I first met Elizabeth Vasquez of We Connect International (www.weconnectinternational.org) in 2011 in Chongqing, China. There, we had a forum sponsored by the International Trade Centre (ITC, www.intracen.org) to encourage companies to buy from women-owned businesses (WOBs), giving women a leg up in doing business with multinationals and major international chains like Marriott, Walmart and similar big corporations. It was also at that conference where we met Phyllis Johnson of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (www.womenincoffee.org) as she could sell coffee from women in Africa to international buyers.
That connection led me to establish the IWCA chapter in the Philippines, which is part of this global organization of women coffee producers and women-owned companies from consuming countries. IWCA now has 35 chapters around the world, and the Philippines is a proud member as a coffee-producing country along with Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar.
We Connect also led me to Accenture, who bought coffee at one time from our little store that could. When asked at the local offices why I am a supplier, I simply had to tell them that I had met Accenture global executives at an Indonesia forum also sponsored by the ITC. From global procurement to local supply. It was a global imperative of the mother company to buy coffee from small women business owners like us. I beamed with pride as the local office chose from among our Philippine coffees for their use locally. Imagine me having to connect with the MNC outside the country so I can get an order back home.
Now, We Connect has over 5,000 suppliers, all women-owned or women-led from across Asia-Pacific and uptakers or buyers have grown to over 200 global corporations who believe in diversity in procurement. Let me tell you why this is a milestone. We are focused on Asia Pacific because that is where the Philippines belongs but We Connect has over 20,000 companies buying from WOBs now. And that is over a trillion dollars in international trade made possible through these unique connections.
In many countries, procurement is largely a monopoly of large companies who bid for contracts and these end up marginalizing small, medium and even micro entrepreneurs who are mostly women-owned. Through We Connect, companies are encouraged to diversify their supplier pool by being introduced to a bevy of women entrepreneurs who otherwise would not have come forward. Sometimes, it takes just a little nudge to get a woman to get out of her comfort zone and try to get into the big league. It is daunting to see contracts with so much legalese, you just shy away as a small woman entrepreneur. But We Connect gives you the gumption and drive to present your company and whatever services and products you offer.
Next year, at the Osaka World Expo 2025, there is a Women’s pavilion sponsored by Cartier to do exactly this among many initiatives for women in business. Already, this early, We Connect is in touch with us at PhilWen (www.philwen.org) to gather women suppliers, women-owned businesses in manufacturing, furniture, textiles, BPO, health, automotive, among many other categories. The expo will run for a few months and will expose these companies to thousands upon thousands of expo visitors, not just from Japan but from all over the world.
So, if you are a woman in business, or if you are part of a woman-led company, do get in touch so we can include you in the pool of suppliers to the world. The IWCA made it happen for coffee producers who eventually supplied major hotel chains and stores.
People often say diversity and inclusion are difficult to do. Sometimes what seems so difficult becomes reachable and easy with organizations like We Connect.
The pandemic was indeed a game changer. When supplies ran out for many corporations, they learned to deal with “no name” suppliers who could deliver. Big companies learned to go online and used every trick in the book to find continuous supply of essentials. Meanwhile, on the supply side, micro entrepreneurs learned to sell even without brick-and-mortar shops. The crisis caused by COVID became the game changer for many entrepreneurs who otherwise would not have engaged in e-commerce. Social media platforms as we know became the new marketplaces (e.g. Instagram or Facebook).
As for women in coffee, the initiative which was started by ITC and We Connect also gave birth to a bigger platform called She Trades launched in 2015, which had a target of millions of women being able to access markets. In Chongqing, we only had coffee and textiles as examples back in 2011. Fast forward to the post-pandemic era and we now have more categories women can enter. It is fortunate that even in services such as BPO, we have women-led corporations in the Philippines which can join this initiative.
The operative word is “connect” and women are great at making these connections. For the corporations who still are not conscious about Diversity in Procurement, think again. You can diversify supply chain actors for risk management. From simply bi-sourcing as the usual management books prescribe, it has become multi-sourcing for sustainability and efficiency in procurement.
For government, while we do not have a law requiring us to buy from women, we do have a law requiring local and national government to buy from MSMEs. As women are more than 50 percent of MSMEs, the law works in women’s favor already. But can you imagine if the law required that more WOBs could take a bigger part of government spending? Many more women entrepreneurs will be empowered and this will reduce domestic violence as women are helped to become financially independent.
There is a relation: domestic violence is almost always caused by lack of income in a household or no food on the table. So by empowering our women, we can help make a more peaceful home. It is about having opportunities to earn better and to even reach global markets.
Thanks to We Connect and International Trade Center, there has never been a better time to be a woman entrepreneur or a woman leader for a business wanting to be sustainable.
Join us in Osaka and see how women can change the world.