Procurement Magazine June 2021 | Page 23

“ THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM BEING RACIST , BUT IT ' S ABOUT RACISM ”

“ THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM BEING RACIST , BUT IT ' S ABOUT RACISM ”

» As an employee working for large international firms selling their stock and services , I feel I experienced something similar to the issues that diverse suppliers are up against . There are certainly SMEs represented by a minority individual such as a black person , a female , or someone from the LGBTQ community , that when they walk into a room , there is an automatic negative perception that they experience . And that ' s the very thing that I think stops suppliers from being successful . For example , if a veteran walks into a venue to sell a product , perhaps there is an immediate concern about PTSD . These negative stereotypes impact the success SMEs will experience , despite the quality or superior nature of their product or service . So from my experience as a black male , I can certainly understand the unconscious bias experiences of other marginalised communities , and so Kaleida was designed to help . Although , the initial purpose was to help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises ( SMEs ) sell more products and services and help companies be financially successful . But as I began to collect the data around the companies , it became apparent that what we could do with our platform was to help businesses improve on their supplier diversity while levelling the playground for diverse suppliers . In the US , they ' ve had the Dodd-Frank act for almost 11 years [ enacted on July 21 , 2010 ] and that has helped to encourage the use of underutilized communities . Over here in the UK and Europe , however , we have nothing like that . So , essentially , we ' ve got 12 years to make up for regarding supplier diversity . And that ' s really how we got to where we are today .

» Eventually , from a diversity standpoint , the goal is that we ’ re not needed anymore , that biases are removed and everybody has a fair playing ground .