvpd and encouraged you to bring documents and things so hopefully um you have all of the information with you with your laptops you'll work with the wonderful state folks and they will help help you to achieve your state certification as for coming today so with that may I turn it over to Don thank you thank you mayor and and thank you all for being here thanking uh so I'm with the New Jersey business Action Center uh so let me explain to you what that is and who we are and then I'll talk a little bit about the certifications that we're here to talk to you know that we're here to help you with so the business Action Center we're business Advocates with the state we're part of the Secretary of State's office so my boss is Lieutenant Governor Taisha we who also serves as a secretary of state and our executive director uh Melanie Willoughby um I am the manager of the office of small business advocacy uh so I'm just going to very very quickly talk to you about the other offices so we have a a business advocacy team they work on find helping you find real estate and uh developing a piece of real estate getting through the regulatory processes from the D and the do and you know so that's kind of their Niche uh we also have an export team that helps businesses that want to become exporters if you're new to especially small businesses and new to exports so we have a grant program that help businesses go to trade shows we we brought a bunch of of food manufacturers to Fancy Food Show this year and last year uh so if you're uh even a small small business that takes orders over online uh who gets one from somebody in Canada is now an exporter and only uh 2% of the world's consumers live in the United States so export is a great way to expand your business we have that team uh we also have a couple of teams that don't work with businesses but work with your community to to help your business Community as a whole and that is our business enhancement group that does works with uh Special Districts so special Improvement districts business bids downtown alliances um any kind of uh uee's any kind of special district they work with that leadership to help them enhance uh the business Community as a whole uh if they run into a business that needs help they send them to mate uh and then we also have a new uh group that's about to launch and that is our cannabis training academy uh we have spent the last two years putting together a significant cannabis training program all online free to any New Jersey resident over the age of 21 who wants to get into the Cannabis industry so uh we uh that's going to be launching this month um so that's something that we can talk about offline if you're interested in getting into that industry but today we're really talk oh and I want to talk about my own unit small business so what we do is we help with unique needs of small businesses so that could be getting mentoring and counseling services technical assistance um there's I'm going to talk talk a little bit about technical assistance in a second uh we also can help you find Financial Resources navigate state government get your certifications like we're doing today um get your licensing if you're in a licensed profession whatever your needs are as a small business you can reach out to us and we can help you navigate that process the two ways to reach us is through a website called business. nj.gov and I do have a a little flyer there with a QR code to that site that's the Business site for the state and there's a live chat feature on that site where you click on it and you can during business hours you can communicate with a a state business representative to answer your questions those State business Representatives work for me that's we we run that site but through that site we can also connect you to somebody from the division of taxation the Department of Labor The Economic Development Authority and if you're interested in learning about what all them do just come and see me later I won't waste your time to uh during the speech we also um you can also call us at 1800 jersey 7 uh which is our call center the oldfashioned way to contact us um so either way is a way to reach out to the business action center you can reach out to us there is no wrong door so if you call me uh as a small business Advocate and you have a question about exporting you haven't called the wrong place I'm going to connect you to our export team that have the expertise to answer your question question and that's what we do before you leave we recently published a a business manual which is about a 30 page condensed basically condensed version of the business. nj.gov site uh and I've left a q I only brought one manual with me but there's a QR code there you can scan to either download an electronic copy of this or you can order a uh a copy through the website and we'll send you a printed copy uh this is a uh for uh especially small businesses uh this is a great little resource for you all right so but we're here today to talk about the certifications I'm not going to go through all the certifications in depth I'm going to let Anna do that um but you know we do offer SB MBE wbe V DV uh I what am I forget lgbtq and the newest one which is the um uh uh socially and economically disadvantaged businesses um there are uh several advantages for having these things uh having these certifications the big one of the big ones all these certifications were originally created for government procurement getting contracts with the government so an SBE a small business Enterprise there is a 25% set aside for State Contracting dollars so the purchase order dollars the the purchase order uh uh 25% of all the purchase order money that the state spends goes to small business enterprises all right so that's a big Advantage for you to get State contracts now the most common way you're going to get a state contract if you're interested is going to be as a subcontractor you're not going to get a if you're a small business you're not going to get a contract to build a new building but you may be able to get a contract to be the carpet installer in that building or to provide the uh construction trailer to lease the construction trailer to the company that is building that building um and those contractors have the same set aside provision in their contracts a 25% set aside for subcontractors so that's where you can get some advantages of getting the U getting these certifications by the way the SBE for those of you that can qualif that qualify for an SBE you could walk out here of here today with that certifications all the other certifications are going to have to be reviewed by an auditor so you're going to walk out of here with confirmation hopefully that you've submitted your application but they still have to be reviewed so you're not going to get those certifications today but you can walk out of here with the SB certification uh the other set aside we have is for service disabled veteran owned businesses there's a 3% set aside now there are not set asides for women and minority owned businesses because the state is under a court order injunction we can't do set asides based on gender or race but there's still value to these certifications uh one there are some counties that have set asdes so you still you may be able to get work with a county organization there's also um uh Supplier Diversity teams from private sector companies so that Supplier Diversity offices that they don't use the word set aside because they don't want to get sued like the state did but they do want they they have a mission of making sure that their supply chain is as diverse as possible so there's opportunities to go after those contracts uh with with the private sector groups to do that so if you want to be the uh the uh janitorial service the cleaning service for the local bank call the bank and see see if there's an opportunity for you as a small business to be to provide that service to them there's also um uh there's also some other benefits I mentioned cannabis before uh diversely owned businesses can get a uh that they have a sort of a fast track to get cannabis licenses so there's some advantages there uh there are some lending institutions that look towards people that hold these certifications sometimes they're just self- declared but some sometimes they want to see the certifications that might be able to help you so there are some opportunities outside of the government uh Government Contracting for holding these certifications I used to say tell people you know it's 100 bucks to get the certification you want to make sure that you know although that's not expensive uh overall it it you know you want to make sure that you it's worth the investment the fees have been waved so now the only investment is the few minutes you're going to spend on the computer today making your cert applying for your certification so nowadays get it because the other reason why it's valuable is because some people like to do business with those that hold these certifications uh as a good you know uh uh good citizen uh you may want to do business with somebody who's a certified small business or you may want to do business with somebody who's a a certified women or minority owned business or lgbtq business or veteran owned business uh I get a lot of uh people asking about veteran owned businesses people really want to do business with them so get the certifications that you qualify for because they can help you just in your Market uh uh even if and and again no cost to you so even if it um you don't have a real you know uh uh you like a set aside or anything associated with it it can help you with marketing now my last message is this I've already told you that the SB and get you is is helps you get State contracts uh and County contracts and other contracts however I want to make sure you all understand that the contracts do not come to your door just because you're an SBA here's the way I the the analogy I like to use these certifications are I used to say there a tool in your toolbx I hate that analogy because it's so overused so here's the one I like to use now it's the key to the gym it's the membership card to the gym it gets you in the gym but where is the hard work done when you're going to a gym is it getting in the door or is it what happens after you're in and the hard work that you have to do to go after these contracts the hard work that you have to do to Market your company that's where the work comes in this part is going to be the easiest part but it gets you through that door to get you into some of these Contracting opportunities as a certified women might ear their own business small business LGBT veteran etc etc so that's what this is all about is getting you into that gym so where you have the hard work to do now I mentioned up front that I was going to talk to you a little bit more about technical assistance and mentoring if you want to learn how to get these contracts there are two great resources for you one is the New Jersey Small Business Development Centers they can help you learn about government procurement and how to go after these contracts and take my business card over here I'll make those connections to you to that organization we help Finance them they also get money from the SBA so they're not going to charge you anything this is a free I always yell at people when they use that word free it's not a free service it's a service you've already paid for because it's it's a service that comes out of your taxes so you've already paid for it you might as well take advantage of it uh because your competitors certainly will and the other organization that can help you is called Apex accelerator the one in this area would be out of New Jersey in that covers this area is a New Jersey Institute of Technology they cover 20 of the 21 counties the only one that they don't cover is Union uh but that is a program financed by the um US Department of Defense uh they used to be called the procurement technical assistance center which I think is a more uh informative title because it's procurement technical assistance um now they're called Apex accelerator because some marketing person decided to rename them um but they because they they are with the Department of Defense so they do skill a little bit towards federal Contracting which I'm haven't really discussed here today but they also help you with Contracting at every other level so if you're serious about going after government contracts and if that's why you're looking for these certifications talk to me let's make connections to you to the Apex accelerator to the Small Business Development Center let's get you on to uh the uh NJ start system and the other procurement process that you need to go through this is step one this is going to get you through that gym door now you have to do the work to go after these contracts and it's going to take you about a year to get your the average to is about a year to get your first contract so we have a lot more discussions to have and you can take my business card and I'm happy to have those discussions with you so that you learn about this process so that's where we're going today again I didn't get into the details of each of the certifications I'm going to leave that to Anna uh Anna Anna is a uh an old friend who actually uh years ago uh when we were all part of the Commerce Commission I was actually her supervisor for a short period of time um but we've parted went in different directions in state government so she's now with the treasury Department and she's a certification auditor so she does the certification so Anna villigan I have a a niece with Anna with the name same spelling so I tried I end up calling her Anna instead of Anna but Anna villig is from uh the treasury Department she's going to have to speak to you and we also have here Dela Smith who is also from the treasury Department who can help with those sort uh some of your uh registration questions that you may have so they're going to be the sort of the go-to people on the uh for your questions as you go through this but this is a selfservice thing you're going to be logging in and filling out the paperwork and and and move it along but they'll help you with that but anyway but I want to bring up Anna to talk a little bit about some of the uh uh Pro the certifications that you're going to be applying for today good morning um my name is Anna vagran and I'm a certification auditor at the Department of Treasury the Department of Treasury is the one in charge of the certification unit um the unit that takes care of all the programs that Don was talking about and I'm just going to give you a brief um of because I believe you already received some type of uh requirements or about each program so I'm just going to give you a brief and then at the end you know I'm going to be helping out there and if you have any specific question I'll be more than happy to help you um the first program is the small business uh Enterprise which is called the SBE for that one you have to be based in New Jersey uh you have to be you have to have less than 100 employees and your gross revenue must be uh actually related to your naics code the North American industrial classification code and that code has a limit and that's what it goes by with the industry of your company um once uh you have to be for profit also and actually before moving forward before you do any of this certification you have to be properly registered okay you must have the business registration certificate your information document before you come to the system and apply for this okay and for that we have DEA here if you have any questions about it um so the small business once you are approved you will receive a certificate for five years okay the five years you have to maintain with an annual verification and you have to do that's very important that you do you file your annual verification because if you don't then the certificate that you will have will not be valid it's a every is an annual verification um the other one about SB is uh the you have to be for profit yes so now I'm going to move to the minority and women own business okay uh for that one you have to be 51% own managed and controlled by a woman or a or a minority and also that one must be for profit for that appli for that certificate the first time you apply you will get a onee certification okay before that certificate expired you have to apply again for the for the renewal once you apply you will get a fiveyear certification but you have to apply before expire because if not you will become again a new applicant and um once you get this 5e certificate you also um have to do the annual verification as well uh then the other one is the veteran own business uh that one uh you the business and the owner must reside in New Jersey must be New Jersey resident okay and that one you also have a requirement to do once you are approved you will have to you will get a certificate for five years okay um the difference is that the small business you will get a certificate right away once it's approved but the minority women on business disabl veteran own business veteran on business all of them have to be reviewed by the auditor okay and then also but like like Dan said we're here today so we can help you go through that process and um the other we also have this the the new program the socially economical disadvantage that's the SCB and this that's actually the new one and we're working we're receiving applications about that those also and you can also learn about that it's a it's a new program already acting okay um I believe that's all I can say about the programs uh I will be there uh helping you if you need any help and you can also take my business card at the end in case you need anything else after thank you so so if you just give the website that they can go to the mhm the website is w www. NJ portal.com for/ d o r d as inductor o r forway SL SB s is a small B small business Enterprise SB registry registry so so is that www.njportal.com for SL b o r for SL SBE registry reg y uh this is on a flyer that they have over their desk so you can copy of that if you need it um so you know just start the application uh it's really pretty self-explanatory as you go through the application um and then when you uh when you complete the application uh you can uh or if you have any questions while you're doing this application uh they'll be here to answer those questions and you also have the um the uh unfortunately you don't have the ability to print out your SB today but you you'll you'll have it and you'll be able to print it out later and I brought you a little folder that you can stick it in so you have a nice little folder to stick it in I can put the business Action Center information on it um but that's so that's really where it is so it's this is really a self-service type of thing you just fill this out yourself uh but we are here to help help you answer any questions and and uh you know uh come get through any issues that you may have I I I assume everyone's connected to the Wi-Fi um you you'll yeah you'll need to set up an accountant an account rather with a username and password that's all pretty straightforward stuff though but we're happy to help you with it okay I'm sorry did you want to speak oh okay oh have yeah so this should conclude the recording portion um that way we can use this video to share with others again tremendous gratitude to our state colleagues for traveling and come to spend uh the morning with us um to to lead this entire effort again a huge thank you to our colleagues at Somerset County um for this idea and thank you to each and every one of you for coming in and and giving this a shot so we look forward to um seeing how we progress and perhaps share the word uh with our other businesses here in Bernard's Township so thank you all I'm expecting a lot of