SAP announced its social procurement initiative, designed to empower social enterprises, by integrating them into corporate value chains and aligning with the nation’s development goals. The announcement underscores the company’s commitment to the region and its vision for sustainable growth.
As per the World Economic Forum, India is home to more than 2 million social enterprises, with close to 25% led by women, making it one of the most dynamic entrepreneurial environments globally. These enterprises work across diverse sectors, including healthcare, education, agriculture, clean energy, financial inclusion, water, and sanitation, are focused on pioneering sustainable business practices, while fostering inclusion, and local entrepreneurship. SAP’s support and collaboration with industry stakeholders aims to accelerate these activities while helping increased corporate purchasing from social enterprises. Corporates buying from social enterprises results in a positive impact on people and the environment, at the same time helping large businesses achieve their CSR, diversity, and sustainability goals. This is a nascent space with significant potential as evidence highlights; businesses are seeing positive business and social outcomes emerging from their supply chain inclusion and sustainability programmes.
Launching the program in India, Manish Prasad, President and Managing Director, SAP Indian Subcontinent, said, “This initiative underscores our commitment to ensuring that good, ethical, and sustainable, corporate practices are woven into the fabric of business. By collaborating with social enterprises and nurturing alliances across our ecosystem, we can transform procurement decisions into an opportunity to uplift communities, generate jobs, and drive sustainable and equitable growth across the communities we operate in. Social procurement has the potential to be a transformative tool to improve people’s lives.”
The initiative on social procurement is aligned with the Government of India’s (GoI) interventions including the Government eMarketplace (GeM), Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Make in India, and promotion of Farmer’s Producer Organisations (FPOs), —designed to:
- Foster sustainable and ethical manufacturing: Sustainability is at the heart of SAP’s operations. The company will collaborate with partner organisations to work closely with impact businesses that prioritise ethical manufacturing practices and responsible production for global brands while also supporting the development of responsibly and sustainably made products and services.
- Promote innovation and entrepreneurship for local impact: SAP is joining forces with local incubators to lead an innovation-centric future, supporting social entrepreneurs in scaling their ideas and growing sustainable businesses. Over the past few years, SAP’s support has enabled the growth and development of over 100+ social enterprises, helping them achieve their goals and create a positive impact in their respective communities. This commitment to nurturing and empowering impact businesses demonstrates SAP’s dedication to fostering inclusive economic growth.
- Empower farmers and create jobs: SAP has also initiated a range of interventions such as supporting FPOs to enhance their “procurement readiness.” This includes providing support for farmer-producer organisations, enabling small farmers to access new markets to achieve stable incomes, and training FPO leaders in market operations and management. In addition, SAP has been actively supporting social businesses by collaborating with various incubators, and providing them with resources, mentorship, and guidance.
On the sidelines of the launch, SAP India also unveiled a report entitled ‘Social Procurement: Paving the Way for Business Resilience and Sustainability’, in collaboration with Sattva Consulting, highlighting social procurement as a strategic priority for Indian businesses to drive sustainable growth while addressing long-term societal impact. The findings of the report further call on corporates to deepen their investments in impact businesses, fostering resilience and opportunity through impactful partnerships.
Srikrishna Sridhar Murthy, CEO and Co-Founder, Sattva, stated “The study highlights social procurement’s potential to unlock economic value by engaging social enterprises, FPOs, and MSMEs, fostering resilience and inclusivity in supply chains. Effective implementation requires a comprehensive operating model with cross-functional and cross-departmental collaboration and infrastructure development to enhance the discoverability and scale of social enterprises, supported by investments from stakeholders like philanthropic foundations and DFIs.”
Through these social procurement initiatives, SAP will drive responsible business transformation, while being aligned to India’s wider growth agenda.
