A Supplier Diversity program is a proactive business program which encourages the use of minority-owned, women owned, veteran owned, LGBT-owned [1], service disabled veteran owned, historically underutilized business, and Small Business Administration (SBA)-defined small business concerns as suppliers. It is not directly correlated with supply chain diversification, although utilizing more vendors may enhance supply chain diversification. Supplier diversity programs recognize that sourcing products and services from previously under-used suppliers helps to sustain and progressively transform a company's supply chain, thus quantitatively reflecting the demographics of the community in which it operates by recording transactions with diverse suppliers.
Diverse- and women-owned business enterprises are among the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. economy. Diverse-owned businesses generated an estimated $495 billion in annual revenue in 1997 and employed nearly 4 million workers, while women-owned firms employed about 19 million people and generated $2.5 trillion in annual sales.
Alongside the Women-Owned Small Business Program, the US Small Business Administration also operates an Economically Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Business (EDWOSBs) program for preferential award of federal contracts in certain industries.
Veteran-Owned (VOB) and Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses (SDVOB) are some of the most prominent group on the American entrepreneurial landscape and being sought after by corporate supplier diversity directors. There are over 25 million veterans in the USA, or roughly 1 in 5 adult males. 1 in 7 small businesses are owned by a veteran.