Good morning, everyone. My name is Tracy Grace. I'm president and Ceo of Ibex. It, business experts. And I'm so glad that you can join me today today. We'll talk about diversity, equity and inclusion and supplier diversity reimagined.I started Ibex in 2012 and based on an opportunity that I found in health, it when I was a vice president at a Dutch consulting firm after much consideration and the company turning down the effort to utilize health. It as a new business line, I decided it was time to start my own firm. So what is supplier diversity? Supplier diversity is including underrepresented groups as a part of your supply chain? There are several reasons why supplier diversity is important back back in uh tw last year in 2020 during COVID, it was a very tough time. It was a time where most corporations realized that diversity no longer could be ignored. So you'll find that not only fortune 500 companies but also mid-sized mid cap companies as well as small businesses are now using supplier diversity as a business model. In order to be successful, supplier diversity has to be backed by leadership. It really needs to come from the top.

If there is no backing by leadership, then it will just be a feudal exercise that will eventually go away. In order to really formulate a div a supplier diversity program within any organization, there have to be some dedicated resources to the effort. There have been many organizations that try to manage their diverse suppliers on a spreadsheet and maybe utilize one of their internal buyers as the main point of contact to include diverse buyers in the supply chain. That's a great first step. But all in all, you really have to dedicate resources. If that is a business model that you're looking to import. What are different classifications in supplier diversity? You have minority business enterprises, women's business enterprises, eight A certified which is the government designation, service, disabled uh disability uh certified organization hub zone for organizations that are housed in urban environments or environments that need a lot of uh regener rejuvenation and regeneration.

So that's just that's just an example of different categories of diverse suppliers. So why bother with supplier diversity? Supplier diversity helps you to promote diversity and inclusion. So what is supplier diversity? It is where as an organization, you make a concerted effort to include diverse suppliers in your supply chain, whether it's a formalized RFP or whether you're purchasing based on a P card, you the the entire effort takes time, it takes effort, it's not automatic. And that's why I said that you have to have someone that's focused on it because you have to have access to qualified and quality diverse suppliers that will fit with your organization by no stretch of, of my imagination. Am I saying that you should just buy from diverse suppliers? Because it's, it's a good thing to do without any type of betting. That's not the case. It takes additional effort to locate diverse suppliers that will effectively fit in your supply chain. And if you're a larger organization, it takes a lot of effort in order to locate the diverse suppliers that will fit well. And that actually supply what you need. They're out there though. And if you put forth the effort, you will be so surprised at the quality and the quantity of suppliers that you can bring into your supply chains to change things up. In addition, it really encourages innovation, right?

So there has to be a business case for supplier diversity and as things continue to change within the United States, one of the most interesting metrics is that the United States is, is now 51% diverse. So if you can imagine um a point in time where that wasn't the case, but as companies start to look at what can they do as an organization in order to differentiate themselves. One of the major things is to look at who your customers are, who are they? So what is the impact of supplier diversity for fortune 500 companies woke up right around May of 2020 last year where it could no longer be ignored. That diversity was something that really needed to be addressed. Your consumer is demanding it. I'll give you one example. BMW has a very robust supplier diversity program. And why do you ask that? BMW took a look at who their major consumers were. A ma a large percentage of their consumers are African American and female. So if their supply chain did not recognize that and address that, then that would be. So BMW took a look at what they could do to utilize supplier diversity to ensure that their customer base was being represented in their supply chain. So what are the different ways to implement diverse suppliers? Because not all small businesses or diverse suppliers that are small businesses are go to be a prime contractor in your supply chain. You have different levels. Tier one, tier two, tier three suppliers.

So tier one is gonna be your prime supplier, the one that you know can come in, knock it out of the park provide goods and services with not a lot of assistance, but they may also be able to tie in some subcontractors that are tier two. So the tier two supplier typically is gonna report up to the tier one and then tier three is an important uh in integration into the supply chain. Sometimes we find that very innovative, diverse suppliers can be tier two and tier three suppliers. In order to implement a plan where you're having your prime contractors, bring on tier two and tier three, there must be really uh accountable contracting. So if you provide a contract to your prime one, to your tier one prime contractors, you can implement language in that contract that mandates a certain percentage of the contract must be subcontracted to a diverse supplier. So that's another area. So an impor another important statistic 34% of ethnically diverse firms outperform their competition. Now, that's a huge percentage. If you look at all of the largest companies out there, and you say 34% of firms that are diverse internally within their organization are outperforming their competition that gives you technically the business case for diversity, there are a lot of other statistics that can help to prove this.

So if you're a person that is an influencer within your organization and you're trying to figure out how do you bring this all about the numbers? Are there the organizations that have the statistics? Are there? The companies that are embracing supplier diversity are outperforming the competition diversity brings innovation. So what are the small and middle market opportunities using diverse businesses in your supply chain? Does a lot more than just diversify, diversify who you're using?

It's also a way of giving back and really impact community if you market company and you don't think about utilizing diverse organizations in your supply chain. I'll tell you to definitely reconsider that as a small business myself. It is very important that we continue to examine what we're doing and how we're using other diverse suppliers in our supply chain. So my, my management team knows it's of utmost importance that as we're looking at spend money, we're putting our money where our mouth is. We're not just asking other suppliers to utilize us, but we're also doing the same thing. It's super important that all organizations, whether you're small, medium or large look at utilizing diverse suppliers as a huge opportunity. It's also a phenomenal opportunity to partner with other organizations that are diverse last year, over 30% of our spend um of our buying was with other diverse suppliers. I have AAA simple case study. I'll just tell you a little bit about an opportunity that we had that came about with uh University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. I visited them, we sat down, we talked a little bit about Ibex and what we could do as an organization. And they asked if we could develop a system that would help them to manage their supplier diversity network because there really wasn't anything on the market.

So after about a year and a half, we developed a system to help them manage and monitor and communicate with their diverse suppliers. So fast forward up MC really partnered with us as an organization in order to ensure that not only they could use the system, but we could also take the intellectual property forward to other organizations in the country. So we have just completed development of the second generation system called certifiably diverse. We're in beta testing now and we're going straight to market to be able to provide a platform that will provide organizations with the means of communicating with diverse suppliers, being able to provide information, uh being able to help train and group diverse suppliers. But also most importantly, having access and knowledge of who the top diverse suppliers are that they can utilize in their supply chain. So I will tell you that working with UP MC really provided us an opportunity to add them, add value for them. They have been able to integrate and uh hire additional employees in order to help to grow their supplier diversity program.

Up MC is the largest employer in the state of Pennsylvania and they have taken it head first, they understand the power of innovation and how innovation impacts the or their organization and it's spreading. So where the supplier diversity program when I first met with up MC had one today. They are a group of three that are managing their supplier diversity program which reaches outside of the state of Pennsylvania as they are a global organization, but they have directly in invested in their supplier diversity and are taking it forward. So you ask, what are some of the components of a Supplier Diversity program. It's giving your vendors access a place, a portal someplace that they can register and have hold all their information so that you as the uh as the person who's trying to utilize supplier diversity has a way of communicating and locating the uh qualified diverse suppliers. Also a good supplier diversity program really does get involved in the community. They take a vested interest in knowing that not all small businesses that are diverse will ever do business with certain companies. Everyone can't do business with everyone.

However, there is something to say for the companies that are putting for the effort to communicate directly with these small businesses to help them get over those humps to provide training, to provide um sources and resources. The most successful businesses, whether they're fortune 500 health care or whatever are the ones that band together with other companies in their community to be able to provide access to small businesses to education and information to help them be successful. Small businesses employ over 50% of the workforce.

And because of this, a smaller number of diverse suppliers really need to be nurtured and accounted for. In order to continue to grow and be a valued part of the supply chain, you'll find that organizations are now finding it not only necessary because of their consumer demands, but also the board of directors are demanding that organizations have a, a formalized supplier diversity program.

It may be it may happen because there are government regulations or government mandates that things now need to be measured and monitored and that information needs to be held on to for over eight years. So there is a lot, one of the reasons why supplier diversity is not only a nicety anymore for many companies, it's mandatory and for others, they're just now waking up and realizing that hey, things are changing, our customer base is diverse and we really need to reflect that.

In addition, cert certification compliance is a very important part of supplier diversity. Certification compliance is the part where if you have a supplier diversity program and you have um a group of diverse suppliers, they are technically, they should be certified through a uh a governing body that goes through the checks and balances to make sure. Say, for instance, if you're a woman owned small business that you have gotten that certification from say Wean, then if you're a minority business supplier, the certification, the corresponding certification could be through a Department of Transportation organization or it could be through the N MS DC.

Each of these organizations have regional councils where if you connect with them as a, as an organization and as a company, you can get certified as an organization as a, as a diverse supplier or you can enter into one of their programs in order to help you along the pathway.

It's so important to have supplier diversity goals, goals help you set measure and monitor what you're trying to achieve. So most supplier diversity goals start with something reasonable. Hopefully something that's attainable with a concerted focus and, and uh with concerted effort.

So you may start off by saying, ok, in 2022 we're gonna look at diversifying our supply chain and we want to ensure that 5% of all spend is with a woman owned small business and another 5% is with a minority owned small business. And another 2% is with a veteran, veteran owned or LGBT Q uh own business. You can set those goals and then as you set the goals and you continue to work with your internal buyers and you formalize a program, you'll find that you're able to then formulate a program around those goals that will help you to achieve them. There are major components and there are other things that help to help you as an organization to ensure that you have a strong formal program. There are things such as um there are different types of opportunities that you can take advantage of also in the community in regards to supplier diversity. But it's all a matter of formalization and really honing in on what your goals are and what you're trying to achieve.

Another way of encompassing leadership in the supplier diversity objective is to utilize um goals within their annual reviews. Is it being measured? Is the is obtaining those uh those goals, part of the metric of senior leadership and their annual bonus goals. That's another way.

Once again, putting your money where your mouth is, it definitely matters. There are a lot of strategies that companies are implementing in order to be successful within supplier diversity. My contact information is here um Once again, T Grace at Ibex experts.com. We are based in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

We provide uh supplier diversity services uh that include a, that include certifiably diverse, which is our supplier diversity vendor management system. And we also provide training certification services that can assist you in ensuring that you have the correct training, leadership development in order to formulate an effective supply chain.