The Corporate world has risen to the occasion; now it’s time to rise to the challenge: Leveraging supplier diversity to drive economic inclusion.

Last year, on 30 June 2020, I called upon FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 firms to put supplier diversity at the centre of their commitment to drive economic inclusion.  This call for action was in reaction to the impact the pandemic had on growing socio-economic inequality amongst ethnic minority communities. This was compounded by the events following George Floyd’s death that saw people all over the world demanding justice and equality, denouncing racism and discrimination across global institutions and industries. These two unprecedented events required the corporate world to come together and make a commitment to address these issues.

One year on, our corporate network has grown to 75 with 40+ FTSE 100 / Fortune 500 firms joining us during the past twelve months. These global brands are opening up their supply chains for ethnic minority businesses and it’s for all of us, corporations, ethnic minority businesses and networks like MSDUK to rise to the challenge and make a real difference.

What more can corporate world do?

• Get top leadership to go public with commitment to supplier diversity.
• Make a pledge to double spend with ethnic minority businesses (EMBs) year-on-year for next five years.
•  Increase number of EMBs you do business with by 25% every year for next five years.
• Go beyond spend as the only measure of success; invest in EMBs to build your future supply chains.
• Make supplier diversity part of people’s objectives- what gets measured gets done.
• Refine and simplify procurement processes for small and diverse businesses.
•  Commit to 30 days payment for small and diverse businesses.

What can ethnic minority business do?

• Be in the right industry with the right infrastructure in place to be part of corporate supply chains.
• Invest in people, processes and products. 
• Present innovative solutions, be futuristic and competitive.
• Persevere, don’t give up and aim high

What can network like MSDUK can do?

• Focus on investing in developing businesses of the future through technical and business development programmes.
• Build a larger pool of EMB network that is diverse in its capability, size and structure to meet corporate demands.
• Offer support to procurement community though access to industry best practices for better outcomes.
• Engage and build strong relationship with other business networks and diversity groups; encourage partnerships and collaboration for a shared purpose

In a world where we see growing socio-economic inequality, a real commitment to supplier diversity enables companies to encourage entrepreneurship in underserved, underrepresented communities which in-turn results in creating jobs, wealth, better health and education in those disadvantaged communities. And a more diverse supply chain impacts the bottom line through innovation, competitiveness and sustainability.

Let supplier diversity take centre stage in driving economic inclusion!