...  WBDC/WBENC October 2005 Pittsburgh Meeting

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On October 28, 2005 Abator's President was invited to participate in the Women's Business Development Center/Women's Business Enterprise Council PA/NJ/DE Contacts to Contracts panel discussion. Here's a copy of her remarks:

Good morning.

Incorporated in 1984, and always a WBE, Abator is the resource for quality information technologists and data-centric solutions. The expertise of our 4800+ consultants spans decades across multiple generations of technology in implementing less painful solutions for our government and private industry customers. Abator’s software offerings include:

• Lolopop(R) Project Management Office (PM); Quality Management Office (QMO) and Business Intellegence Tools.
  

• OCAMS(C), a Web-Enabled Federal Child Support Enforcement Reporting solution.
  
  

Abator received its WBDC/WBENC certificate in September 1999. While certification is not a magic passport to opportunity, we have had large corporate customers tell us that the WBENC certificate is the gold standard of certifications because it is the one organization that thoroughly vets and supports its members.

Through WBDC/WBENC, I was able to attend the Tuck School of Business Management Program, sponsored by IBM, in 2003 an amazing experience that I hope many of you will have an opportunity to attend. This program, limited to 50 female entrepreneurs, covered virtually all aspects of business management in an impressively compact and thought provoking manner and in a lovely setting, too. At Tuck, I was able to obtain a fresh perspective, learn from the experiences of my fellow students and make friends with other women that I expect to maintain for the rest of our lives.

The next year, we attended the Women in Business conference in New Orleans, just to see what it was all about. We sat with representatives from the World Bank at breakfast one morning, from which derived an invitation to a mini-MWBE fair at their headquarters in Washington, DC. This was not your normal mini-fair. The World Bank had taken the time to know what the invitees sold and had the actual purchasing managers in place to tell us how to pursue opportunities within their organization. Only fourteen companies were invited to participate and our invitation was a direct result of that chance meeting at WIB2004.

In 2005, we took a booth at the Las Vegas WIB Conference. Over 1000 people visited our booth, and we are continuing to develop meaningful relationships with our top 100 prospects from this event companies such as Halliburton, Bank of America and SBC Communications. We're already planning Abator’s next WIB booth.

You’ll have to do more than simply hold a certificate, or even multiple certificates -- I got extra invitations to attend this event because were certified by Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Department of General Services, the SBA and a host of other states because Abator works internationally. You’ll need to be proactive, attend events and network with your WBDC/WBENC sponsors and co-members to use your certification as an important tool in building your business. It will be worth your efforts.

Thank you for your time.