A BLOG POST FROM SUE LAWTON GLOBAL ADVISOR TO WECONNECT INTERNATIONAL
A little bit of business history was made at the House of Commons on Monday evening. WEConnect International launched a groundbreaking piece of work supporting the development of contract opportunities for women business owners. This is impressive in the first instance because women are the untapped source of economic opportunity, currently less than 1% of the global supply chain. However, and this is the most important bit, the vision and practice guide for large corporations, taking them on their first steps of their supplier inclusion journey, was written by a corporation already including women entrepreneurs in their contract opportunities - RBS. But wait, it gets better. The Voluntary Code of Conduct, as it is known, is also supported by a growing number of other global purchasers such as MSD, Accenture and Coca Cola. They will be using it to bring in other less enlightened corporations on this important path to business growth through women. The Code though is appropriate for any size of business as we all procure goods and services, and need to be aware if we are procuring inclusively and also ensuring the best value .
At time where the world is looking for ways to create jobs, kick start stagnant economies and bring communities out of poverty we constantly look to governments to do something about it. To take the lead in creating development programmes that will facilitate economic activity. Whilst government funds have been lobbied and applied for, fruitlessly, the Corporate Members of WEConnect International have quietly been creating their own solution to the problem, and finding some fabulous new suppliers along the way.