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WEConnect International stood beside corporate members Accenture, Intel and Procter & Gamble (P&G) in South Africa on Sunday at the Mandela 100 Global Citizen Festival to announce new commitments in spend with women-owned businesses. Intel has committed to double its global commitment from $100 million to $200 million. Accenture has committed to spending $100 million with women-owned businesses in South Africa over the next three years. P&G announced it has completed its first $100 million commitment in only 1 year and has also committed to tripling its current spend with women-owned businesses in South Africa to $30 million over the next three years. These announcements complement and add to past WEConnect International corporate member commitments that represent over $1 billion in spend with women.
In addition to new spend, each corporation will work with WEConnect International to track and report on the impact of its spend with women-owned businesses in their supply chains, providing transparency and critical insights into the potential of gender-inclusive sourcing to promote economic development.
“Today, women-owned businesses earn less than 1% of the trillions of dollars spent with vendors by large corporations and governments,” says WEConnect International CEO & Co-Founder Elizabeth A. Vazquez. “Together with Accenture, Intel and P&G, we are moving the needle forward to put more money into the hands of women.”
The announcement was highlighted at the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) High-Level Reception for the Mandela 100 Global Citizen Festival, giving each corporation an opportunity to discuss their commitment to buy more from women-owned businesses in developing countries, especially in South Africa.
Following September’s inaugural #SheIsEqual Summit in New York, co-sponsored by P&G and Global Citizen, P&G took the opportunity on Sunday to make a focused commitment in South Africa. “We are proud to partner with many women-owned businesses that have become part of our supply chain in South Africa, producing award-winning content for our brand campaigns and providing an array of services such as construction, marketing activations, and IT support,” says Shereen Wardakan, Sub-Saharan Africa Marketing Purchases Leader for P&G. “In fact, we recently awarded a 2.5 million dollar contract with one women-owned, majority black-owned construction business for our femcare local production expansion project.”
About WEConnect International
WEConnect International is a global non-profit that identifies, educates and certifies women’s business enterprises based outside of the U.S. that are at least 51% owned, managed, and controlled by one or more women, and then connects them with multinational corporate buyers. WEConnect International members represent over $1 trillion in annual purchasing power and a deep commitment to supplier development and inclusive sourcing. Since 2009, WEConnect International has led the movement towards global supplier diversity and has supported members with developing and growing their own global inclusive sourcing efforts. For more information, please visit the website here.
