It’s National Small Business Week 2024! To honor the occasion, we’re highlighting one of many small businesses that have benefitted from Euna Procurement’s Marketplace module: GBEX in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Founded in 2010 by President/CEO Chris Ellington, GBEX (a loose acronym for “Going Beyond EXpectations”) serves as an industrial supply distributor to state and local governments, schools, universities, and private organizations. Tasked with the job of delivering a variety of over two million different products, Chris sees their business as a natural extension of their client’s procurement departments.  

“If they need it,” she says, “we’ll source it and sell it.” 

In addition to identifying as a small business, GBEX has the added distinction of being minority-owned, but that comes with challenges. Struggling to remain viable in an eCommerce landscape that doesn’t prioritize diversity and inclusion can be tough, and it often means Chris and her team have to work harder to earn their clients’ trust and prove their capability. 

But seeing the direct impact GBEX’s work has on their community makes it all worth it.  

“I’m fulfilled at the end of the day,” she says, “knowing that we are in continuous improvement mode making the world a better place.”

How Euna Procurement’s Marketplace module supports small businesses 

Frustrated with the limitations of their former eCommerce provider, GBEX began looking for a digital procurement solution that could easily integrate with their clients’ ERPs as well as their suppliers’ respective platforms. After speaking with a few companies, they landed on Euna Marketplace, by EqualLevel. 

Discovering that Euna Marketplace’s Tier 1/Diversity Marketplace solution could be easily configured out of the box was a revelation. If there were features they needed that weren’t already included, the team at Euna Marketplace worked with them to write new modules that made their wishes a reality.  

“We’ve never had a special request they couldn’t accommodate” says Chris. “The versatility of their system allows us to consistently meet our needs and the needs of our clients”. 

In January 2020, GBEX’s Diversity Marketplace officially went live. Since then, they’ve been thrilled with the results. 

“GBEX went from processing two to three million dollars in order volume with our previous system to over ten million with Euna Marketplace,” Chris says. 

What’s more, she’s confident that GBEX will have the ability to facilitate billions of dollars in transactions going forward. 

Both their clients and partners compliment the user-friendly interface of Euna Marketplace. Whether it’s the ability to customize solutions, the seamless integration with third party systems, or its user-friendly interface, everyone in the GBEX ecosystem has something great to say.  

“Euna Marketplace helps us function as a company that can handle transactions for major suppliers and large organizations. This in turn has attracted more clients for us beyond the IUC-PG. Today, four years later, we continue to utilize Euna Marketplace as our digital procurement platform, and we couldn’t be happier.” 

What’s next?

As GBEX gets ready to take on new challenges in the federal space, they’re confident in Euna Marketplace’s ability to support them at every level. 

 “It has truly been a great partnership with Euna Marketplace,” she says. “The team has been great to work with and we couldn’t be more grateful for the support and attention to our needs. Today, as I write this, we are off to another integration with a major supplier!”