Team Effort
Businesses unite to fight the millennium glitch.
Last year, while experts nationwide continued to scramble to fix
outdated computer systems that can't recognize dates after
December 31, 1999, minority business advocate Mannie Lopes decided
that he, too, wanted in on the action.
So he created Year 2000 Alliance LLC in Laurel, Maryland. The
company now plays a critical role in the Y2K conversion
operation--and it promotes women- and minority-owned high-tech and
telecommunications businesses in the process.
The alliance helps its members land private-sector and
government contracts. With help from firms like Kym Kennedy's
The Computer Training Company in Richmond, Virginia, alliance
members learn to solve Y2K problems for other companies. To date,
the Alliance's women-owned ventures have already garnered
contracts totaling $24 million. Lopes expects women- and
minority-owned businesses' contract work to reach $350 million
by December 31, 2001.
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Lopes' efforts date back to the 1996 White House Conference
on Small Business, where he was a delegate and the national
coordinator for minority firms. "We bonded at the conference,
and I told [the minority- and women-owned firms] I was going to
keep that alliance together forever," he remembers.
Today, close to 200 firms are Alliance members. "The
crème-de-la-crème of women- and minority-owned tech firms
are in this Alliance, and the ones I don't have are joining as
we speak," Lopes says.
For now, projections say the Y2K problem will be resolved by
2002, but Lopes believes 2005 is a more realistic date. The
alliance should stay strong beyond that time, though, as Lopes
plans to focus on other opportunities in the high-tech field. To
find out whether or not you qualify to become a Year 2000 Alliance
member, call (301) 622-5460.
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