Software Firm Coupa Sets Up Public Portal Of Diverse Suppliers

California-based spend management platform Coupa has launched a Diverse Business Directory to make it easier for companies, particularly large ones, to find “diverse and inclusive suppliers.”

“Businesses recognize the need for policy changes when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, such as supplier diversity programs,” said Rod Robinson, vice president of supplier inclusion and sustainability at Coupa, in a press release. “However, most companies’ supplier diversity efforts are failing in good faith because the information and technology they need to efficiently source and spend with diverse suppliers was not available.”

With Coupa’s new offering, he said, “every company can make diversity and inclusion a strategic part of the business, rather than an afterthought.”

The company said its Coupa Inclusion Initiative will enable companies “to find, select, and direct spend to hundreds of thousands of diverse and inclusive suppliers.”

As part of its efforts, Coupa has partnered with a number of organizations focused on diversity and inclusion, according to the press release, including the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), Minority Supplier Development United Kingdom (MSDUK), Global Supplier Diversity Alliance (GSDA) and National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).

Tom Nash, chief procurement officer at American Red Cross, said the organization promotes “a supplier-diversity process that develops mutually beneficial relationships with diverse suppliers.” To do so, “we use numerous tools, including Coupa’s diverse supplier portal, to enhance our ability to find and incorporate inclusive suppliers into our supply chain, which helps us meet our diversity goals.”

Rajiv Ramachandran, Coupa’s vice president of product management and engineering, spoke in September with PYMNTS about the pandemic and its effect on businesses. He said the economic crisis sparked by COVID-19 “brought forward and highlighted certain key vulnerabilities and pain points — vulnerabilities which, I believe, businesses have known about all along.”