SAP - Afrikan Heroes

SAP rallies businesses to spend more with social enterprises and diverse suppliers

October 10, 2020

SAP has announced the launching of a new corporate initiative targeting five per cent of addressable spend* with social enterprises and with diverse businesses by 2025. In setting this target, SAP aims to inspire organizations around the world to buy more goods and services from purposeful suppliers, making a positive collective impact on the societies they operate in.

Adaire Fox-Martin, SAP Executive Board member for Customer Success

According to the World Bank, global procurement spend in 2019 was at least USD 14 trillion. By directing even just a small fraction of this spend to certified social enterprises and diverse businesses, organizations have the power to tackle some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental problems.

Based on early pilots in select markets, SAP estimates it could direct up to USD 60 million of its addressable global spend per year to social enterprises and diverse suppliers by 2025. Among DAX companies, this figure is estimated at approximately EUR 2.5 billion, and across U.S. Fortune 500 companies up to USD 25 billion.

SAP Executive Board member for Customer Success and recently appointed Global Buy Social Ambassador for Social Enterprise UK Adaire Fox-Martin announced the 5 & 5 by ’25 initiative at SAP’s Procurement Reimagined event in Singapore. “Every company in every industry needs to procure,” Fox-Martin said. “We 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?”

Social enterprises are businesses culturally and operationally focused on changing the world. They are similar to other commercially viable businesses, but with three crucial differences: 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 percent owned and operated by an individual or group that is part of a traditionally underrepresented or underserved demographic; such as women-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses and indigenous-owned businesses, among others.

“Together with our customers, partners, diverse suppliers and social enterprises, we have set out to expand social procurement where infrastructure exists and intend to establish the infrastructure and build capacity where it doesn’t,” Fox-Martin added. “We invite our entire ecosystem to learn more and take part, join us in this initiative, and help build the pathways and the momentum to realize this ambition and find a better way to grow.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

SAP Gives Organisations Free Solutions To Ease Covid-19 Impact on Supply Chain, Business Travel

March 13, 2020

Alicia Tillman, Global Chief Marketing Officer at SAP Africa

With the ravaging impact of the Corona Virus pandemic spreading across the world, the safety and well-being issues dominate global news headlines. To this end, SAP today announced it is opening up free access to two of its leading applications to assist businesses grappling with the effects of the coronavirus.

According to Alicia Tillman, Global Chief Marketing Officer at SAP Africa, all businesses are facing unprecedented challenges as the impact on the global economy continues. “Business travel is restricted; events are cancelled, and supply chains have been weakened. It is not business-as-usual in any sense of the phrase. As a purpose-led organisation SAP is uniquely positioned to leverage its technology to support businesses at a time where supply chain and business travel disruption is a real concern.”

SAP, the Experience Company powered by the Intelligent Enterprise, is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP® system. Its machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition.

SAP will open access to its SAP Ariba Discovery solution for the next 90 days to enable any buyer to post their immediate sourcing needs, and for any supplier to respond if they can deliver. The solution will be free to anyone to use for posting and responding to sourcing requests. Tillman says this will help buyers and suppliers to connect quickly and effectively, minimising the disruption caused by shipment delays, capacity issues and increased consumer demand in times of crisis. “SAP operates the largest business network in the world, representing more than four million suppliers in over 190 countries and with $3.21-trillion in commerce via our Ariba network. By providing free access to Ariba Discovery we can help make the connections to keep the supply chain intact and ultimately minimise the impact on businesses and consumers.”

The company has also announced that between March 13 and March 31st, any individual traveler can sign up for TripIt and receive the Pro version for six months. TripIt forms part of SAP Concur and processes hundreds of thousands of travel itineraries for people around the world, monitoring flights and alerting them to any changes or delays. Existing TripIt users will also get the premium service complimentary for six months.

“The SAP Concur portfolio offers a tremendous pulse into the travel industry,” says Tillman. “We want to do our part to help those who must travel and face increasing schedule changes and cancellations stemming from Covid-19.”Tillman points to a prevalence of uncertainty and fear around the impact of Covid-19 around the world. “Opening access to SAP technology is one way we can contribute to addressing global challenges and aligns with our commitment to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

SAP believes in simplifying technology for companies so they can consume its software without disruption. SAP’s end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 437,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives.

Kelechi Deca