How To Use Supplier Diversity To increase Sales, Boost Profits And Take Your Business To The Next Level

What Does Diversity Mean?

First let's start with what supplier diversity does not mean. It is not some program designed to give a handout to so called "disadvantaged or minority" businesses. Diverse suppliers, which comprise ethnic minorities, women, disabled and LGBT business owners, are some of the best qualified businesses and professionals existing to provide goods and services over a broad spectrum.

The unfortunate reality is society has historically, through institutional and other means, left them out of the mainstream of business development and opportunity and as a result a substantial portion of qualified diverse suppliers are trying to catch up in a race they have not traditionally started out of the blocks at the same time as non-diverse businesses and professionals.  Given the opportunity, supplier diversity businesses and professionals excel and are competitive with the best.

Why Is Diversity Important?

Supplier Diversity is a proactive business program which encourages the use of minority-owned, women owned, veteran owned, LGBT-owned , service disabled veteran owned, historically underutilized business, and Small Business Administration (SBA)-defined small business concerns as suppliers.

Sourcing products and services from previously under-used suppliers helps to sustain and progressively transform a company's supply chain and reflects the demographics of the community in which it operates by recording transactions with diverse suppliers.

Diverse- and women-owned business enterprises are among the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. economy. As of January 2017 there was 11 million women owned businesses employing 9 million people and generating annual revenues of 1.7 trillion dollars.

Minority owned businesses during the same period of time employed over 6 million people and generated 1.8 trillion dollars in revenue. Women owned and minority owned businesses together create over 17 million jobs and generated 3.5 trillion dollars in revenue.

Clearly, the concept of supplier diversity is not only the right thing to do for the American economy it’s just plain good business sense.