How many times have you ended a conversation with a small or diverse business and been astounded at their unique path to success and at the stories they've collect along the way?

At CVM Solutions, it occurs almost every week.

Through speaking with hundreds, if not thousands, of diverse suppliers over the years, one thing is for sure: that astonishment still hasn't been lost.

In this edition of 'Diverse Supplier Spotlight', we interviewed Bob Kelly Sr., of KellyREST Brand Products, a Native American- and Small Disadvantaged-owned business. In this interview-style article, we're going to share with you Bob's amazing stories in his own words, along with how he became a supplier for some of the largest corporations in America.

As supplier diversity professionals, we focus a lot on the B2B aspect of our work.

Identifying potential diverse suppliers, implementing supplier development initiatives to build a strong, sustainable, diversified supply chain—these are worthy pursuits, but let's not forget the other reason working with diverse suppliers is good for business: the consumer. 

Have you ever been asked the question: Are corporations limiting their supply chain to only diverse suppliers?

If you're reading this, then interacting and engaging with diverse suppliers is probably a part of your job description.

We supplier diversity professionals spend a lot of time talking about, thinking about, and working with minority and underrepresented businesses.

In 2016, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) estimated that America has 28.8 million small businesses—or about 99.7 percent of all businesses in this country. According to census data, nearly a million minority-owned employee firms (businesses with more than one employee) were operating in the U.S. in 2015, the last year this data was collected. 

Identifying and vetting potential new suppliers is a necessary part of integrating diverse suppliers into your supply chain. Ideally, you would have access to an automated solution for supplier discovery, like a supplier registration portal backed by a constantly updated database. If you don’t have access to an automated solution, these are the steps to take in order to gather the information you need for your supplier database—as well as maintain the information once it’s there.