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16 November 2011 | Angeline
Albert
Australian bank Westpac Group has
stepped up its efforts to integrate indigenous providers into its supply chain.
In its 2011
Annual Review and Sustainability Report published this week, the group said its
purchasers had started working with indigenous Australian-owned businesses including
those providing catering, teleconferencing and printing services.
The Australian Indigenous Minority SupplierCouncil (AIMSC) is focused on growing diversity within organisations’ supply chains. AIMSC’s
goal is to introduce ethnic minority-owned businesses as suppliers to the
country’s private and public sector organisations. The banking group signed an
agreement with AIMSC to involve indigenous businesses in its supply chain a
year ago. Its commitment to supplier diversity in its supply chain reflects a
countrywide trend among Australian organisations.
The Business Council of Australia (BCA) released its annual survey of
members’ indigenous engagement initiatives this month. The survey, Vision and Values: Working Together toClose the Gap,
revealed 53
per cent of business leaders seek to do business with indigenous suppliers, the
majority through their membership of the AIMSC.
Two-thirds of
companies with indigenous initiatives in place said they look to engage
indigenous suppliers. Of these, 34 companies said they empower procurement
teams to do this as a result of their membership of AIMSC. The report contains
data from an online survey conducted for the BCA by KPMG in June and July.
