MOVING RIGHT ALONG

The Emerging Business Program continues to gain momentum as its second workshop looms

By Hy Cotten

January 20, 2010

FACES OF THE EFFORT: The Emerging Business Program’s Co-Chairs are Emmitt Smith and Gina Puente-Brancato.

The emergence of the Emerging Business Program for North Texas’ first Super Bowl promises to be one of the ongoing, magical stories of early 2010.

A second of three Emerging Business Workshops is planned for Cowboys Stadium, 9 a.m. on Feb. 25, when a stunning 1,000 women and minority business owners are expected to attend. No EBP workshop in Super Bowl history has eclipsed the 1,000 mark. The North Texas version of the program is sponsored by Texas Instruments.

The third and final workshop is set for April 6 in Dallas at the Black Academy of Arts & Letters. By then, a very important deadline will have passed.

(Important Notice to All Interested Parties: Businesses must be registered online by March 31 if you wish to participate in North Texas’ first ever Super Bowl)

These final two workshops should ride the snowball effect of the first blockbuster put on by the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee at Fort Worth’s Convention Center last October. That one drew a remarkable 690 business owners -- not too shabby for a first-time ever event. The Emerging Business Program database was just cranking up back then.

Each workshop has its own theme and will tackle different subject matters, therefore encouraging business owners to attend all three, if they wish.

“This second workshop is called ‘Training Camp’,” said Robbie Douglas, who heads up the entire Emerging Business effort for the Host Committee. “The first one was called ‘Game Plan’ because we wanted to educate people about what the Emerging Business Program is. We wanted to explain how the process works, detail the opportunities available and inform them on what they needed to do to be eligible.

“This next one at Cowboys Stadium is called ‘Training Camp’ because we will focus more on specific topics and get more in-depth. We’ll have NFL contractors there, and we’re going to talk about possible obstacles and hurdles for businesses who participate.”

Also offering advice will be experts from the banking industry, to discuss funding and capitalization; from the insurance industry, to talk about bonding; and, NFL representatives will detail licensing and merchandising programs.

Based on the popularity of the database and the number of those enrolling in the Emerging Business Program at northtexassuperbowl.com, Douglas anticipates a boom in interest.

“We already have 1,026 businesses registered on our website,” she said, “and that is more than any previous Super Bowl had registered at this same time in the process.”

Robert Spector, Business Development Coordinator, joins Douglas in this enormous undertaking. Also, Gina Puente-Brancato and Emmitt Smith are Co-Chairs of the Host Committee’s Emerging Business Action Team, a group of North Texas business professionals committed to excellence.

“What’s great about it is that Emmitt and Gina both take their roles very seriously,” Douglas said. “They’re both local business owners and entrepreneurs, and they have been very hands-on, setting goals that we want to achieve as an Action Team that will put North Texas ahead of anything that’s ever been accomplished with a Super Bowl Emerging Business Program.”

The first workshop in Fort Worth certainly provided the spark.

“We received a lot of feedback from people,” Douglas said. “Everyone was very excited. They were engaged by the information presented.

“I think this second workshop will include a mix of those who attended the first workshop and other business owners who are newly engaged. We’ll be able to talk to both audiences.”

Once this season’s Super Bowl in South Florida has been played next month, everyone associated with the North Texas Host Committee anticipates an accelerated emphasis on all aspects of Super Bowl XLV because it will then officially be on the clock.

“My counterparts in other cities on other Host Committees say it picks up dramatically,” Douglas said. “Momentum has built even more with the Cowboys’ winning season. So I think the sense of urgency, especially with the Emerging Businesses, will be much more pronounced. They’ll realize that they need to get things in order because deadlines will be fast approaching.”

The deadline of all deadlines is March 31.

“That is when online registration closes,” Douglas said. “If a business has not registered online with us by March 31 they will forever lose out on any kind of procurement opportunity.”

Meanwhile, the excitement mounts and the focus turns to Cowboys Stadium in late February.