Supplier Diversity Success Stories
Authored by Kahurangi Malcolm and Frae Cairns
This article celebrates just a handful of supplier diversity success stories that have already happened throughout the country (and we know there are LOTS more).?
Often these stories are shared months or years after they're done which talks to the hard work done behind the scenes by buying organisations to intentionally and strategically create space for Māori and Pasifika businesses to win contracts.?
The examples below are practical examples of what supplier diversity looks like from start to end.
Puhinui interchange project procures from several Māori and Pasifika businesses
The procurement team for Puhinui Station Interchange worked alongside Amotai to find opportunities to give Māori & Pasifika businesses opportunities within the construction phases. Approximately $730,000 of work was awarded to locally owned, Māori & Pasifika owned businesses to date. This is a great example of how client (Auckland Transport) and buyer (McConnell Dowell) organisations are partnering to deliver impact through their construction projects.?
Yakas construction building homes in Northland
A Māori owned Northland company was connected to Kāinga Ora through Amotai as a potential build partner. After recognising the complexities of the tendering process, an innovative approach was piloted to engage directly with Yakas. This enabled deeper whakawhanaungatanga and the ability to show their strengths in person rather than just on paper. Like all build projects, due diligence was taken and Yakas Constructions are now building houses for whānau in their community.
Eco-pristine clean wins cleaning contracts
Aroha Nepia (Ngaati Te Ata and Waikato Tainui) is the owner of Eco Pristine cleaning company. Aroha was supported by Amotai from start-up to first big contract. She won her first major contract through an Amotai buyer (McConnell Dowell) which has enabled her to expand her business.
Eco-pristine Clean was a newly established company when they were contacted through the Amotai database to do a local site clean which gave them their first break with a large commercial client.?
Iconiq Group trains apprentices in Gisborne through supplier diversity opportunities.
Iconiq Group is a Māori owned business who were connected with Kāinga Ora as a potential build partner for projects in Gisborne and Auckland. They were awarded contracts in both cities which allowed them to implement further training and take on more apprentices in Gisborne and pathway them into sustainable jobs.?
Māori business upgrades Marae carpark
Lite Civil is a 100% Māori owned business who were awarded a contract to develop the carpark at Makaurau Marae. They competed through a closed tender to Māori businesses and came out on top. This was an innovative procurement approach by Auckland Transport to ensure a Māori business was able to compete to work on a Māori site of significance. This approach has continued on other procurements resulting in further spend with Māori businesses.
Iwi enterprise build homes for whānau
Ngāti Kahungunu owned construction company K3 Kahungunu Property (K3) has partnered with Kāinga Ora to construct affordable homes for whānau in Hawkes Bay.?
The K3 vision is for a development that enables the regeneration of native flora and fauna, protection of water quality and other integrated environmental features alongside affordable, accessible housing.?
Countdown develop supplier development programme for diverse suppliers
Countdown have developed ‘Kete’,a supplier development programme to support diverse suppliers to be stocked on Countdown shelves. The programme uses in kind as well as monetary support to develop businesses. Although not a direct procurement opportunity, supplier development programmes help businesses grow and enable them to get a foot in the door and hopefully be stocked on the shelves.
领英推荐
Auckland Council spends millions with diverse suppliers but still have work to do
Auckland Council is known for being the first mover in setting supplier diversity targets and implementing supplier diversity in Aotearoa. In the 2020/21 financial year they awarded more than 180 contracts worth over $13 million in total to Māori, Pasifika and social enterprise businesses and created 258 jobs for people in these communities.
These are great outcomes considering the immense covid impact on Auckland, however there is still more work to be done to get to a 5% spend with Māori and Pasifika businesses.?
Conclusion
With the practice gaining momentum nationwide, these success stories are becoming more prevalent across Aotearoa. We are seeing more government agencies, local councils, private enterprises and other organisations implementing the practice. This gives us immense hope and excitement for the future of supplier diversity in Aotearoa.
Ko te pae tawhiti, whāia kia tata. Ko te pae tata, whakamaua kia tina.
Seek out the distant horizons, while cherishing those achievements at hand.
Article Series
This article is part of a series of thought pieces on the topics of social procurement and supplier diversity.??
This series focuses on how individuals and organisations can use their procurement power to deliver impact, the growing profession of social/sustainable procurement professionals wanting to make a difference and how we can redefine value in Aotearoa collectively.
The aim is to share our learnings and insights to help grow this movement.
Authors
Frae Cairns (Ngāti Kahu, Te Aupōuri)?
Frae grew up in Kaikohe and Tāmaki Makaurau supported by a whānau of wahine toa and imbued with an ethic to create positive change for her community. She has had a number of roles in the retail sector in management, sales, international shipping and operations. After living in Canada and Japan she went on to work in procurement for Auckland Council where she supported the development of the Auckland Council Sustainable Procurement Objectives. This led her to support the establishment of He Waka Eke Noa, now Amotai, where she currently works. Frae is passionate about social equity and delivering impact through procurement activity to enable greater opportunities for Māori and Pasifika.
Kahurangi Malcolm (Ngāti Te Ata, Te Waiariki)
Kahurangi was schooled in total immersion Māori at Te Raki o Pukekohe and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Waiuku. She holds a Bachelor of Science and Master’s in Business Administration and completed her research on Māori Economic Development. She previously worked for Waikato’s Economic Development Agency supporting business growth and has held numerous roles in health and social services. Kahurangi founded the Charitable Trust, Te Ara Rangatahi, a youth organisation supporting youth in Franklin, South Auckland into education and employment. Kahurangi is passionate about systemic change and loves seeing Māori businesses succeed.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License