Breaking Barriers, Building a Hire Ground – Episode 141: Why You Need a Supplier Diversity Program

Breaking Barriers, Building a Hire Ground

“Supplier diversity is an intentional program that reaches out to diverse suppliers. It is about working with your business units to ensure they build relationships with and include suppliers owned by diverse persons.” – Adam Moore

You may be hearing a lot of talk about supplier diversity programs these days. You may also have heard about how implementing them is crucial to success, especially in today’s market and corporate environment. But do you actually need one? What are supplier diversity programs and what can they do for your company’s innovation and quality goods and services?

In this episode, we outline the fundamental reasons businesses need to build a supplier diversity program, especially in the context of the contemporary corporate environment. We discuss how consumer pressure is driving demand for DE&I, ESG, and CSR from companies and how supplier diversity can bridge that gap. We explore how supplier diversity officers act as a business’s first line of risk mitigation. We also discuss how diverse suppliers stepped up and fulfilled product demand during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and underscore how supplier diversity professionals act as conduits between a company and the communities they want to connect with.

This week on Breaking Barriers:

• What supplier diversity is and why it’s vital to companies today
• How consumer pressure and government regulations increase the demand for supplier diversity
• How supplier diversity becomes a common touchpoint between DE&I, ESG, and CSR
• Why having a diverse supply chain is a risk mitigation strategy
• Misconceptions about working with small and diverse businesses
• The role of cultural change management in an organization’s supplier diversity program
• Tying supplier diversity goals into larger company goals like sustainability and CSR
• Why a supplier diversity program is an inter-organizational practice as much as it is intra-organizational
• How supplier diversity contributes to industry-wide growth and innovation
• Why supplier diversity is critical to correcting today’s social ills

This podcast is brought to you by Hire Ground

Hire Ground is a technology company whose mission is to bridge the wealth gap through access to procurement opportunities. Hire Ground is making the enterprise ecosystem more viable, profitable, and competitive by clearing the path for minority-led, women-led, LGBT-led, and veteran-led small businesses to contribute to the global economy as suppliers to enterprise organizations.

For more information on getting started please visit us @ hireground.io today!

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