When it comes to diversity and inclusion, TealBook doesn’t only talk the talk, but is walking the walk. In a recent interview about new features being added to TealBook (Self-Certification and Tier 2 Diversity Reporting), our founder and CEO, Stephany Lapierre shared:
Stephany Lapierre CEO at TealBookTealBook is committed to helping organizations expand their supplier networks to be more diverse and inclusive. Our supplier data platform is now able to give companies the opportunity to massively scale the impact of their supplier diversity program while reducing the friction that has traditionally been part of the administration process. For suppliers, our self-certification takes away the burden of cost, time, and resources associated with individually applying to each organization for certification.
In 2020, Stephany passionately challenged her leadership team to create a more diverse team. With this incredible drive and energy, I’ve watched as our team has evolved to over 50% women, racially diverse, and with a majority of female leaders across departments.
Making an Impact
All said, diversity and economic opportunity matters and can have an impact on not only the internal organization, but on employees’ families and surrounding communities as a whole.
Companies in the US, Canada, and South Africa have understood for some time the incredible value-add small and diverse suppliers bring to their organizations, but 2020 brought renewed interest in supplier diversity. Between the COVID-19 pandemic and global calls for an end to systemic racism, supply chain and supplier diversity have come under the microscope.
Supplier Diversity in New Zealand and Australia
More and more the global movement of elevating indigenous socioeconomic prosperity through procurement is gaining traction in New Zealand and Australia. As the countries work to provide more economic inclusion and opportunity to the two nations’ Indigenous communities, it has become more critical for buying organizations to access information about these suppliers to contribute to the mission and leverage the benefits of buying from these diverse businesses.
While cost and convenience have always been key in awarding contracts, the last year has shown the broader benefits of including social targets in procurement processes. Procuring goods and services from indigenous businesses has uncovered many benefits to the supply chain, including:
- Increased competition
- Supply chain agility
- Employment creation in traditionally disadvantaged communities
- Economic and social outcomes improvement for the wider community
- Employee satisfaction and improved organizational identity
- Expanding innovation through new partnerships and service models
TealBook focused on connecting small and diverse suppliers with large organizations in 2018-2019, and has continued to develop and refine our technology to support the ever-growing importance of working with diverse partners. Our customers’ need to have visibility in their supply chain and the ability to respond to shifting needs supported by quick access to diverse options has only increased since then.
How Technology Can Promote Supplier Diversity
In our supplier data intelligence platform, our machine-learning and AI has unearthed over a half million small and diverse supplier profiles. These include women, LGBTQ, veteran and minority-owned and indigenous businesses. With our proprietary AI, we make it easy for these businesses to partner with large organizations by being easily searchable among all other suppliers. Our customers avoid checking static portals, and can seamlessly include small and diverse suppliers in any opportunity.
One of our Fortune 100 customers had an urgent need for a diverse supplier for a new business requirement. Normally when this customer is looking for a new business to work with, they use Google searches, internal knowledge, and static databases. Using TealBook, they were able to find seven diverse suppliers who met the critical criteria for the opportunity. These suppliers were located quickly and had contact info, certificates, and all relevant info on their profiles. Through using TealBook, these innovative and diverse suppliers gained access to a major opportunity, while our client was able to grow relationships with diverse partners.
With our partnership with the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB), we have managed to showcase a perfect example of how technology can help promote supplier diversity. CCAB has “procurement champions,” some of Canada’s largest corporations, who are interested in working with Certified Aboriginal Businesses who utilize TealBook to instantly view members’ profiles, and invite these businesses to opportunities. This is contributing to more access to the supply chains of major organizations for these innovative Aboriginal businesses.
TealBook also houses Supply Nation certifications of aboriginal businesses in Australia and New Zealand, to make it easy for our customers to search for suppliers in these countries who are certified aboriginal businesses.
Connect With Us
The TealBook team looks forward to continuing to empower and promote supplier diversity. Having worked in industries that were not gender or racially diverse, it’s exciting to work with and amongst an incredibly diverse team, bringing unique backgrounds and thereby innovative ideas and perspectives.
If you are a small or diverse business, I encourage you to sign up for a TealBook profile (it’s free). If you are a procurement or sourcing team interested in growing or positively impacting your supplier diversity program, please request a demo.
I’m always interested in hearing your thoughts and insight on supplier diversity. Please connect with me on LinkedIn to get the conversation started.
