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WASHINGTON, DC, October 29, 2020 — WEConnect International announced Thursday the launch of WECommunity, a new, more efficient platform connecting large buyers with women-owned business suppliers around the world, especially in developing countries.
The digital WECommunity platform was launched under the White House-led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative, in partnership with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and SAP Ariba, along with support from Accenture, ExxonMobil, IBM and Procter & Gamble. W-GDP is the first whole-of-government approach to advancing women’s economic empowerment globally and established the W-GDP Fund at USAID.
“Global prosperity will remain out of reach if we exclude half the population,” said USAID Acting Administrator John Barsa. “At USAID, we believe investment in women is key to unlocking human potential on a transformational scale. The W-GDP Fund at USAID is financing innovative solutions to close the economic gap between women and men and help our partners advance on their Journeys to Self-Reliance.”
Today, women own one-third of all privately-owned businesses and yet companies and governments only leverage one percent of their global spend on products and services from women-owned businesses. Small businesses are the engine of economic growth and job creation, and it is critical for their businesses to have access to markets.
“With WECommunity, women-owned businesses will be able to register and join the global network for free and can apply for WEConnect International Women’s Business Enterprise Certification in 50 countries,” said Elizabeth A. Vazquez, CEO and Co-Founder of WEConnect International. “Member buyers and certified women-owned businesses will be able to post and share real business opportunities with each other.”
The new platform has an intuitive and user-friendly interface and landing pages. Suppliers, based in more than 125 countries, will be able to more easily see the status of their applications. In addition, member buyers can post simple solicitations to women-owned businesses within the network to help them land deals and contracts. WECommunity is truly global with content in 10 languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Italian and Polish.
“SAP Ariba is proud to be part of the WECommunity solution and support the development of women-owned businesses globally. We believe in WECommunity and how it offers busy buyers an easy and intuitive means of connecting with women-owned suppliers will be a powerful tool enabling women-owned business to compete and grow not just a local, but a global level,” said Mark Sweeney, Jr., Senior Account Executive, SAP Ariba. “This type of socially aware commerce embodies the SAP Ariba concept of ‘procurement for a purpose.’ We look forward to helping the WECommunity grow into the gold standard for socially-relevant commerce worldwide.”
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For more information, please visit www.WEConnectInternational.org or contact Angela Walker, Vice President Communications, at WEConnect International, at awalker@WEConnectInternational.org or +1-202-446-8840.
About The W-GDP Initiative
In February 2019, the White House established the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative, the first whole-of-government approach to women’s economic empowerment. W-GDP seeks to reach 50 million women in the developing world by 2025 by focusing on three pillars – Women Prospering in the Workforce, Women Succeeding as Entrepreneurs and Women Enabled in the Economy. W-GDP leverages a new innovative fund, scaling private-public partnerships which address the three pillars. In its first year alone, W-GDP programs reached 12 million women across the globe.
About WEConnect International
A member-led, global non-profit, WEConnect International works with an alliance of over 105 multinational buyers that have committed to sourcing more products and services from women-owned businesses based in more than 125 countries. Member buyers collectively represent over $1 trillion in annual purchasing power. WEConnect International identifies, educates, registers and certifies women’s business enterprises based outside of the US that are at least 51 percent owned, as well as managed and controlled by one or more women, and connects them with large buyers. For more information, see www.weconnectinternational.org
