Creating a Citizenship ‘Ripple Effect’ In Procter & Gamble’s Supply Chain

At P&G, we believe that diverse teams foster creativity and innovation. A diverse supply chain enables us to continue to bring constructive disruption to the categories where we compete. During our virtual Global Supplier Citizenship Summit, more than 1,000 participants were encouraged by P&G’s Chief Sustainability Officer Virginie Helias, Chief Communications Officer Damon Jones and Chief Equality & Inclusion Officer Shelly McNamara, to join us in being a Force for Good and a Force for Growth in areas of Equality & Inclusion, Community Impact and Environmental Sustainability.

As part of P&G’s Equality & Inclusion efforts, we strive to be a leader in Supplier Diversity. For 45 years, P&G has been committed to growing our partnerships with diverse-owned businesses. Our dedication to this effort earned us a seat at the Billion Dollar Roundtable in 2005. Since 2008, we have proudly spent more than $2 billion with diverse-owned businesses globally every year and are well on our way to spending $3 billion by 2030. Our Brands are building supplier diversity into their business strategies, and we are helping our suppliers build equality and inclusion into their company strategies too.

To achieve this, we will continue to add diverse companies to our supply base and help our suppliers diversify their own supply networks in the United States, as well as increasing our investment with women-owned businesses throughout the world. We have a solid strategy and many great partners to enable this, including the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), WEConnect International and UN Women and Women's Forum.

Diverse leaders often hire more diverse employees. These efforts combined lead to economic empowerment in our supply network. P&G’s Chief Purchasing Officer Ana Elena Marziano said that the Supplier Citizenship Summit is a way to build a collaborative atmosphere, so we make an even greater impact on the environment, and in our workplaces and communities.

“As P&G grows spend with diverse owned businesses, we create positive ripple effects for the people and communities throughout our supply chains, enabling P&G and our partners to be a force for good, and a force for growth,” Marziano said.

These efforts have continued, despite the supply chain challenges in 2020. In addition to spending $2.8 billion with diverse-owned businesses, we added 21 diverse-owned suppliers to our supplier ecosystem. We introduced a new supplier for our corporate call center, diverse-owned creative and marketing agencies, and a chemical manufacturer for our Fabric and Home Care brands.

Year after year, our colleagues in Purchases work with all functions to grow our business with current diverse suppliers and onboard new ones. We are constantly seeking businesses that can add unique value to P&G and our brands. This is a team effort across all functions, being led from the top, to ensure our supply chain and external ecosystem reflect the diversity of our consumers.

“We value our external business partners and want them to join our journey on Citizenship,” Marziano said. “The Supplier Citizenship Summit is one more way we are collaborating with our external business partners to support our collective progress in this important space.”

Businesses interested in becoming a P&G supplier can learn more at PGSupplier.com.