The Global Supplier Diversity Conference (GSDC) provides the strategic framework to help women and underrepresented business owners identify and prepare to secure VC funding and corporate contracts, while connecting founders and business owners to those opportunities. The full-day conference is designed to boost spending with underrepresented – and women-owned businesses, launch new vendor partnerships and increase the number of successful underrepresented small business suppliers.

ADDRESSING SUPPLIER DIVERSITY
The history of supplier diversity in the United States is rooted in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and driven by legislative mandates. The current spotlight on economic and racial inequality in the United States draws much attention to the impact of supplier diversity programs.

The U.S. Small Business Administration estimates there were 8 million underrepresented-owned companies in the United States as of 2018. Supplier diversity programs represent an opportunity for corporations to collaborate with underrepresented-owned companies, create economic opportunity, and enhance their businesses. Corporations have experienced the benefits of unlocking the power of diversity to deliver innovation and capture new markets — and there is more work to be done.