WEConnect International Holds Strategic Discussion on Strategies to Increase Access to Global Market Opportunities for Women-Owned Business in India through Supplier Diversity and Inclusion
* Focus on need for Governments and corporations to take additional steps to level the playing field for women business owners to compete fairly in the global marketplace.
WEConnect International, a global network that connects women-owned businesses to qualified buyers around the world, organised a discourse on connecting women with opportunities and promoting supplier diversity and inclusion.
The session, which comprised of keynotes from Saritha Venumbaka, COO, WEConnect International and Micheal Tobolski, Vice President, WEConnect International, was attended by industry and press peers in the national capital today.
The speakers stressed on the need for gender-responsive policies and initiatives to empower women entrepreneurs in India. They highlighted the importance of raising awareness and creating equal opportunities for women-owned businesses in global procurement. Strategies to support women-owned businesses included identifying and connecting them with potential clients, providing capacity-building programs, and offering mentoring opportunities. Networking and education were also seen as crucial for women-owned businesses to succeed.
WEConnect International also emphasised on empowering women entrepreneurs in India’s supply chain, reconnecting international businesses with India and amplifying the message.
The importance of including women-owned businesses in supply chain decisions, citing their significant economic impact was also discussed as part of the session.
Highlighting gender disparity in procurement spend, Saritha noted that women-owned businesses receiving less than 1% of total procurement spend despite making up half the population.
Saritha also noted how women-owned businesses in India are breaking the mould from being handicrafts to including manufacturing and professional services, with almost half the chunk of businesses (49%) comprising of professional services. This shows that India is ready for taking charge, being already the third-largest in terms of startups and increasing the importance of certification for member buyers.
Benefits of certification include legal compliance and validation for buyers.
Empowering women-owned businesses includes helping them to succeed in corporate supply chain, including identifying and training them.
Training includes tailored capacity-building programs focused on doing business with corporate buyers, with practice opportunities for pitching and networking.
Notably, women are more known to give back to their community once they have the resources, hence the benefits of networking for women-owned businesses include increased buying from other women and access to mentorship and coaching.
Michael spoke on the demand side of the equation, including how large corporations can do business with women-owned suppliers and remove barriers to inclusion.
“When we started in 2009, we had 15 corporate members, and now we’re at 200 plus. Amongst these over half of the members are from Fortune 50 companies like Apple and Google.
Also, Zomato, Infosys and Sagility Health India Limited are Indian companies as part of our members.
All of these companies at some level, are committed and actively looking to include local businesses in the supply chain,” he said.
Sharing results of a survey last year, Michael said the global members reported spending over $5 billion on women businesses outside of the US, the women businesses being competitive in quality, service and price.
“We had a woman business in our network tell us that if she tells the male buyers that she’s women owned, they won’t buy from her because she’s a woman. So maybe the perceptions of women businesses are small or they can’t compete. And it’s absolutely not true. We have a woman businesses example, that makes truck bodies for Toyota,” he noted.
Shedding light on why one needs to close the gender gap, Michael said, “One-thirds of all privately owned businesses in the world are owned by women, yet women-owned businesses earn less than 1% of large corporate and government spend with suppliers.”
The two-day workshop organised by WEConnect International with over 50 women entrepreneurs will focus on capacity building and critical skills required to participate in global value chains.