Are you ready to grow our diverse supply base?
Enterprise’s first ever UK supplier diversity report has three main objectives:
- Provide Groups and departments with new and improved tools, resources and support to identify diverse businesses that meet our quality, cost and service.
- Share the good work of those employees that, whether internally to other departments or Groups, or externally to our customers and partners, are placing more importance and value on improving and growing supplier diversity.
- Challenge Enterprise and our tier one suppliers to improve and increase our spend with diverse suppliers.
What is supplier diversity?
Any supplier selected to work with Enterprise must meet the company’s requirements for those goods and services being provided in terms of, for example, quality, cost, sustainability and risk mitigation.
A diverse supplier is one that can provide all of these key requirements and is also 51% owned, operated and controlled by an under-represented group.
There are many different types of diverse suppliers: women owned, minority owned, disability, LGBT+, small and medium enterprises (SME) and social enterprises. Suppliers certified by organisations such as WeConnect or MSDUK are easier to identify as diverse suppliers.
Why is supplier diversity important?
As a business, Enterprise embraces diversity in the communities and neighbourhoods in which employees serve and work. This means embracing inclusion and valuing the differences that lead to shared success through individuality.
Using diverse suppliers improves Enterprise’s access to more competitive products and services, greater innovation, improved service and more flexible and responsive supply solutions.
Inclusiveness, commitment, ownership, accountability and passion are the keys to making supplier diversity work.
What makes supplier diversity work?
Inclusiveness, commitment, ownership, accountability and passion are key to making supplier diversity work.
Be open to considering a diverse supplier at every review for new and existing goods and services.
What tools exist to help grow a diverse supplier base?
Enterprise offers a number of tools, templates and guidelines on The Hub, and the Procurement and Supply Chain Department can also help.
The report provides details of diverse suppliers currently being used and names and contacts of potential suppliers.
Enterprise’s partnerships with external organisations such as MSDUK, WeConnect, Business Disability Forum, Business in the Community and Stonewall enable relationships to be quickly established with an extended talent pool of quality diverse vendors.
So, what next?
Enterprise is working to evolve the Diverse Supplier Programme by improving our tools and templates, continuously identifying new diverse suppliers. This includes improving reporting, raising the profile of supplier diversity and better understanding the suppliers’ own suppliers (tier one suppliers) to ensure they are also diverse.
Please contact procurement&supplychainUKI@ehi.com to share diverse suppliers in your networks, good practices and feedback.
And finally
A big thank you to Ella Eze, Kirit Mohane, Ian Bergh, Lee Lewis and Matt Glass for your support and help in creating Enterprise UK’s first ever supplier diversity report.
To find out more, please download the report from the HUB or contact Janique.R.Bullen@ehi.com directly.
