Cincinnati-based consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has been praised for 30 years’ commitment to increasing economic opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses by the National Minority Business Council (NMBC), which yesterday presented the company with the “Outstanding Corporate Support Award”.
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John F. Robinson, president and CEO of NMBC, commented during its 22nd Annual Awards Luncheon: “P&G has demonstrated exceptional leadership in procurement from minority- and women-owned businesses with its efforts to make the minority business community stronger.
“P&G has incorporated its commitment to economic inclusion of minority businesses into its business growth strategy, which demonstrates its dedication to enrich and support our communities.”
Each year, NMBC recognizes a select number of US corporations for their initiatives that support diversity and advance economic opportunities for small, minority- and women-owned businesses.
P&G began its supplier diversity program in 1972, spending US$44,000 among six suppliers, and in the past 10 years has spent US$3bn with a network of over 1,250 minority- and women-owned suppliers.
Icy Williams, associate director, supplier diversity at P&G, said: “We take special pride in being recognized as a leader for an initiative that is so important to us. For three decades, we have been creating jobs, providing opportunity, and enabling economic self-sufficiency. Supplier diversity has and will continue to be an integral part of P&G’s effort to meet consumers’ needs, support America’s communities, and grow our brands.”
By 2005, P&G expects to spend over US$1bn or 11% of its procurement budget with minority- and women-owned businesses, making the company a member of the supplier diversity industry’s Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR). The BDR, sponsored by Minority Business News USA in conjunction with Women’s Enterprise Magazine, is a group of corporations that spend over US$1bn annually with minority enterprises.
