Diversify your supply chain

Heart of the City and MSDUK can help you achieve your sustainability, social value and procurement goals, connecting you with London-based ethnic minority start ups and SMEs that are ready to help you innovate and meet your customer needs.

Business benefits

Corporate businesses with supplier diversity programmes benefit from:

• improved customer engagement
• revenue generation
• pitching opportunities
• innovation and market resilience
• enhanced reputation

Supporting ethnic minority businesses helps whole communities. They create wealth and opportunity in disadvantaged areas, leading to better health, education and social outcomes.

The business case

Ethnic minority businesses (EMBs) make up 1 million of the 6 million businesses in the UK. They employ nearly 3 million people and contribute more than £74 billion to the UK economy. Yet, according to MSDUK, less than 1% of corporate spending currently goes to minority business development.

Buying from EMBs benefits corporate and public sector customers. Diversity within supply chains brings new ideas and solutions to organisations, boosting competitiveness, resilience and market growth.

Minority Business Matters tackles four key long-term challenges that face London’s ethnic minority SMEs and freelancers.

1. Accessing existing support for business growth and resilience
2. Barriers to selling to large corporates and the public sector
3. Competitiveness when it comes to accessing new customers and markets
4. Barriers for corporate and public sector procurement looking to work with EMBs

Our work also helps to overcome three additional specific challenges ethnic minority business leaders face: discrimination, disconnection from mainstream business networks and disproportionate lack of confidence or doubt in their abilities.