Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC has
held the first Supplier Sustainability Forum in Accra.
The
forum brought together the bank’s suppliers, business banking clients, NGOs and
representatives from the Association of Physically Challenged and Albinism to engage
them on its sustainability agenda and how the bank demonstrates diversity and
inclusion in its businesses.
In
a release issued by the bank on June 13, it said the bank shared plans for
improving the lives of one billion people and their communities by unleashing
the full potential of women and small businesses in its core markets.
This, it said, included providing
equitable access to financial support for women and small business by
accelerating the provision of quality financial services to women, purposefully
connecting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to international markets
and building partnerships to expand the reach and scale of financial services.
The
release said the purpose of the forum was to share the bank’s plan for supplier
diversity.
“Working
with more diverse suppliers drives greater economic participation and positive
social and community impacts. However, small companies do not always have the
same opportunities to pitch for work with large organisations.
The bank hopes to change this by
ensuring the provision of equal access to diverse suppliers in the procurement
processes by partnering with organisations that provide guidance on best
practice and help connect with more diverse suppliers as well as providing
support on how to meet the requirements,” it said.
The
Supply Chain Management’s Head of Sustainability and Training of the bank,
Susan Tew, took participants through the bank’s Supplier D&I standards,
focusing on the five pillars, namely the Commitment to Inclusion of Diverse
Suppliers in the Procurement Process, Alignment to Suppliers D&I Standards
and Compliance, Legislation, Regulation or Local Laws, Commitment to Continuous
Improvement of Supplier D&I Practices, Supplier Support and Development and
Commitment to Measurement and Sharing of Progress.
The
Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand & Marketing, Asiedua Addae, said the bank
was committed to lifting participation through supplier diversity and
inclusion.
“In
collaboration with our NGO partners and through our Futuremakers programmes, we
provide education and support to SMEs and female businesses, helping them to
acquire the capabilities to succeed,” he said.
“To
ensure that our suppliers impart their various partners, there was knowledge
sharing and communication of successes by the participants who attended the
forum. The data gathered at the forum will be used in the bank’s vendor
management discussions to drive improvement,” the release said.
Source:Graphic.com