Tag: Siemens

Georgia MBDA Business Center and Siemens USA Announce Winners of Siemens Entrepreneurship Grants

Gavin Ireland, founder of Georgia Green Energy Services, gives a presentation to Siemens and Georgia Tech leaders. (Photo: Allison L. Carter)

Georgia Green Energy Services, an Atlanta-based firm in the electrical construction industry, was recently awarded $20,000 from Siemens USA as part of the technology company’s ongoing commitment to expanding vendor diversity in the supply chain.

Founded by Gavin Ireland in 2007, Georgia Green Energy Services is one of nine Black-owned businesses across the country awarded the $20,000 Siemens Entrepreneurship Grant. The companies will join Siemens’ supplier database, which is comprised of more than 3,700 small and diverse businesses. That business segment represents more than a quarter of Siemens’ entire supplier base.

“What Siemens is doing is important because it’s impactful for the community and for business owners to be able to see that large corporations are making make these investments,” Ireland said. “It means a lot to me. A lot of times, as minority businesses, we have to work with limited resources, so this investment in us is very important.”

Siemens’ announcement was in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Georgia MBDA Business Center at Georgia Tech.

The nine winning recipient businesses were selected from U.S. cities where Siemens has a significant footprint: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and Sacramento. These grants, now totaling $320,000 over the past two years, complement the nearly $1 billion that Siemens USA spends annually doing business with small and diverse-owned firms.

“What we’re seeking are those minority enterprises that deserve to be highlighted within the whole network — the people who are really making a difference and showing the way and working on things that are absolutely essential to our future,” said Siemens CEO Barbara Humpton during a recent visit to Georgia Tech’s campus, where the announcement was made. “This is about being in a network

From left, Gavin Ireland, 2022 Atlanta Siemens Grant recipient; Leonard Wright, 2021 Atlanta recipient; Siemens USA CEO Barbara Humpton; Donna M. Ennis, director of the Georgia MBDA Business Center at Georgia Tech’s ’s Enterprise Innovation Institute; Patric Stadtfeld, Siemens USA head of Supply Chain Management for the Americas; David Bridges, vice president of the Enterprise Innovation Institute, and Jennifer Pasley Georgia MBDA Business Center program manager. (Photo: Allison L. Carter)

together and working together to create change.”

In January 2022, MBDA Business Centers in those cities nominated 37 Black-owned businesses to apply for the Siemens grants. Nominees were selected based on criteria and specialties that aligned with industry demand: preventative and predictive maintenance, fire and security, electrical, construction, rail and transport, mobility solutions, and facilities and project management. The Georgia MBDA Business Center evaluated and selected the winners.

In addition to Georgia Green Energy Services, the other selected businesses are:

  • Maven Construction – Boston
  • E-Fix Housing Solutions – Charlotte
  • GCC Enterprises, LLC – Dallas
  • Onyx Enterprise, Inc. – Detroit
  • Arbor Electrical Service, Inc. – Miami
  • Evans Electrical Services, Inc. – New York
  • A M Electric, Inc. – Philadelphia
  • AHI Construction, Inc. – Sacramento

“Siemens continues to show its commitment to Black-owned businesses through the Siemens Entrepreneurship Grant,” said Donna M. Ennis, C.P.F., director of the Georgia MBDA Business Center and director of Diversity Engagement and Program Development at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. “The business community recognizes the importance of diversity and its economic impact on communities,” she said, noting that Georgia Green Energy Services is among the Georgia MBDA Business Center’s roster of clients.

“Grants and commitments like these not only provide a critical mechanism to enhance businesses’ viability through these challenging times, but to grow and thrive.”

Siemens to Award $140K in Grants to Black-Owned Businesses Across Seven U.S. Metropolitan Cities

Effort is to support the building of more resilient supply chains and is in partnership
with the Atlanta Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Centers at Georgia Tech.

 

Siemens Logo

Siemens USA announced it will provide a total of $140,000 in grants to Black-owned businesses to support diversity and inclusion in entrepreneurship and business development. Siemens and its partner, the Atlanta MBDA Business and Advanced Manufacturing Centers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will select businesses to receive the grants across seven U.S. cities including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Orlando and Pasadena.

 

“To build resilient supply chains, and to expand our own business opportunities, we need a marketplace that’s diverse and inclusive,” said Nichelle Grant, head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Siemens USA. “These grants are intended to help Black-owned companies develop their businesses to be in the best position to compete for contracts and become part of supplier bases like ours.”

 

The minority business community, and Black-owned businesses in particular, have experienced numerous hardships during this time of the pandemic, social unrest and economic downturn. The Siemens grants demonstrate the company’s support of minority businesses and mission to advance supplier diversity.

 

“For many years, Siemens Supply Chain Management has strategically sourced from diverse businesses to benefit from the innovation and creativity these suppliers have to offer.  Any resilient and successful supply chain needs to invest in cultural diversity as part of its vision,” said Patric Stadtfeld, head of Supply Chain Management for the Americas, Siemens USA. “We’re proud to continue supporting and growing our supplier base of more than 6,000 small and diverse businesses.”

Donna Ennis is project director of the Atlanta MBDA Centers’ at Georgia Tech.

 

The MBDA Centers will nominate up to five businesses for the grants in each city based on their financial challenges and alignment with Siemens’ supply chain needs, and all candidates will be entered into Siemens’ supplier database. Grants in the amount of $20,000 will be awarded to each of the seven winners in late February. The seven cities were chosen based on Siemens footprint and supplier partner needs.

 

“The MBDA Centers are proud to partner with Siemens as the company strategically provides financial support to minority-owned businesses during this critical time,” said Donna Ennis, director of the Atlanta MBDA Business and Advanced Manufacturing Centers.  “By providing the support our businesses need during these unique times, Siemens further demonstrates its commitment to greater diversity within the marketplace and an understanding of the importance of Black-owned businesses to the overall health of the today’s business climate and economy.”

 

These grants align with Siemens’ ongoing commitment to drive meaningful, measurable impact towards closing the opportunity gap in the Black business community. The company recently expanded its longtime partnership with the National Center for Civil and Human Rights (NCCHR) in Atlanta by offering guided virtual tours for employees and HBCU students to explore the powerful exhibits of social change. The company and its partners also deployed its air filtration and thermal imaging technology at NCCHR to help them remain open safely to the public during COVID-19.

 

This mission is also advanced through the work of the Siemens Foundation, the non-profit organization established by Siemens USA, and its recent $2 million pledge to Community Development Financial Institutions Funds to support social and economic equity in racially diverse communities. The Foundation, with support from Siemens Healthineers, also committed $2 million to 20 community health centers across the country to help them respond to the COVID-19 crisis and continue to provide care for millions of Americans in underserved populations. Additional donations are supporting historically black colleges and universities in their plans to safely reopen campuses.

 

About Siemens Corp.
Siemens Corp. is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 170 years. Active around the world, the company focuses on intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems and on automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries. Siemens brings together the digital and physical worlds to benefit customers and society. Through Mobility, a leading supplier of intelligent mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is helping to shape the world market for passenger and freight services. Via its majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, Siemens is also a world-leading supplier of medical technology and digital health services. In addition, Siemens holds a minority stake in Siemens Energy, a global leader in the transmission and generation of electrical power that has been listed on the stock exchange since September 28, 2020. In fiscal 2020, Siemens Group USA generated revenue of $17 billion and employs approximately 40,000 people serving customers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

 

About the Atlanta MBDA Centers
As part of a national network of over 40 centers and special projects, the Atlanta MBDA Business and Advanced Manufacturing Centers help minority business enterprises access capital, increase profitability, and scale their businesses. Funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency, the Atlanta MBDA Centers are part of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive university-based program of business and industry assistance, technology commercialization, and economic development. To learn more, visit mbdabusinesscenter-atlanta.org.