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October 28, 2025

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The program transforms small and mid-size suppliers into global competitors

By Tonya McMurray

The path to securing high-value contracts with major corporations and government entities is often a complicated maze for small and mid-sized businesses, which often face dual barriers to success.

“They struggle to navigate complex qualification requirements set by major corporations and government entities, and they often lack access to the capital needed to scale,” said Eduardo Núñez, co-founder of Blue Wave International SDP Corporation.

“This dual challenge significantly limits their ability to compete effectively, secure contracts, expand their businesses and contribute meaningfully to economic development,” added Alma Del Toro, co-founder of Blue Wave.

To address those challenges, Blue Wave offers a comprehensive roadmap to equip small and medium-sized businesses with the tools and knowledge to meet the international standards required by large corporations.

A blueprint for supplier success

Blue Wave is a certified minority-owned international enterprise cofounded by Núñez and Del Toro, who have 70 years of combined industry expertise in global business and energy leadership. Del Toro is the founder and president of Blue Bull Energy and a former bp America Inc. executive with more than 25 years of experience building alliances and strategies in the energy sector. Núñez is a retired general manager of Exxon Mobil Corp.’s global procurement and past chairman of the Houston Minority Supplier Development Council (HMSDC) board.

Núñez and Del Toro used their experience to design a scalable, technology-driven model to prepare suppliers to compete globally. The core of the program is an intelligent, intuitive and bilingual platform built on the Amazon cloud. It’s designed to consolidate international standards across seven critical business pillars: health, safety, security, and environment (HSSE), cybersecurity, quality, corporate policies, technical capabilities, financials, and sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG).

Each participating business begins with a self-assessment and gap analysis to benchmark its compliance level against global standards. Blue Wave program data shows that most companies start with compliance rates between 10% and 40%. The platform then generates detailed gap reports, mitigation plans and dashboards, offering a clear picture of a business’s current compliance and organizational maturity.

The second phase of the program includes targeted workshops that provide participants with the essential policies, processes, templates and best practices needed to close compliance gaps. To graduate, businesses must achieve at least 80% compliance in each of the seven pillars, a threshold that makes them competitive across industrial sectors.

Reaching suppliers across industries

Blue Wave introduced its supplier development model in 2019 in Tabasco, Mexico, launching its inaugural cohort of 20 businesses with support from Murphy Oil Corp. and the State of Tabasco’s Secretary of Economic Development.

Building on its early success, Blue Wave quickly expanded across Mexico and into the United States, developing strategic partnerships with global corporations — including Hokchi Energy (a BP joint venture with Pan American Energy), MGM Resorts International and Woodside Energy — as well as the state governments of Veracruz and Tamaulipas and nonprofit organizations like the Dallas Minority Supplier Development Council, the Houston Minority Supplier Development Council and the Western Region Minority Supplier Development Council.

Blue Wave’s partnerships soon expanded across the United States, Mexico and Surinam.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) selected Blue Wave as a strategic partner to advance the development of small and mid-sized businesses in the U.S. energy sector through a multiyear program.

Similarly, USHCC partnered with Blue Wave to launch a nationwide, multiyear initiative to empower Hispanic-owned businesses. 

Blue Wave’s partnerships span a diverse array of leading corporations – including JPMorgan Chase, CenterPoint Energy, Oncor Electric Delivery, Quanta Services, Total Energy, Qatar Energy, PetroChina, Chevron in Suriname and Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname — as well as government entities such as the City of Houston, the Houston Airport System (HAS) and Harris County, nonprofit organizations like the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the energy cluster of the state of Nuevo León in Mexico.

Oncor Delivery Service Co. LLC recently announced the launch of its Building Opportunities and Leading Transformation (BOLT) program designed to empower small and diverse businesses with a three-month cohort participating in Blue Wave’s supplier development program.

JPMorganChase, through its partnership with USHCC, launched “Avanzando Suppliers with Blue Wave,” a virtual accelerator designed to help high-growth businesses scale and secure contracts. Now in its fourth year, USHCC’s Avanzando Suppliers program has supported more than 100 Hispanic-owned businesses in gaining traction in competitive environments.

“The Blue Wave Supplier Development program enables JPMorganChase to support small businesses’ growth by equipping them with the skills and networks needed to meet the standards of large corporations and government agencies,” said Ana Villarreal, business development manager of global supplier diversity at JPMorganChase.

Strengthening supply chains and building economic value

Villarreal said the Blue Wave program also benefits large corporations and the global marketplace.

“Large corporations like ours benefit from the reduced risk that comes from developing a pool of suppliers who are trained in health, safety, cybersecurity, quality and finance,” she said. “When suppliers have stronger internal systems, they often deliver more reliably, at better cost and with fewer compliance or safety concerns.”

The Blue Wave program creates stronger supply chains, expands job creation and tax bases in local communities, and increases collaboration between corporations, governments, nonprofit organizations, and small business ecosystems.

For suppliers, the program has delivered direct bottom-line benefits. More than 70% of Blue Wave graduates report significant revenue growth within their first year after completing the program.

By mid-2025, Blue Wave successfully graduated more than 1,000 small and mid-sized businesses through its supplier development program. It expects to graduate more than 500 additional businesses in 2026 and launch its newest executive course: AI for Business Leaders, designed to help decision-makers harness artificial intelligence for operational efficiency and strategic growth.

Núñez and Del Toro expect annual cohorts exceeding 1,000 starting in 2027, driven by aggressive technology investments and the launch of the Blue Wave Academy, which is built on the same learning management system used by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for online education.