Supplier Diversity: SASDC to Lead Sustainable Supplier Diversity in South Africa

SASDC Press Release, 21 October 2010: The South African Supplier Diversity Council is open for business. This is the message that will be conveyed next week when the SASDC exhibits at the annual NMSDC Convention and International Business Opportunity Fair in Miami, Florida for the first time. Many members of the NMSDC – the National Minority Supplier Development Council of the US - also have operations in South Africa and this is an opportunity for these corporations to talk to the SASDC delegation and to encourage their subsidiaries to become members.

The NMSDC Convention and Fair will take place from 23-27 October 2010 in Miami, Florida. Besides representation from the 39 affiliated US Council chapters, there will be representatives from the SASDC’s Global Link partners in Australia, Canada, China and the UK. This event also attracts over 7000 delegates from across the USA, including both large US corporations and US minority-owned businesses.

The founding members of the SASDC are ABSA, Barloworld, Cummins, De Beers, First Rand, FOSKOR, Johnson Controls, Rand Water, Sappi, Sasol and Unilever. The SASDC aims to have over 40 active corporate members by 2012, with a database of over 300 certified bona fide black suppliers conducting regular business with its members.

SASDC is the first corporate member organisation in South Africa promoting supplier diversity by certifying bona fide black suppliers, investing in their development and opening up more procurement opportunities to them. By working together as a collective the members of the Council will leverage resources, share knowledge and experiences, and set the standards and practices for sustainable economic transformation and integration. The SASDC is supported by USAID under the South African International Business Linkages Programme II, and is modelled on the successful National Minority Supplier Development Council of the US, which also has affiliates in Australia, Canada, China, and the UK.

Background

The South African International Business Linkage (SAIBL), a USAID supported business linkages programme, facilitated the creation of the South African Supplier Diversity Council as a corporate non-profit organisation, made up of member corporations wishing to work together to leverage resources and share knowledge, experience and practices in supplier diversity development. The model of this programme has been tested over 38 years by the US-based NMSDC and its 39 regional affiliates. SASDC’s vision is to be a leading corporate movement promoting supplier diversity through sustainable targeted procurement and black supplier development.

The founding members of the Council have committed themselves to open up more opportunities for black suppliers, whom they will certify, and where necessary also invest in the development of the certified suppliers. In South Africa, it involves the process of integrating a growing pool of competitive black suppliers into corporate supply chains, using targeted procurement and enterprise development to achieve this.

By joining the SASDC, member corporations will enjoy benefits such as corporate procurement development services, access to a national database of bona fide black suppliers, business and supplier diversity information resources (such as case studies, success stories, reference material, bulletins, process guidelines and tools), and various networking and business linkage events.

The SASDC implements a rigorous black supplier certification process that is approved by the Council’s members as a collectively endorsed methodology and standard for assessing and certifying black suppliers with whom they would be prepared to transact. This database is owned, managed and maintained by the Council and only contains bona fide black suppliers that have been certified as “transaction-ready” to do business with Council members. In addition, it is intended to complement the supplier assessment and vetting processes that Council members would normally undertake with all their new suppliers, and aimed at reducing the cost and time that would be expended independently by each of the council members in the absence of such a database.

Certified Black-owned businesses can benefit by means of procurement opportunities from member corporations, product and service exposure to member corporations, exposure to corporations willing to do business with bona fide black companies, access to a corporation's enterprise development assistance, business opportunity fairs, networking and ‘meet-the-buyer’ events.

For more information, contact Gary Joseph on Tel +27 11 544 6000 or email joseph.gary@nbi.org.za

Issued by the South African Supplier Diversity Council
Johannesburg
21 October 2010
www.sasdc.org.za