The contribution that women business owners can make to the
growth of the global economy was recognized at the ITC's World
Export Development Forum in 2008. The event included a panel on the
business case for why corporations and governments should increase
the level of participation of women-owned businesses in their
supply chains.
Although a great deal has been done to support women's
entrepreneurship at the start-up level, the "Billion Dollar
Roundtable" (the top 13 multinational corporations that purchase
over $1 billion each per year from diverse suppliers) spend only
2.2% on women-owned businesses. WEConnect International estimates
that less than 5% of corporate or government spending in any
country goes to women-owned businesses. This clearly identifies an
area of underutilized economic growth potential.
WEConnect International is leading the strategy for unleashing
the economic potential of women business owners through
certification and market access. This initiative is led by global
corporations including Accenture, AT&T, Cisco, IBM, Intel,
Manpower, Motorola, Pfizer, Wal-Mart and other companies. Its
mission is to develop and monitor global opportunities for women's
business enterprises.
Like all business people, what women entrepreneurs want most is
to sell their products and services. They need better access to
models for growth, including how to sell into large corporate and
government supply chains. Working with women business owners to
increase their capacity to network and scale up their operations is
the critical missing link for real job creation and economic
impact.
Many multinational corporations want to diversify their global
supplier base to reflect their market and customer base, increase
shareholder value and enhance competitive advantage. Of the Fortune
500 companies, 97% have supplier diversity programmes to source
from historically underutilized businesses. With the trend towards
contract bundling, over 80% of these corporations now require
supplier diversity efforts from their tier one and tier two
suppliers.
Women as suppliers
Large corporations want straightforward access to the best of
everything. Small businesses are a good source of innovation,
creativity, competitive pricing and quick and agile business
practices. Their participation in supply chains introduces new
competition to existing suppliers. Including women-owned businesses
in this arena brings particular value, as women make the majority
of consumer decisions and understand the market requirements. In
addition, women are particularly loyal to corporations that
understand their needs. Buying from women-owned businesses unlocks
not only women's potential, but also the potential of corporations
and governments.
It's essential that organizations and governments collaborate to
ensure the pool of women suppliers can keep pace with demand.
Technology will play an increasingly important role in enabling
access to the large number of excellent diverse suppliers, in a
sustainable and cost-effective way. WEConnect International is
providing that important link.
Case study: AT&T
AT&T is the largest telecommunications holding company in the
world by revenue, and prides itself on its Supplier Diversity
programmes. In 1989 it implemented the Prime Supplier programme,
which has expanded opportunities for women's businesses by
requiring AT&T prime suppliers to join them in meeting supplier
diversity goals. In 1990, it began partnering with university
business schools to establish and promote executive training
programmes specifically for diversity-owned companies to help them
improve their competitiveness. Today AT&T continues to increase
diversity though contracting in low utilization areas such as
wireless, advertising, legal, finance and other professional
services.
AT&T spends over $2 billion with women-owned companies each
year and can trace $26 billion in annual revenue to its Supplier
Diversity programme, making this an integral part of its business.
AT&T measures and tracks how diversity suppliers help them meet
the needs of their diverse customer base and maintain their
competitive edge by providing products and services of quality.
Promoting the participation of a diverse supplier base not only
provides better business solutions, but it cultivates greater
customer loyalty, bidding advantages and public policy support in
the communities AT&T serves. Supplier diversity advantages are
tracked to key metrics such as increased revenues, speed to market
and cost reduction.
Supplier to AT&T: Himanshu
Bhatia
Himanshu Bhatia co-founded Rose International in 1993. Before
launching Rose International, she held management roles in
information systems and technology. Ms Bhatia saw her parents
struggle and always wanted to own a business that she could grow.
When she first launched Rose International, the market was
dominated by men. Today, the market is more mixed, allowing greater
opportunities for all.
Rose International is now one of the top information technology
(IT) consulting and business service firms in the United States,
providing services to commercial organizations and government
agencies nationwide. They made their first sale by marketing to the
United States Government, and AT&T became one of their first
private sector customers. Today Rose International employs 1,500
associates with 2008 revenue projected at $130 million.
Rose International first worked with AT&T in 1999 and, in a
very competitive market, has continued to expand its business with
the corporation. As an AT&T Prime Supplier, Rose International
was required to establish its own supplier diversity initiatives
and include other diverse suppliers in its business with AT&T.
Today, over 100 registered women-owned vendors are now qualified to
do business with Rose International. Almost 50 of these vendors
generated revenue from Rose International in 2008. Its current
spending on women-owned businesses is close to 15% of total
expenditure. Several of these vendors have offices in India,
bringing opportunity to women in two continents. With client demand
for competitive prices and 24-hour service, Rose International
opened a wholly-owned subsidiary for offshore operations in India,
Rose IT Solutions Ltd, which offers IT solutions and services at
competitive cost. WEConnect International and the programme it will
bring to India (WEConnect India) will make it easier for Rose
International to find certified women business owners that can
become qualified suppliers.
Providing the link
Quantum Leaps Incorporated, a non-profit organization, which helps
to fuel the global growth of women's enterprise development in
partnership with a network of global corporations, is assisting the
development of WEConnect International. The mission of WEConnect
International is to develop and monitor global standards for
women's business enterprise certification and promote the
standardization of databases so that buyers, sellers and partners
can easily find each other. The certification process ascertains
that a business is primarily owned, managed and controlled by one
or more women. WEConnect International coordinates the
certification of women's business enterprises where certification
is unavailable and conducts international research on women
business owners and their access to markets.
ITC WEConnect event in Bangalore
Connecting India
Launching in 2009, WEConnect India will help large corporations
such as AT&T and their suppliers such as Rose International
find certified women-owned businesses in India. Product development
and training in packaging are foreseen - areas of competency of
ITC. Interest in connecting ran high - both from MNCs and women's
business organizations present at a recent meeting hosted by
Accenture in Bangalore, that ITC and WEConnect convened to test
interest. Once certified, Indian women-owned businesses can tap
into established networks in Canada, the United Kingdom and the
United States. An affiliate will be launched in China in
2009.
EFFECTING CHANGE
WEConnect International works closely with each new affiliate
to:
- Provide knowledge transfer, training and technical assistance
on how to conduct certification that will be recognized by the
international business community
- Facilitate the exchange of standards, templates, technology,
tools, methodologies, benchmarks, scorecards, research, best
practices etc. among affiliated certification organizations
- Play a leadership role in analyzing analysing and disseminating
global trends in women's entrepreneurship as they relate to supply
chain development and inclusivity
- Train affiliates on how to help the women-owned businesses they
certify to scale and become more effective suppliers to
corporations and governments
- Train affiliates on how to conduct effective advocacy campaigns
and build a strong local network
- Facilitate access and business linkages among affiliates,
certified businesses, corporations, governments, NGOs
non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders at the global
level
- Ensure that each new affiliate will have a sustainable revenue
stream from diversified sources, and will target multinational and
local corporate members, as well as certification and registration
fees, training fees, event fees, research, grants, public support,
etc
For more information, please visitwww.WEConnectInternational.org