THE GLOBAL PLATFORM FOR ACTION ON SOURCING FROM WOMEN VENDORS
The Global Platform for
Action on Sourcing from Women Vendors was an outcome of the First Senior
Executive Round-table on Sourcing from Women Vendors held in Chongqing in
September 2010. This meeting brought together 27 representatives of select
Fortune 500 companies, governments and institutions to deliberate a way forward
that would better connect women business owners to global value chains.
A ten year strategy was
developed to facilitate the Platform’s aim to increase the share of corporate,
government and institutional procurement from women vendors for the ultimate
purpose of bringing greater economic benefit to women and their communities.
The Platform has corporate
members with an annual procurement spend in excess of USD700 billion, a
sellers’ network of more than 50,000 business and professional women and a
growing number of trade support institutions across multiple sectors and
countries.
Signatories
to the Global Platform commit to:
- Create shared value
by sourcing from women vendors that offer competitive products and
services;
- Promote the benefits
of sourcing from women vendors, educating multinational corporations on
the business case and return on investment;
- Share knowledge on
policies and practices to increase sourcing from women vendors;
- Support, initiate or
improve efforts to integrate women vendors into value chains; and
- Report to the
Platform for Action Steering Committee on activities and impact via an
annual survey.
Join
the Platform along with other corporations, women business owners, governments
and institutions (online registration)
Platform BrochureWVEF 2012 (English)
The
Platform is led by The International Trade
Centre with the support of WEConnect International. Other partners are the International
Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW), the Chongqing Foreign
Trade and Economic Relations Commission (COFTEC), the International Women’s
Coffee Alliance (IWCA), Quantum Leaps and SPINNA
The
Third Senior Executive Roundtable on Sourcing from Women Vendors and Inaugural
Women Vendors Exhibition and Forum were held on 26-29 September 2011,
Chongqing, China.
300
delegates from 19 countries participated, culminating in US$14.8m worth of
contracts for the supply of goods and services from women entrepreneurs.
Catalogue, newsletter
Platform Brochure 2011 (English, Chinese)