the meantime, he is getting involved with and supporting
groups such as WEConnect Canada and the Canadian
Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council (CAMSC).
“They have been really fabulous in recommending suppliers when we ask for help.”
T
here is an openness among companies in Nova Scotia
to discuss supplier diversity, even though no legislation exists to mandate policies. The Centre for Women
in Business (CWB) in Halifax, which is also governmentfunded and certifies womenowned firms in the province for
WEConnect Canada, plays a leading role in educating companies
and women business owners about
the benefits of supplier diversity.
“Supplier diversity is one of the
key pieces we’ve taken on to help
women explore new markets,”
says Gordia Macdonald, senior
Macdonald
business development officer for
CWB. “As we reach more women business owners, we’re
getting more inquiries about whether it’s a fit for them
and how we can help.”
She applauds the support of Nova Scotia Business,
Inc. (NSBI), the province’s business development agency,
which has sponsored a booth at the U.S. Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) National
Conference and Business Fair (NCBF) for three years to
give Atlantic Canadian companies
more exposure. “We see the value
in trying to assist CWB with efforts around supplier diversity,”
says Kelly Carter, trade development executive with NSBI, which
helps Nova Scotia companies
export goods. “Since we are always seeking new clients and
CWB is doing a lot of outreach
about supplier diversity, there are Carter
mutual benefits in partnering.” NSBI also has a referral
relationship with the Black Business Initiative (BBI), a
government-funded business development initiative in
Nova Scotia.
C
WB and NLOWE consult and guide companies on
what to include in supplier diversity policies and how
to introduce more women into the supply chain. Their
main focus, however, is educating and training growthseeking women business owners on export strategies, using
supplier diversity programs as a tool. They often partner
with other organizations to accomplish this mission.
For example, both groups have led trade missions for
women business owners to WEConnect Canada’s annual
conference in Toronto and to WBENC’s NCBF in the
U.S., and collaborate in providing pre-mission training
for participants. NLOWE has also run trade missions
to New Orleans, which has a sizable oil and gas industry
and offers participants synergies in developing business
connections.
Anne Whelan, president of
BrenKir Industrial Supply in
Newfoundland, has participated
in trade missions to WBENC
and praises the work of NLOWE
and CWB in helping women prepare—particularly when it comes
to creating an “elevator pitch” and
setting up matchmaking meetings. “As much as we would like
Whelan
to, we can’t spend all our time as
entrepreneurs thinking about business growth when we
also have to run the operations, so it’s very helpful to have
these groups assist us,” she says.
Whelan also feels that women and their organizations
in Atlantic Canada, as a group, have a better chance of
influencing the start-up and growth of supplier diversity programs in the region. She is cautiously optimistic
about the future. “It is still [the] early stages in people’s
understanding of supplier diversity,” she says. “We’ve
seen efforts to integrate it into the development plans
of natural resources, which is good, but it actually hasn’t
taken hold yet in terms of women business owners seeing
the outcomes. I personally have [made] a lot more effort
to self-identify as a woman-owned business and do my
part to raise awareness about supplier diversity than I have
gotten in return.”
Meaningful change is
still needed, and according to
Michael Wyse, executive director
of the BBI, various government
departments are trying to effect it.
“There are some processes in place,
and then there are outcomes,” he
says. “So far, we have not seen
significant gains for the black business community.” From a policy
Wyse
perspective, he sees an opportunity
for the government to set expectations for supplier diversity
with multinationals setting up shop in the province.
As a member of CAMSC, BBI is beginning to work
with companies to understand the opportunities and proMBE
May/June 2013
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