Corporate Procurement: Promoters or Road Blockers of Innovation?

As an entrepreneur and a certified LGBT-BE (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Business Enterprise) via the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, one of my key sales strategies is connection through corporate supplier diversity programs. During this interesting journey over the past two years, including forming new relationships at the annual NLGCC conference, I have started to ponder more about the role and impact of corporate procurement.

The role can be extremely varied. On the very positive side, the procurement contacts can seek out new and innovative ideas that could have tremendous positive impact within their corporations. Especially as emerging business bring new concepts and new products to the market, the procurement professional can help connect the dots between this innovation and their enterprises. They can then facilitate introductions to line managers and business area owners who can further explore and evaluate the ideas. This could provide a way for the procurement professional to have a profound positive impact on corporate profits!

On the other extreme, procurement professionals can be innovation road blockers. Often, the response can be “Oh, we don’t have an RFP for that.” However, with an idea or a product that is completely new and unknown, how can there be an RFP for it? The procurement person needs to stretch a little and visualize if the new idea or product could have a potentially huge impact in their enterprise, and then facilitate evaluation by line business owners.

For example, I am a consultant (Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer) with an innovative career mapping process that can be used within corporations to add a long-term holistic career framework to their employee development activities. Since this is a novel concept and process which can be tailored to the corporation’s career paths and culture, there would never be an RFP for this. However, if procurement professionals could see how this concept could add great value to their corporate employee development programs and increase employee retention and recruiting, they can facilitate an introductory meeting with the appropriate line management in Human Resources or Organizational Development. (NOTE: link to recent online article featuring my innovative offerings and compelling business rationale)

Stan Kimer, president of Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer (left) and Joe Cote, CEO of CapsulePen LLC.

And I’ll provide another example using a product instead of a service – CapsulePen, which won the annual entrepreneurial competition at the 2012 NGLCC’s sold out Conference in Chicago. CapsulePen is an innovative new product in the “pill case” arena, providing a stylish yet extremely practical new way of storing and carrying daily and weekly medications. Being a totally new patent-pending product, no corporate retail or pharmacy chain, nor any pharmaceutical company looking for a promotional item in which to place drug samples, would have an RFP out for this product. So instead of shutting down discussion, corporate buyers from retailers and pharmaceutical companies should catch the vision of how this innovative product can differentiate them, and then facilitate follow up meetings and calls to pursue evaluation and a possible relationship.

My hope is that corporate procurement professionals, especially those in supplier diversity, can be catalysts in promoting innovative services and products within their enterprises.

DISCLOSURE: Blog author Stan C. Kimer is an investor in CapsulePen

Total Engagement Consulting Receives Certification as an LGBT Business Enterprise

Press Release: June 2, 2011
Raleigh, North Carolina

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Stan C. Kimer
Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer, Inc.
www.TotalEngagementConsulting.com
Office: 919-787-7315

Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer Officially Certified as an LGBT Business Enterprise

The NGLCC’s Supplier Diversity Initiative has Helped Hundreds of LGBT Business Owners Connect with Corporate America, the Government and Each Other

Total Engagement Consulting becomes only the second certified company in the state of North Carolina

Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer, Inc. is now officially certified as an LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) owned and operated business through the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s (NGLCC) Supplier Diversity Initiative (SDI). The NGLCC is the nation’s exclusive certifying body for LGBT owned and operated businesses.

“America’s top corporations are eager to do business with the LGBT community,” said Justin G. Nelson, President and Co-Founder of the NGLCC. “Our community has a demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit and is a $743 billion consumer market.”

The Supplier Diversity Initiative began in 2006 in response to Corporate America’s growing to engage more deeply with the LGBT business community. Today, the NGLCC has over 120 corporate Supplier Diversity Partners who recognize the LGBTBE designation when making procurement decisions and ensuring diversity in their supply chains.

The NGLCC is the business advocate and direct link between LGBT business owners, corporations, and government, representing the interests of more than 1.4 million LGBT businesses and entrepreneurs. They are the only national certifying body for LGBT Business Enterprises.

Even though there are now 225 businesses certified as LGBT Business Enterprises, Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer is only the second such certified business in the state of North Carolina. “I am excited be certified by the NGLCC and strongly feel that my increased access to NGLCC’s corporate Supplier Diversity Partners will help drive exponential growth in my business,” said Stan C. Kimer, founder and president of Total Engagement Consulting. “And I also feel proud to be a diversity pioneer in the south and often to refer to LGBT Diversity as ‘the new diversity frontier for the New South.’”

After a successful 31-year career in IBM in various staff, management and executive positions, including four years as IBM’s global corporate GLBT Diversity Manager, Kimer founded his new consulting practice in October, 2010. His three service offerings areas are:
• Diversity Management with a specialization in LGBT workplace and marketplace
• Employee career development using an innovative “career road mapping” methodology
• General organizational effectiveness and project management consulting

In addition to his consulting practice, Kimer serves on several community boards including as President of the North Carolina Council of Churches and on the City of Raleigh’s Human Relations Commission.