Under Marc Ensign’s watch as director of services/outsourcing & supplier diversity, Sonoco Products spent just under $100 million with diverse suppliers in 2008. Ensign is proudest that the company’s supplier diversity efforts make a lasting difference. In the last five years, supplier diversity spend has quadrupled at Sonoco. Executives regularly ask for updates on the program’s progress and how it can do more. Supplier diversity spend is part of the company’s corporate key performance metric and an emphasis on supplier diversity is a critical ingredient to the company’s success.

Sonoco’s greatest challenge is to show that supplier diversity is a meaningful process that provides real benefits to diverse suppliers and tangible value to Sonoco. In addition, diverse companies bring it innovation and opportunity it cannot achieve itself. Sonoco has found ways to use diversity suppliers in non-traditional areas. These suppliers always exceed the performance of majority incumbents.

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“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” - Frederick Douglass

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