30 DRAGON’ S DEN
Citi is today’ s pre-eminent financial services company, with some 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries. At Citi, diversity is seen as a source of strength and they have made it a priority to foster a culture where the best people want to work, where people are promoted on their merits and where they value and demand respect for others and where opportunities to develop are widely available to all- regardless of differences. members’ survey to identify potential diverse suppliers and building relationships with intermediary groups that would assist them in expanding their outreach to more diverse suppliers in the U. K.
The launch of Citi’ s EMEA Supplier Diversity Programme took place at their prestigious headquarters in Canary Wharf on 23rd June 2008; Engage magazine was invited to attend. The date also marked the start of Citi’ s annual Diversity Week. Citi’ s form of engagement with diverse-owned small and medium
Citi’ s EMEA
Supplier Diversity
Programme
Citi’ s diversity strategy focuses on four commitments:
1. Employer of Choice for their employees 2. Service Provider of Choice for their clients 3. Neighbour of Choice for their communities
4. Business Partner of Choice for their suppliers.
Senior management at Citi are responsible for developing diversity plans and are also held accountable for the progress against those plans.
Supplier diversity is high on Citi’ s agenda. Their programme in the US has long been established and in 2006 Citi announced their spend with diverse suppliers had surpassed US $ 950 million- an increase of 200 percent over the previous four years.
In 2004, Citi rolled out a plan to introduce supplier diversity to small and medium-sized enterprises owned by ethnic minorities, women, immigrants, and the disabled in the UK and other European countries, setting themselves a gruelling target of 3 – 4 years to complete. This project included completion of a corporate sized suppliers took the shape of a‘ Dragon’ s Den’ event where three diverse-owned small businesses were invited to pitch their business plans to a panel consisting of senior Citi managers and an audience of London-based buyers, which also included Procurement’ s clients and key business stakeholders. The prize for the best pitch?- 6 months of mentoring. This award was successfully claimed by Evolution Event Management. The house was packed, the atmosphere electric, the outcome? – requests that Citi continue to engage with UK diverse-suppliers. Well done Citi, engage looks forward to reporting your progress. uk | engage ISSUE SEVEN 2008