Originally introduced in 1953 with the establishment of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), supplier diversity programs were designed to give minorities, women and what has since been classified as underutilized small business owners, an opportunity to secure contracts with government agencies, major companies and corporations as qualified-small business suppliers.
Fast-forward to 2020 and the concept of supplier diversity has evolved into “an array of small business owners from all ethnic, racial, gender and disadvantaged groups providing products and services to government agencies, as well as major companies and corporations,” the SBA states.
