D2D Program Connects Detroit Suppliers to Big Buyers

A new platform in Detroit is aiming to strengthen the city’s business community by connecting suppliers with potential clients, the latest move to pull the city out of financial turmoil.

D2D, which stands for Detroit to Detroit, is part of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and stands as a tool through which SME suppliers in the city can access big buyers. The program currently connects 17 major buying corporations, reports say, with hundreds of Detroit-based suppliers through networking events.

According to the DEGC, D2D is pushing for these buyers to boost their spending on Detroit business from $550 million to more than $800 million within a year, a figure that could grow even more, according to DEGC President and CEO Rodrick Miller, which spoke to DetroitUnspun. “We have the potential to bring that total to more than $1 billion,” he said.

Reports say that at the most recent D2D event, nine buyers with 200 procurement opportunities connected with 280 potential suppliers. While the event led to 180 interviews between the buyers and suppliers, Miller said the program is quite organized.

“This event represents a very targeted approach,” Miller said. “We have identified the specific needs of large buying institutions in the city and companies that can fill those gaps. It is not a free-for-all.

The city’s Chief Procurement Officer Boysie Jackson said that Detroit alone offered dozens of contracting opportunities for local suppliers.

In addition to matching big buyers with potential Detroit suppliers, the D2D Opportunity event offers other resources for the city’s small businesses. Organizations with goals similar to those of the DEGC were also in attendance, including the Resource Corridor, which offered insight into the products and services potential buyers could access, as well as the Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce, which was a partner of the D2D event.

The event, the Commerce’s CEO Ken Harris said, is an opportunity for significant economic growth in Detroit. “If we can figure out how to get these opportunities to these neighborhoods and businesses, we can revitalize our economy and help the city repopulate and grow,” he said. The Commerce represents 30,000 minority-owned and run small businesses in Detroit.

The city has been the focus of efforts to prop up small businesses in recent years. Last October, the Detroit Microloan Collaborative launched as a resource for small businesses in the city to access loans and working capital.​