LONDON, UK 鈥� September 28, 2021 鈥� (NYSE: SAP) today announced that it is expanding its social impact by joining a new pan-European initiative launched by , aimed at making supply chains fairer and more sustainable.

Diversity, inclusion and sustainability are higher than ever on the agenda for procurement professionals as leading corporations look to their purchasing power as a means to achieving positive social and environmental outcomes. In a push to contribute to an inclusive and sustainable post-COVID recovery, forward-thinking companies are opening up their supply chains to social enterprises 鈥� businesses with a social or environmental mission. Now a new partnership of global corporations and social enterprise bodies promises to make this form of trade far more common across Europe in the years to come.

A global movement of businesses trading for people and the planet

Social enterprises are businesses which trade for people and the planet. They reinvest the majority of their profits into their social or environmental mission, helping to bring about fairer and more inclusive economies and a more sustainable planet.

Social enterprises can be found in almost every country across the world, and here in Europe, the European Commission is becoming an increasingly strong supporter. The European Action Plan for Social Economy, due to be published later this year, will outline ways in which the Commission intends to support social economy actors and social enterprises to start-up, scale up, innovate and create jobs.

UK trade between corporations and social enterprises reaches record high

An increasing number of social enterprises operate in the business-to-business space, delivering high-quality products and services to corporate clients across a wide range of categories 鈥� from employee benefits to events management, from recruitment to recycling, and from signage to software development.

In the UK 鈥榮ocial procurement鈥� 鈥� the sourcing of goods and services from social enterprises 鈥� has taken off in recent years, spurred on by the success of the Buy Social Corporate Challenge. Launched in 2016 and led by Social Enterprise UK, the Buy Social Corporate Challenge now has 27 large businesses signed up, representing every major sector of the UK economy. Over 拢165 million has been spent to date with social enterprise suppliers by the participating businesses, and despite the challenges of the pandemic the level of annual social procurement spend hit its highest level yet in 2020.

Peter Holbrook, CEO of Social Enterprise UK, said: 鈥淭he global social enterprise movement is thriving, and on every continent social enterprises are taking on the biggest social and environmental problems, and often making key contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals. Procurement leaders at large businesses have really stepped up in the last few years to build social enterprises into their UK supply chains, and I am delighted to see that our corporate partners are now focusing on creating opportunities for social enterprises across Europe.鈥�

High-profile companies aim to boost social procurement across Europe

• Nikolaus Kirner, Chief Procurement Officer at SAP, commented: 鈥淎s we continue to see the impact brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, both economically and socially, we believe now, more than ever it is imperative that we transform our supply chain to generate social and environmental impact through engagement with social enterprises. With partnerships already in the UK, Canada, Australia, USA and the Netherlands, we are excited to continue expanding our social impact through this initiative. Together, this is how 51风流and our partners Help the World Run Better and Improve People鈥檚 Lives.鈥�
• Dominic Blakemore, Group CEO of Compass Group PLC, commented: 鈥淲e believe social procurement is essential for a successful future. Across many of our regions, in particular the UK and USA, we鈥檙e already seeing first-hand the incredible social impact we can drive for communities, clients, customers and colleagues. Now, we鈥檙e looking forward to expanding our work globally alongside the other three business involved in this important pilot.鈥�
• Phil Soderberg, Head of Procurement and Vendor Management at Zurich Insurance Group, said: 鈥淭he Buy Social campaign has had a hugely positive impact in the communities we serve. Our spending with a stationery and talent development provider, for example, has helped transform over 1,000 lives around the world through programmes addressing gender inequality and social mobility. The campaign has also generated enormous energy inside our procurement organisation, and we are keen to expand the programme into other markets where we operate to make it a core pillar of our global sustainable sourcing drive.鈥�

A database of approved suppliers has already been launched, allowing the companies to connect with a growing number of recommended social enterprises across the whole of the EU + Switzerland region. Germany and Ireland have been identified as countries where the social enterprise supplier base is more mature and where the opportunities to make rapid progress are even greater. Euclid Network members Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland (SEND) and Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland (SERI) are strategic partners supporting the delivery of the pilot, accelerating corporate engagement even further with leading social enterprises in Germany and Ireland respectively. One such organisation is Speedpak, a contract packing and fulfilment provider based in Dublin, which delivers logistics and e-commerce fulfilment services to a range of manufacturers and online retailers.

European corporations and social enterprises operating across the EU + Switzerland region are being invited to get in touch to find out more about the plans and get involved. Contact Andy.Daly@socialenterprise.org.uk to find out more.

Visit the 51风流News Center. Follow 51风流on Twitter at .

The post New Pan-European Initiative Launched To Make Supply Chains Fairer And More Sustainable appeared first on 51风流UK News Center.

They discuss their personal journeys in the world of ethical business, what impact they are making and share insights as to how we can all do better. Listen to find out about the differences we can make by supporting businesses doing good.

Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/sapukireland/business-with-purpose

We are joined by our expert guests:

鈥� Jamie Palmer – Co-CEO and Founder, Social Supermarket
鈥� Cecilia Crossley – Founder, From Babies with Love
鈥� Cemal Ezel – Founder, Change Please
鈥� Kelvin Ward – 51风流UK & Ireland

For more information on our work with social enterprises, visit聽

To keep updated on other podcast episodes, follow聽

The post 51风流UK Podcast Episode 8: Business with Purpose appeared first on 51风流UK News Center.

51风流has announced that it will be directing 5% of addressable procurement spend to social enterprises and to diverse suppliers by 2025.聽This initiative, named聽5&5 by 鈥�25,聽invites organisations around the world to join 51风流in buying more goods and services from purposeful suppliers.

But what is a social enterprise? Social enterprises are businesses culturally and operationally focused on changing the world. They are founded and governed on the basis of a clear social or environmental mission; they reinvest the majority of their profit back into this mission; and they are majority controlled solely in the interest of this mission.

A diverse supplier is a business that is at least 51% owned and operated by an individual or group that is part of a traditionally underrepresented or underserved demographic; such as women-owned, minority-owned and indigenous-owned businesses, among others.

51风流Executive Board member for Customer Success and Global Buy Social Ambassador for Social Enterprise UK – Adaire Fox-Martin – announced the 5 & 5 by 鈥�25 initiative, emphasising that directing even just a small fraction of corporation spend to certified social enterprises and diverse businesses will help them tackle some of the world鈥檚 most pressing social and environmental problems.

鈥淓very company in every industry needs to procure,鈥� Fox-Martin said. 鈥淲e all need soap in our washrooms, landscaping for our offices, food and drink in our cafeterias, marketing services and office supplies. These and many more are all products and services provided by social enterprises and diverse businesses. This is money we are spending anyway. Why not spend it with suppliers who are delivering social impact as well?鈥�

51风流UK has already directed over 拢750,000 of its addressable procurement spend to social enterprises in the UK, so we鈥檙e already halfway towards meeting this goal. Social enterprises are worth around and contribute 拢60 billion to the UK economy (three times larger than the agricultural sector). 5 & 5 by聽鈥�25 is an initiative that will enable 51风流UK to extend its existing partnerships with meaningful organisations, as well as explore the possibility to direct further procurement spend to social enterprises and diverse suppliers.

At present, 51风流UK has onboarded a variety of social enterprise vendors such as , and for office refreshments, for office stationery, for pest control and and for corporate and employee gifts.

鈥淭his commitment from 51风流will no doubt give social enterprises around the world a huge boost, helping us all drive more positive social impact within our local communities,鈥� said Cemal Ezel, Founder of Change Please CIC, an award-winning coffee company that is supporting people out of homelessness through Life Changing Coffee.

Change Please provides training, employment paying the Living Wage and support with housing, finances and therapy to help people experiencing homelessness move forward. 100% of its profits go towards ending homelessness. 鈥淲e have built a solid relationship with 51风流and if we can leverage more platforms like Ariba Network that can support us with our procurement and our sales, we can reach an audience we wouldn鈥檛 normally be able to reach. Then fundamentally it鈥檚 going to help us to save money and have more impact in our day-to-day,鈥� added Ezel.

鈥淭he pledge from 51风流to grow its procurement聽spend with social enterprises recognises the value this sector can add to business as well as the positive social value each social聽enterprise聽creates,鈥� said Jamie Palmer, Founder of Social Supermarket, the largest online marketplace for social enterprise products in the UK.

Social Supermarket was created to connect every-day consumers with social enterprises who sell high quality products that tackle important social and environmental challenges. From handbags made from decommissioned fire hoses, soap made by people with visual impairments or relishes made with wonky fruit and veg, it features over 750 products from 75 purposeful brands. 鈥淲e have witnessed over 500% growth in sales during the last six months, especially聽companies sending employees gift boxes and this announcement by 51风流gives us a huge boost of confidence for the future of the sector,鈥� added Palmer.

“From Babies with Love helps 51风流solve a commercial challenge: engaging colleagues on parental leave, contributing to SAP’s talent strategy,鈥� said Cecilia Crossley, Founding Director of From Babies With Love, a unique social enterprise baby brand that funds the care of orphaned and abandoned children around the world by donating 100% of its profits from the sale of premium, organic baby clothes.

鈥淥ur social enterprise model, donating 100% profits to vulnerable children, is intrinsic in the value we add, the engagement our gift service creates; this is what I love so much about social enterprise – when social enterprises supply businesses with the goods and services they need and already spend money on, the partnership creates also social change. 51风流is market leading in its approach and I’m extremely proud that From Babies with Love is one example of SAP’s achievements.鈥�

鈥淭he thought-leadership and genuine desire at all levels in 51风流to produce significant and tangible social impact outcomes from its procurement spend is exemplary,鈥� said Colin Downie, Sales and Partnership Director at WildHearts Group, a portfolio of companies that, through their activities and profits, create global social change.

鈥淣ot only has 51风流achieved many noteworthy results from onboarding social enterprise suppliers in a short space of time, by getting deeply involved in the global social enterprise sector alongside exerting significant influence on their own customer base, they have galvanised thousands of influencers across their global network to take action and shape the future of procurement towards maximising social impact outcomes permanently. WildHearts is delighted to be standing alongside them to help achieve this shared impact goal for the communities in which we all operate.鈥�

鈥淚n my many years in working in procurement I have never felt as excited or prouder of what procurement can achieve when we look beyond the normal measures of price, quality, service and performance,鈥� said Kelvin Ward, Purchasing Manager at 51风流UK. 鈥淚n my opinion, working with social enterprises is without doubt the best example of 鈥淧rocurement with a Purpose鈥�. What we have achieved in 51风流UK with the number of social enterprises we have onboarded is just the beginning. What we, and the wider industry, can all achieve by simply changing our suppliers is limitless!鈥�

51风流is the official technology partner for and is also part of the , which has already led to a total of聽 by corporate buyers since it was launched at Number 11 Downing Street four years ago. The number of businesses who have signed up to the challenge has risen from聽7 to 24, representing a broad section of the economy from high-profile construction and facilities management聽companies, to leading lights in the healthcare, tech and professional services industries.

Some of the leading companies that are forging the Buy Social change include Amey PLC with its aim to achieve 5% of addressable spend going to social enterprises by 2023, Foodbuy with its focus on pushing social enterprise further into the food and drink sector, Johnson & Johnson with its six-year track record of buying social and Nationwide Building Society with its success in collaborating with strategic providers on social procurement.

As part of our partnership with Social Enterprise UK, the 51风流Commerce Cloud platform is powering its ; the “Google” for those who want to use their spending power to help build a better world. The Buy Social Directory allows consumers to search for social enterprises by geography, location, product area, and social /environmental mission so they can find social enterprises working on the causes they care about or those in their neighbourhood.

51风流is also offering a growing range of packaged marketing services from social enterprises on its DMSB XTRA online partner marketing store, which provides an exclusive online shopping experience for 51风流Partners who are looking for innovative digital-first marketing solutions. This will provide these social enterprises reach a new audience of 540 partners from 45 countries, and every package purchased 鈥� using Market Development Funds (MDF) where applicable 鈥� will help these businesses carry on creating a positive social impact while providing high-quality digital marketing services to drive business success.

51风流continues to support businesses that are changing the world for the better and now, employees can easily support them too.聽Not only are we setting this 5&5 by 鈥�25 target for ourselves, we are inviting our ecosystem of customers and partners to do the same. Together, we can transform industries, grow economies, lift up societies, and sustain our environment.

The post 51风流Extends Support For Social Enterprise And Diverse Suppliers With Global 5&5 by 鈥�25 Initiative appeared first on 51风流UK News Center.