Are you a Black entrepreneur with a product who wants to become a supplier for Walmart?
The answer, of course, is perhaps yes for many African American small business owners given that the retail giant has more than 5,300 Walmart and Sam’s Clubs stores across the United States alone. You can get the opportunity as Walmart’s seventh annual “Open Call” is now underway.
Walmart is inviting entrepreneurs with visions of selling American-made products on its shelves to apply for a chance to
meet Walmart buyers on Oct. 1, 2020, via virtual pitch meetings. The application deadline to take part in this year’s Open Call is Aug. 10. Visit Walmart-jump.com to apply and get more details about the event.The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer reports the Oct. 1 event kicks off its celebration of U.S. Manufacturing Month. It will include similar programming as in previous years. Along with one-on-one pitch meetings with Walmart buyers, partakers will have an opportunity to hear directly from Walmart executives. Plus, participants can learn from company leaders during smaller breakout sessions geared to inform, empower, and encourage supplier-hopefuls. Walmart has told Black Enterprise
previously a big focus of Open Call is to attract new suppliers.The event comes after Walmart announced in 2013 its commitment to help boost job creation and U.S. manufacturing through buying an additional $250 billion in products supporting American jobs by 2023.
“During this year of unprecedented challenges for U.S. businesses, Walmart remains committed to sourcing products made, grown, or assembled in the U.S. By Investing in products that support American jobs, we are able to bring new exciting products to our customers, support new jobs in our local communities and invest in small business across the country.” Laura Phillips, Walmart senior vice president for Global Sourcing & U.S. Manufacturing, stated.
“Walmart’s annual Open Call event gives us a unique occasion to identify new suppliers who can meet our customers’ needs with unique and innovative products manufactured or produced in the U.S. For the first
time, this year’s Open Call event will be virtual, enabling even broader participation from potential new suppliers. We know how important this opportunity is for many small businesses, especially this year, and we are looking forward to seeing the new product submissions and meeting potential new suppliers.”Open Call attendees in 2020 could secure deals ranging from a handful of stores in local markets to supplying hundreds, even thousands of stores, Sam’s Clubs and on Walmart.com, company officials say.