DuPont is a long-time leader in Supplier Diversity and has played an integral role in supporting WBENC and our WBEs. DuPont is a 2023 WBENC National Conference Co-Chair and is celebrating the 50th anniversary of their Supplier Diversity program.
Corporate Members and WBEs alike can learn from DuPont, as shared by Maria Prince, DuPont’s Environmental, Social and Governance Leader for Global Procurement, and their award-winning, strong, and constantly evolving and growing Supplier Diversity program.
Maria, can you share some details about the DuPont Supplier Diversity program and your current focuses and initiatives?
Inclusive procurement practices provide opportunities to diverse businesses, which in turn provide greater representation, employment, and economic advancement for minority, women, veteran, and LGBTQ+ communities. DuPont has a long-standing commitment to supplier diversity as an essential business strategy. Our supplier diversity goals include increasing total diverse supplier spend each year and ensuring their inclusion in our competitive bid process and sponsored outreach events.
All of these are efforts that will support our long-term goal of achieving $1B in spend with diverse supplier on or before 2030.
In our efforts to find, mentor, and develop diverse suppliers, we partner with an array of national and international diversity organizations that expand our access to diverse businesses across the world.
In 2020 we announced a commitment to invest $20M to Local Initiatives Support Corporation’s (LISC) Black Economic Development Fund. The BEDF will provide financing to support Black-led financial institutions, anchor institutions, and businesses through improved access to capital to incentivize economic activity and wealth-building opportunities in Black communities.
The company implemented a sustainability modifier as part of its short incentive program that includes a commitment to meet our supplier diversity goals each year.
Included in our metrics for bonus payout is a commitment to meet our supplier diversity goals each year. Along with CEO and C-suite support, bonus payout structure secures the program as a business imperative and not just the right thing to do.
We continue to integrate into our processes and policies improvements to make it easier to do business with DuPont. We are reviewing our contraction process, payments terms and RFP process provide access to business while maintaining our requirements to become part of DuPont supplier matrix.
“We partner with NGOs and corporations in the areas where we operate to network with small and diverse suppliers to provide them access to our buyers and decision-makers, as well as educational opportunities. Meeting topics have included supporting business growth and how to do business with large corporations. Finally, a key area of focus for 2023 is to expand globally. As a multinational corporation we want to provide opportunities for diverse businesses.”
What strategies have been central to how DuPont has grown and evolved the supplier diversity program?
Our commitment to Supplier Diversity is part of a long-standing foundation integrated into our corporate values and identified for decades, with 50 years plus of collective organizational experience.
Key aspects to the success include:
- Senior executives buy-in and support
- Integrating program elements into the procurement strategy, process and metrics to ensure seamless execution and goal setting
- Including successful diverse suppliers in our SRM (supplier relationship management) and SPM (supplier performance management) programs that continue to grow their business and align diverse suppliers with DuPont’s strategic initiatives
- NGO relationships and support to find and mentor qualified suppliers
- Internal and external marketing and communication to share success stories and best practices that provide continuous improvement for the program and recognizes of the team and our suppliers
- Creative and innovation mindset that supports the ongoing needs for new partners to address the changes and evolving needs of our customers.
DuPont was recently named a WBENC 2023 America’s Top Corporation for Women’s Business Enterprises and has been involved with WBENC for 20 years. What does receiving this award mean to DuPont?
We are so proud of the recognition of this longstanding commitment and the economic impact we have had as a company on a city, state and national level by doing business with Women Business Enterprises (WBEs).
We are grateful for our relationshipwith WBENC. While DuPont has gone through significant transformation over the past few years the company continues to grow and support our supplier diversity program.
This is a testament to the commitment we have to supplier diversity.
About Maria Prince | DuPont
Maria Prince, an industry leader in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), is head of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) in DuPont’s Global Procurement. As the Global Procurement ESG Leader, Prince will oversee the company’s supplier diversity program, supplier sustainability initiatives, DEI and supply chain risk strategy for the global supply chain.
Prince is an accomplished executive with more than 25 years of experience in strategic sourcing, product development, supplier diversity, and supply chain. She has worked for well-known companies, including Walmart, PepsiCo, Academy Sports & Outdoors, and LBrands. Prior to joining DuPont, Prince served as Vice President of the NMSDC Academy for the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), where she led programs for corporate members and minority-owned business enterprises (MBEs). She understands the world from an entrepreneur’s vantage point as well having been part of a business startup, raising capital and eventually selling the firm a few years ago.
She was most recently named a top 25 Diversity Change Leader by Diversity Plus magazine. Prince has served on several non-profit boards and currently serves on the Tuck Business School Diversity Board at Dartmouth College and the Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce. She is currently a member of the Chemical Industry Group with WBENC. She is a frequent guest speaker and panelist on the topics of DE&I, Supplier Diversity, and Strategic Sourcing.
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