The Power of Procurement: How to Source from Women-Owned businesses

This is a guide for gender-responsive procurement that provides corporations and their suppliers with a deeper understanding of challenges preventing women-owned businesses from fully participating in local and global value chains. It discusses key procurement topics such as:

Overcoming challenges facing women-owned business enterprises: The private sector can reform corporate procurement policies and practices to be more inclusive to support to overcome challenges facing women-owned businesses. Strategic sourcing practices include:

• Increasing access to information and social networks
• Streamlining the application process
• Streamlining the contracting process
• Limiting contract sizes
• Establishing appropriate award criteria
• Providing feedback
• Paying promptly

Building corporate capacity and commitment: To reach a stage where gender-responsive procurement has become an integral part of the corporate culture and practice, an organization can develop a corporate supplier development plan for women-owned businesses, identify opportunities for women-owned businesses in strategic sourcing and supply chain management, etc. There are eight guidelines for introducing best practices:

• Establish corporate policy and top corporate management support
• Develop a corporate supplier development plan for women-owned businesses
• Establish comprehensive internal and external communications
• Identify opportunities for women-owned businesses in strategic sourcing and supply chain management
• Establish comprehensive supplier development process
• Establish tracking, reporting, and goal-setting mechanisms
• Establish a continuous improvement plan
• Establish a second-tier supplier program