SWam Lab: Doing Business with the Commonwealth of Virginia
Are you a small, women-owned, or minority-owned business who wants to do business with the Commonwealth of Virginia? Small business owners who are looking to participate in Virginia’s specialized procurement and contracting opportunities are encouraged to become SWaM certified. The SWaM certification is a vehicle to promote economic growth of Virginia’s businesses.
Becoming SWaM certified is just the first step in doing business with the Commonwealth. Each year the state buys goods and services totaling more than $8 billion. The Commonwealth of Virginia wants to do business with you and increase participation of small, women owned, and minority-owned businesses.
This workshop will cover the SWaM Program and certification/designation types, on-line application process, required documents needed to apply, and how to use the certification to do business with the Commonwealth. Bring your laptop or tablet to participate in this learning lab.
Speaker: Chris Ley, Business Services Manager, Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity
Chris Ley is a Business Services Manager covering the Northern Virginia region with the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity (SBSD). Prior to joining SBSD, she was a marketing consultant at the Business Development Assistance Group, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping minority business owners. She started working with small businesses in 2007 when she joined a small, women-owned marketing company, Asian Marketing Services, as their Director of Business Development. She then created two successful small business training programs at Northern Virginia Community College: the SWaM program and the Entrepreneur Roadmap program.
Ms. Ley received her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from University of Maryland, College Park and her Master’s in International Marketing from University of Maryland Global Campus.