Activities

Membership is available to large organisations that are committed to achieving supplier diversity within the context of European legislation and culture. Current members include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Citi, Corporate Express, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Pitney Bowes, Weil Gotshal & Manges.

Supplier Diversity Europe is a programme of MPG. MPG is an independent, not-for-profit ‘think and do’ tank based in Brussels. The Director of MPG and Supplier Diversity Europe is Dr Jan Niessen.

UK

Through 2008, Supplier Diversity Europe (SDE) is providing a not-for-profit advisory service to its corporate members in the UK. This is creating and supporting the growth of sustainable supplier diversity programmes through:

• Internal capacity-building
• Work with primary contractors
• Development of relationships between members and potential suppliers from under-represented groups.

Professor Monder Ram and his team at CRÈME (Centre for Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship) at de Montfort University, Leicester are partnering with SDE on the delivery, evaluation and sharing of this work.

Activity includes the hosting of regular meetings and events with smaller, diverse, potential suppliers in London, Midlands and the East of England.

Any potential supplier interested in attending such meetings should register their details in the SDE Database at www.supplierdiversityeurope.eu. SDE thanks all those small and medium enterprises who have already posted profiles; these profiles are reviewed regularly and matched against new member opportunities and requirements.

Germany & France

Supplier Diversity is still evolving as a business concept in Germany and France. In 2008 SDE is building on earlier roundtable meetings of stakeholders in these countries.

In Germany Supplier Diversity Europe has started working together with European Diversity, a consultancy and research agency. SDE and European Diversity have shared information about supplier diversity with forty large companies and breakfast meetings are scheduled for late February and March.

In France Supplier Diversity Europe is undertaking an outline survey of organisations working with, or representing, businesses from underrepresented communities that have an interest in working with SDE and member corporations.