Toyota and minorities. Trump and Hillary. Peanut butter and sauerkraut. What do all these have in common? Well, not much. The last two would never go together in any universe, but the first one, that is something of a reality. The Japanese car maker has hosted its second annual diversity event (in North Texas of all places). If you didn’t even know that event was a thing, you are far from a…minority. See what I did there? Well here are a few more facts to blow your mind.
1. THE MBE AND WBE EXPLAINED
To the untrained eye, the MBE and WBE are just a couple of acronyms. In reality, they’re the Minority Business Enterprise and Women Business Enterprises respectively. As one can assume, networking with these two groups is valuable. That’s just what Toyota did. They connected them with their suppliers and gave them access to sales, marketing and professional services.
2. TOYOTA’S NEW HOME WILL BE IN DALLAS TEXAS
Talk about diversity. Toyota, a Japanese company, holds a minority conference in Dallas-Fort Worth, possibly the most American place on Earth. The forum has been praised as a commitment to diversity and inclusion among the companies partners.
3. MINORITIES BRAG ABOUT HOW THEY WON BUSINESS
So what goes on in these minority meetings? The day-long event started with a morning session as representatives discussed how they won business from Toyota. Picture a bunch of women and minorities bragging about how they won over the company, and you have a slightly more cynical view of what actually happened.
4. MINORITIES WERE PUT TO THE TEST
After strategically placing these minorities in their “bragging rights arena” Toyota eventually put them to the test. That morning session was simply a pre-cursor to what was to come. The afternoon session put the learning from the morning into action. This gave attendees a chance to network through a tradeshow featuring the top suppliers.
5. MINORITIES ARE EQUAL IN THE EYES OF JAPAN
According to the Japanese carmaker, minorities are not only equal, but they deserve a say in the success of their company. Due to the popularity of these conferences and the profits the company makes, it’s safe to say that minorities have a place in the future of the auto industry. It’s sad that last sentence had to even be written in 2016, but here we are.
