The economic dance the nation has been doing over the past few years left a lot of people and companies maneuvering wildly to sidestep personal disaster and avoid economic ruin. In Detroit, the city that was hit hardest by the financial debacle, that dance became a full-fledged hustle. Valencia Mitchell, president of the Detroit chapter of the National Black MBA Association, took on the task of helping to guide professionals and aspiring professionals through the business and employment maze to emerge successful and financially intact. A year ago, the Ford Motor Company logistics planning supervisor was elected the chapter’s president, and the young woman from Griffin, Ga., is making major headway. –roz edward
What is the goal of the Detroit NBMBAA?
One of the main missions for the organization, as a whole, is to promote intellectual and academic empowerment for African Americans. That’s the basis of what we do in the Detroit chapter, so all of our programs are centered around making sure that our membership and those in the community are provided information and are involved in activities that will help them in their careers or help them with going back to school to get an MBA or some other advanced degree. … We [award] scholarships at the high school and college graduate levels. We also support entrepreneurial development.
Are there programs for students?
Our Leaders of Tomorrow program works with high school students to help them understand the benefits of a business background. Even if they decide they want to be a doctor, they still need to know the business end of things because, essentially, at that point, your practice is your business. So, we teach them those skills they’ll need for their futures.
The Case Competition sees our high school students take a college level [business case], and they analyze and evaluate a case and report out on it. Over the last few years, the national organization has provided additional scholarship monies for Case Competition winners. Our students will be going to Connecticut this year for that competition.
How’s the local economic landscape?
Things are starting to turn around … and, hopefully, over the next few years, things will continue to improve. As an organization to aid in that effort, we make sure to work with companies who are looking to hire. Some of our members find themselves unemployed or underemployed right now, so we want to make sure that we are contributing to them finding jobs as well as getting them access to courses or activities that will help them improve their skills.
How does the Detroit NBMBAA make an impact?
Our theme this year is “Power Up Your Potential.” We’re focusing on people who have been affected by downsizing. As we see the economy start to comeback, we have shifted our emphasis from learning new skills to how to take the skills they’ve learned over the past few years and transition them into new positions. Most of our jobs here in Detroit were related to the automotive industry, but, as the economy changes, people may have to learn to transition their skills into another industry like healthcare or some other type of industry.
On the national level, we have some companies that partner with the national organization, and they may target certain markets to work, so sometimes they contact us. But from a chapter perspective, we partner with local companies in various ways to identify opportunities for our members within their companies and to come in and provide training and information for our members and also to participate in the scholarship program. So, we try to make sure that we match up with the right type of partners.
