Build Your Brand: A single mom started her business by targeting government contracts.
The Steve Harvey Morning Show
iHeartPodcasts
4.5 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Jennifer Barbosa.
CEO and Founder of International Supply Partners (ISP), about breaking into government contracting, navigating a male-dominated industry, and the complexities of supply chain management.
🔑 Key Themes & Highlights
Breaking into Government Contracting
- Barbosa started her business by targeting government contracts, recognizing that the government is the largest buyer of goods and services.
- She explained how RFQs (Request for Quotes) and RFPs (Request for Proposals) allow new suppliers to compete for contracts.
Navigating a Male-Dominated Industry
- She admitted that entering the industrial supply sector was challenging but credited her fearlessness and determination for her success.
- Barbosa emphasized that women entrepreneurs must focus on value and expertise rather than industry stereotypes.
Supply Chain & Procurement Strategies
- ISP specializes in safety, PPE, industrial, janitorial, and construction supplies, ensuring cost-effective procurement solutions.
- Barbosa detailed how understanding supply chain logistics helped her compete with big-box suppliers.
COVID-19 & PPE Pricing Surge
- During the pandemic, PPE prices skyrocketed due to high demand and supply chain disruptions.
- Barbosa explained how manufacturers shifted production to PPE, leading to price gouging and bidding wars.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) in Business
- Barbosa’s company is certified as a minority-owned and women-owned business, but she emphasized that quality and service—not identity—should drive business success.
- She believes that DEI initiatives should not be the sole reason for doing business, but rather a tool for leveraging opportunities.
📘 About Jennifer Barbosa & International Supply Partners
Jennifer Barbosa is a visionary entrepreneur and supply chain specialist, leading International Supply Partners (ISP) in streamlining procurement for businesses and government agencies. ISP is a trusted provider of essential goods, ensuring efficiency, reliability, and competitive pricing.
#BEST
#STRAW
#SHMS
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:04.1 | Hi, I am Roshan McDonnell. |
| 0:06.2 | I host this weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. |
| 0:09.8 | The interviews and information that this show provides are for everyone. |
| 0:13.8 | It's time to start reading other people's success stories and start living your own. |
| 0:18.4 | Now, if you want to be a guest on my show, please visit our website, moneymakingconversations.com, and click the be a guest button. If you have a product or company that you want to talk about on my show, you're an entrepreneur, please take the time to fill out the be a guest button. Press submit. It comes directly to me. Now, we've gotten that out the way. |
| 0:38.9 | Let's get this show started. |
| 0:40.8 | My guest is the CEO and founder of International Supply Partners, ISP. |
| 0:46.8 | International Supply Partners is a premier provider of essential products and procurement solutions, |
| 0:53.0 | specializing in safety, PPE, industrial, janitorial, and construction supplies. |
| 0:59.5 | Please welcome to Moneymaking Conversation Masterclass, Jennifer Barbosa. |
| 1:03.8 | How you doing, Jennifer? |
| 1:05.8 | I'm wonderful, Rashan. |
| 1:07.0 | How are you? |
| 1:07.7 | Now, this doesn't sound like one of those jobs that, you know, just, you know, I want to go out there and be a supplier. I want to go out there and be a supplier. How did you get in the supplier business? Well, I first started just by deciding that I wanted to do business with the government. And I thought of what can, what does the government need that they will always need and can |
| 1:34.7 | potentially keep me in a lasting business? |
| 1:39.1 | Right. |
| 1:39.5 | So I first started with office supplies. |
| 1:42.6 | The government needs to supply. |
| 1:44.6 | They are the largest customer. |
| 1:47.9 | They spend the most money in the world. |
| 1:50.3 | And they do not do everything themselves. |
... |
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