13 Jan 4 ways BEMA gives you a competitive advantage: #3 – Alliances And Partnerships

Kerwin Brown, President/CEO

In the previous two blog posts, I told you how Innovative Training and Education and Member-Focused Value and Engagement give you an overwhelming competitive advantage. In this post, I want to focus on the ways that BEMA’s alliances and partnerships benefit you, our members.

One important benefit to having a BEMA membership might not be as obvious as training and member connections,  but it is an aspect we’re dedicated to working on behind the scenes on your behalf: alliances and partnerships.

Throughout my previous 30 years in the baking industry, I’ve witnessed the power of alliances and partnerships and the way they can influence individual careers, shape the strategic direction of a company, or even impact the direction of our industry as a whole. By building strong and collaborative alliances and partnerships, I see the opportunity to:

• Expand the reach or BEMA and our members (internationally and to other industries);
• Identify opportunities to partner on exceptional service offerings;

Did you know that in 2018 alone, BEMA’s leadership team cultivated conversations with six other associations? Each association and each conversation had its own flavor. We realized that if we’re all working toward the same goals, why not harness the power of joining forces?

With the leadership of our chairman, Mark Hotze, we are now looking outside of baking to the broader subject of food science as a STEM pathway.

We are also working with five other bakery associations in the recently formed Bakery Industry Alliance on workforce issues. In 2020, a partnership with USO Pathfinders will expose BEMA members to the extensive transitional resources that help place thousands of service men and women into civilian jobs.

IBIE is another shining example of valuable partnership: ABA + RBA + BEMA. Through strategic execution, our teams combine, working in unison, to design and deliver one of the largest baking expos in the world.

I’ll wrap up this series of posts next week with the final benefit of a BEMA membership: financial strength and sustainability.