SAP has announced ‘5 & 5 by 25,’ a corporate initiative targeting five per cent of addressable spend with social enterprises and with diverse businesses by 2025.
In setting this target, SAP said it aimed to inspire organisations around the world to buy more goods and services from “purposeful” suppliers, making a positive collective impact on the societies they operate in.
According to the World Bank, global procurement spend in 2019 was at least $14tn. By directing even just a small fraction of this spend to certified social enterprises and diverse businesses, organisations have the power to tackle some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental problems.
Based on early pilots in select markets, SAP estimated it could direct up to $60m of its addressable global spend per year to social enterprises and diverse suppliers by 2025.
Among DAX companies, this figure is estimated at approximately €2.5bn, and across the United States Fortune 500 companies up to $25bn.
SAP Executive Board member for Customer Success and recently appointed Global Buy Social Ambassador for Social Enterprise, United Kingdom, 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?”
