Month: May 2024

This story was first posted on Hiring Our Heroes. Reposted with permission from Hiring Our Heroes, an initiative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Representing “the best of the best,” Hiring Our Heroes announced five grant recipients for the Small Business Grant Program, an initiative providing a one-time $10,000 grant for selected military-connected entrepreneurs, during a virtual event on April 17.

“We are honored to support these veteran- and military spouse-owned businesses with a grant thanks to the generous support from the FedEx Founder’s Fund, part of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis,” said Hiring Our Heroes President Eric Eversole. “Collectively, the stories and successes of these five small business owners highlight the skill sets veterans and military spouses learn through military service. Skills like leadership and resiliency are just a few of the many qualities they bring to the business community and have led to their success among aspiring entrepreneurs.”

More than 350 small businesses applied for this grant program. Out of the hundreds of applications, a committee selected only five winners based on their business acumen as well as two key characteristics – a dedication to overcoming economic hardships and a commitment to giving back to their communities.

“These grant recipients are committed to doing good in their communities,” Eversole said.

Planning Is Essential for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

During the award presentation, Eversole hosted a conversation with FedEx Founder and Executive Chairman Frederick W. Smith.

Smith served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, which included two tours of duty in Vietnam. His valor and dedication shone brightly during this time in the Marine Corps, where he served as a rifle platoon leader, a company commander and aerial observer/tactical air controller. A few years after completing his military service, he launched the original air-ground Federal Express network to serve the rapidly growing high-tech, high-value-added sectors of the economy.

Smith told Eversole the Marine Corps provided invaluable instruction which shaped both his leadership and management style.

“I found the leadership training invaluable during my service in the Marine Corps, particularly in Vietnam, and the fundamental management in an administrative part of the Marine Corps has been extremely valuable to me in my business career,” he said.

Along with leadership, Smith learned the importance of preparation and planning from the Marine Corps as well. “That’s the part of entrepreneurship that a lot of people ignore at their peril,” he said. “While great planning is important in the military, It’s absolutely essential for an aspiring entrepreneur.”

5 Small Business Grant Recipients

From a Midwest landscaping company to a California-based endurance sports event organizer, the winning small businesses represent the diversity of the military community. It is our honor to introduce you to the five grant recipients.

Bailey’s Child Development and Learning Center – San Antonio, Texas

Owned and operated by a dual-military couple, Bailey’s Child Development and Learning Center opened its doors in 2013 and aims to provide quality, reliable child care to local active-duty military families. The center prepares children to excel in kindergarten and provides homework assistance for school-aged children. Bailey’s has helped its community by providing jobs and training to local high school students. It also facilitated the distribution of free diapers and tuition assistance to families in need.

Easy Day Sports – Coronado, California

This U.S. Navy veteran took a leap of faith when he opened Easy Day Sports. Since then, the company has promoted fitness and community while helping organizations of all sizes host endurance sports events from coast to coast. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Easy Day quickly pivoted to virtual options, and the owner “spent every dollar to keep his team employed.” This year Easy Day Sports will host its annual half marathon benefiting the nonprofit Make-A-Wish foundation, which creates life-changing experiences for children with critical illnesses. They will also host a paddling event to raise money for the families of recently fallen Navy SEALs.

The Right Amount, LLC, doing business as TRA Construction – Baltimore, Maryland

Since 2019, TRA Construction has worked to make affordable homeownership a reality for Baltimore residents in neighborhoods that span the full spectrum of socioeconomic status. Seven months after its initial launch, TRA Construction faced product unavailability and inflated prices, putting projects over budget and behind schedule. Yet, the business continued to grow through careful management. The company hires most of its entry-level employees through YouthBuild, a subsidiary of the Civic Works’ Center for Sustainable Careers. This training program serves young adults who left formal education before graduating high school.

White Knight Labs – Guys Mills, Pennsylvania

White Knight Labs (WKL) is a boutique cybersecurity consultancy specializing in red teaming, web application/cloud penetration testing, and evaluating the security of embedded medical devices. Founded in 2016, the owners of this small start-up admit “staying liquid enough to pay our employees has been an issue,” and they dipped into their personal bank accounts to keep the doors open. WKL is passionate about teaching the next generation of cyber operators and participates in local cybersecurity conferences.

Your Personal Gardener & Arborist – East Troy, Wisconsin

What started as a part-time gig to fill the void between deployments has grown into a full-service landscaping and snow removal company for the owners of Your Personal Gardener & Arborist. In its 13 years of business, the company has overcome many obstacles, including finding qualified employees, rising operation costs, and lengthy wait times for materials during the global pandemic. The company gives back to its community through its “Tree Day of Service,” where Your Personal Gardener provides a free full day of tree care for one deserving veteran. They also mow lawns and remove snow for military families during deployments.

The Best of the Best

The Honorable Patrick Murphy, who served as the 32nd Under Secretary of the U.S. Army and is currently a Hiring Our Heroes Ambassador and Wharton Business School faculty member, served on the award selection committee. During Wednesday’s virtual event, Murphy acknowledged the challenges today’s veterans face when opening a small business.

“Less than 15% of post-9/11 veterans start a small business, and we know 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open,” Murphy said. “Picking the top five winners was not easy. You were the best of the best, and you are all destined for success.”

In conclusion, Smith congratulated the grant recipients on their early success. “I wish you every success in business and hope you have a lot of fun doing it,” Smith said.

Visit FedExCares.com for feature stories about the 2024 Hiring Our Heroes Small Business Grant Program winners in the coming weeks.

As Lenovo 360 Circle expands its community reach to channel partners around the world, participating members share their perspectives on emerging sustainability priorities, critical focus in ESG strategies for the year ahead, and how a collaborative community helps drive success.

For all the increased focus that companies have given to Environmental, Social, and Governance strategies in recent years, implementing a successful strategy around sustainable business practices still remains an elusive goal for many.

The lack of standardization in ESG data and key focus areas like circular economy and emissions reduction means that companies are often using different data sets, aiming for different goals, and navigating a diversity of regulations and policies with inconsistent outcomes and varying levels of effectiveness.

To put it simply – designing, adopting, and implementing a sustainability strategy for your business is a massive undertaking, and many companies often don’t know where, or how, to get started.

Lenovo is helping its global community of channel partners in their own sustainability journeys through the recent launch of its Lenovo 360 Circle community. A sustainability-focused community approach to ESG initiatives, Lenovo 360 Circle helps partners to align on common goals, best practices, and sustainability strategies to offer a collective approach to success as a group, rather than leaving each business to its own journey in isolation.

Since Lenovo 360 Circle opened to global channel partners in 2023, membership has surpassed 2,000 members across 43 countries worldwide, with participating partners ranging from ‘advanced’ with established success to beginners who are looking for inspiration and direction on where to begin their sustainability journey.

Virginie Le Barbu, Lenovo 360 Circle program leader and global sustainability director for international markets at Lenovo, says partners that have joined the community have found clarity and a sense of true direction amid the complex sustainability environment for businesses.

“Sustainability strategies are more effective and achievable when you have multiple parties aiming for the same ‘north star’”, she said. “Lenovo 360 Circle provides a clearer path for partners on what matters, what’s most effective, and provides a sounding board and sense of support because you’re surrounded by peers who are all speaking the same language.”

Partners agree.

“We’re all a part of each other’s ecosystem,” said Suzette Carty, head of global ESG for CDW. “Even though there’s competition, we all know that we need to make a difference not only for our companies, but for the world in general, and I think those two priorities lend themselves to us to being more open to working with each other. The common goal of making sure there’s a world for us – balancing the priorities for now and later – all of us are of this mindset and recognize that we’ve got to do it together.”

“Our participation in Lenovo’s 360 Circle has helped prioritize our ESG initiatives,” said Brian Hicks, senior vice president of product management and operations at Connection. “There are other participating partners that are well down the (sustainability) path, and it’s really helped accelerate our learning so that we can focus on the key actions we need to take. It’s been hugely valuable for us.”

Sustainability priorities are frequently shifting and evolving as the global environment changes over time. As many businesses have established target goals for sustainability initiatives for 2030, 2040, and beyond, Lenovo 360 Circle partners gather regularly in forums throughout the year to raise questions about emerging topics and give perspective on their own business challenges.

Among the top concerns in 2024: circular economy, reducing scope 3 emissions, continued standardization, and an increased focus on social responsibility.”

“As we get closer to the decade of 2030 to 2040 – we’re only 6 years from that 2030 date – we have to make sure that we have things like circular economy in place,” said John Gladstone, sustainability lead for Softcat plc. “I think the call-to-action has already been received from Lenovo, where we look at their asset recovery services work and the work they’re doing around circular economy and refurbished devices and really embracing it. I think 2024 will continue to see that advancement in circular economy and asset recovery services, and the education we see across the channel that it requires for our customers as well.”

“When I think about data, I think about the importance of us really coming together to drive standardization, share how we’re tracking that data, really get on the same page with that across our value chain, I think that’s really critical,” said Adam Rutstein, senior director for corporate citizenship and sustainability at TD SYNNEX. “The regulatory environment is evolving fast and furiously around the world. There’s lots of different requirements out there and I think part of the value of this group also is being able to come together so we can share how each of us are approaching that.”

“What I’m wracking my brain about is human rights,” said Beate Flamm, executive vice president of sustainable change at ALSO. “How can we actually prove that we follow up on human rights along the supply chain, more than just kind of passing the bucket (to suppliers) and saying ‘Can you confirm?’. Legal requirements, like the obligation to report on conflict minerals, that we all know are, up to a certain degree, in products. How can we find a way to manage that? I’m really talking about very, very concrete ways to solve very concrete requirements and problems, and this is where I’d love to focus on in this coming year.”

In the year ahead, Lenovo 360 Circle looks to continue the momentum by welcoming new members to add to the collective expertise of the community.

“Our next steps are very much focused on prioritizing and cultivating strategic partnerships to magnify our impact,” said Le Barbu. “As we move forward, we’ll be looking into topics of upskilling and reskilling individuals within our community, exploring how to better integrate sustainability into our go-to-market sales motions, and more, and we look forward to fostering that spirit of curiosity and creativity in addressing new opportunities, together with our partners.”

Partners can learn more about Lenovo 360 Circle and begin their journey by visiting the Lenovo Partner Hub.