More than 140 Lehigh Valley business professionals, companies, and organizations gathered to grow their connections and explore business partnerships at Meet the Buyers on Sept. 23. 
Meet the Buyers is an opportunity for local small and medium-sized businesses to market themselves to larger companies and organizations that are looking for new vendors and to diversify their supplier network for goods and services. It is the Lehigh Valley’s largest procurement matchmaking event.
The event was hosted and coordinated by the Small Business Development Center at Lehigh University and held at Lehigh Valley International Airport. It was held in conjunction with the Northampton County Small Business Resource Fair.
Meet the Buyers drew 108 people who marketed their services to 27 buyers and connected with small business resource partners in the Lehigh Valley.
“The Meet the Buyers Expo is about expanding access to opportunities for businesses in the Lehigh Valley. For small businesses, it gets them in front of both the right people at premier corporations as well as valuable resource partners. For buyers, it showcases the diverse products and services offered locally to meet their needs and strengthen their supply chains,” said Brett Smith, Director of the Small Business Development Center and chair of the event steering committee.
The Small Business Resource Fair offered direct access to valuable resources including mentoring, coaching, workforce personnel solutions, training, small business loans and lines of credit, education, marketing, networking, retail vacancy information, and business and marketing planning.
“We have greatly appreciated our collaboration with the SBDC at Lehigh, as small businesses help power Northampton County’s economy. They need the support that Northampton County Department of Community and Economic Development and SBDC at Lehigh have been providing,” said Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure.
Madison Boehm of Mr. Twister Plumbing and Septic in Hellertown, which provides plumbing services to residential and business customers in the Lehigh Valley, said the leads and discussions were beneficial. She recommended others attend the event.
“There’s tremendous benefit to coming to Meet the Buyers,” Boehm said. “You meet all of these amazing contacts that you don’t normally get access to, and you get to make a human connection.”
Buyers and resource partners in attendance included local and county governments; organizations such as Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, Discover Lehigh Valley ®; and companies such as PPL Corp., SERVPRO, and Provident Bank. View the complete list here.
“Meet the Buyers is a fantastic event to meet with small business and introduce them to the resources the U.S. Small Business Administration offers such as federal government contracting, access to capital, and programs to start and grow a business,” said Sonia Smith, Public Information Officer at the U.S. Small Business Association.
Meet the Buyers began in 2013 as a bi-annual event; however, demand for the event has grown, and it will now be held annually.
The steering committee for Meet the Buyers included Bethlehem Economic Development Corporation; EBC Printing; Fun-Nominal Events & Marketing; Lehigh County Department of Community and Economic Development; Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation; Manufacturers Resource Center; Members 1st Federal Credit Union; Northampton Community College; Northampton County Department of Community and Economic Development; The Neffs National Bank; and Viamedia.
Sponsors for the event were: Platinum Sponsor, Viamedia; Silver Sponsor, Provident Bank; Bag Sponsor, EBC Printing.