TBE Sponsor Spotlight: H-E-B
Texas Black Expo corporate partner HEB provided a tour of their manufacturing plant where the students learned how bread and chips were made and how to develop processes to manage large scale production.
A Commitment to Diversity, Inclusion & Small Business Sustainability
H-E-B has been a strong sponsor and supporter of Texas Black Expo from the very first Black Expo Summer Celebration was hosted in 2004. Since that time, in addition to being a Summer Celebration sponsor, H-E-B has funded Texas Black Expo emergency micro-grants distributed to small businesses impacted by natural disasters, its ASPIRE Youth Entrepreneur Summer Camp, and several other TBE initiatives and events designed to build small businesses and strengthen the community.
H-E-B's commitment to diversity and inclusion are unmatched in the state of Texas as demonstrated through its intentionality in seeking out and providing opportunities to a wide range of minority suppliers, assisting them in the development process necessary to do business with H-E-B and have their products featured in H-E-B stores.
According to James Harris, H-E-B Director of Diversity & Inclusion and Supplier Diversity, one of the ways that the company values giving back to community is through the empowerment, education, and sustainability of small businesses through its support of the Texas Black Expo. “Small businesses play a vital role in the strength and sustainability of our economy, so it is essential to provide them with the support, capital and development that they need to thrive. When we support the efforts of the Texas Black Expo that are targeted towards the growth and sustainability of minority small businesses, it is our way of contributing not only to the development of strong entrepreneurs but to the strong communities that they help to build when they are successful.”
H-E-B’s extensive commitment to diversity and inclusion does not stop with supplier development; it is further evidenced by its recent commitment to address racism through a $1 million fund targeted to address injustices towards the African American community. Altogether, H-E-B remains a consummate model of corporate social responsibility, particularly to the minority community, in the state of Texas.
The Texas Black Expo is grateful for H-E-B’s support of its many efforts to touch the lives of small businesses and individuals throughout the community. For more information on H-E-B supplier diversity, please visit https://supplier.heb.com/diversity.