Marina Zdobnova is the Small Business Officer for the University of California Los Angeles. She developed a plan to increase small and diverse business utilization, beginning with developing a policy requiring purchasing from diverse businesses a requirement. The Small Business First program prioritizes small and diverse suppliers for purchases in the $10,000-$250,000 range. The second step was to grow resources for purchasing professionals, which included the creation of a database of small and diverse suppliers. Next was the development of awareness opportunities, like holding town halls and featuring suppliers in newsletters.
Marina then contacted all suppliers to ask them to self-identify and get certified, if necessary. She invited existing and prospective suppliers to the Small and Diverse Business Google Group to learn about and participate in various diversity initiatives. The final step in the plan was the development of the Diverse Business Utilization Report, which is shared with internal stakeholders and purchasing decision-makers. Some other actions Marina has undertaken include the implementation of PaymentWorks, a vendor onboarding platform, and offering certification assistance. She hosted the Small Business Certification workshop at UCLA.