Thursday, April 3rd, 2003

The Network helps Lower Manhattan businesses

DBN Connects Small Service Firms, Large Companies

Clients and customers. Ask small service companies downtown what they need most right now, and that's the answer you'll get again and again.

So — determined to help rebuild the Lower Manhattan economy — a group of small and midsize business owners have banded together to form the Downtown Business Network, an organization focused on bringing big clients to the small service firms that need them most.

Federal grants and loans have proven crucial to the small service companies struggling to survive the combined challenges of the 9/11 attacks and a sputtering economy. But equally important now is winning back customers. "If you can't reestablish your client base," said network cofounder Barbara Krasne, "it doesn't matter what you got in terms of short term incentives."

With that idea in mind, Krasne, who runs the downtown management consulting firm BK Services, and a handful of other small business owners came together late last spring to devise ways to woo more corporate customers. The Downtown Business Network (DBN) was born.

Forming the centerpiece of the network is an online business-to-business directory, www.downtownbusinessnework.com . Its goal: to become a one-stop resource for large corporations and government agencies seeking qualified service providers across a range of industries.

In coming months, as more downtown businesses join the membership directory, the searchable database will become more robust. Member companies will be able to provide detailed information about their services and capabilities, and interested corporations and agencies will be able to perform specialized searches to meet their particular procurement needs.

It costs nothing to be listed in the online directory, and all small business-to-business service companies south of Canal Street are eligible to participate. "We want there to be absolutely no barrier to membership," said Krasne. "Those least likely to be able to afford any fee initially are the ones who probably need the services the most."

Beyond building the online directory, DBN is also planning several events, including a small procurement fair this spring and a much larger one this fall, that will provide small downtown firms the opportunity to meet face-to-face with procurement officers from local and national corporations and agencies.

"Knocking on the doors of all these procurement officers is incredibly time consuming, particularly if you are scrambling to maintain and grow your small business," said Maia Aron, a member of the network steering committee. "This network, and these events, can help to ease the process."

Aron, who owns a small technology engineering company that recently relocated from midtown to Lower Manhattan, learned of the network before her move. "I got in touch right away," she said. "I thought it was a great idea to have small businesses joining together as part of the rebuilding effort." Her excitement about being part of a downtown renaissance helped her make the decision to relocate, she said, as did government incentives.

With assistance from Pace University, the network is also developing a procurement survey to determine the concerns and needs of local small service companies. "What we are trying to do is aggregate members' concerns so they can be reflected in a unified voice to the procurement community," said Bill Tan, a network steering committee member charged with the survey project. "Then comes the network's real challenge — to efficiently and accurately match the supply and demand from both sides."

Though helping small service firms is DBN's foremost objective, large corporations and agencies stand to gain as well, especially those that are already downtown. "Outsourcing to downtown small businesses keeps the dollars within the community, which is important to every downtown business," said Tan.

Network steering committee members have been in discussions with several large corporations and government agencies, including the Port Authority, American Express and the General Services Administration, which is the procurement arm of the federal government. Though formal partnerships have yet to be established, Tan said, "they are being very supportive of what we are doing and want to help us."

Even large corporations that don't have a strong downtown presence have shown support. Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, Calif., recently committed dollars to underwriting the network's website development, said Krasne. "HP understands very clearly that as a company selling to small businesses, it is very important to support small businesses," she said.

Increasingly, large corporations can expect to leverage DBN's membership to market their own services. The network plans to make it easy for participating corporations to target downtown small businesses through offerings on the online site, as well as through newsletters that will be distributed to its membership. "Companies will not just be helping us for sympathetic reasons," said Tan. "There will be tangible benefits as well."

That said, the success of the network depends on support from the procurement community. "We need more conscientious and resourceful corporations to step up to the plate and fill the void left by companies that have left so that downtown businesses can continue to survive," said Tan.

For more information on how your small downtown service company can join the network or how your large corporation or agency can offer support, please visit www.downtownbusinessnetwork.com .