We were proud to be finalists for the Corporate Member of the Year Award at this week's Supply Nation 2021 Supplier Diversity Awards at their Connect 21 event, with the award going to JLL. We'd like to congratulate JLL for their amazing efforts in championing supplier diversity.
Supply Nation is a non-profit organisation that aims to grow the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business sector through the promotion of supplier diversity in Australia. Each year, Supply Nation's Supplier Diversity Awards recognise companies, government agencies and individuals who are working to create a prosperous and sustainable Indigenous business sector.
Ventia CEO Dean Banks says that being part of the pool of finalists in this award for our work in this space is something he is particularly proud of.
"Ventia has a diverse and proud heritage of delivering the best outcomes for our clients and the communities in which we operate," Dean says. "We're passionate about making infrastructure work for our communities and we strive to do that in a sustainable way."
Supporting the Australian Indigenous business sector is an integral part of how we achieve that.
Ventia's holistic approach to Indigenous engagement leverages our Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and our membership of Supply Nation.
Ventia's General Manager Procurement Kevin McCafferty says that 2020 threw a lot of challenges at businesses, but despite that we were able to demonstrate continued progress in our Indigenous engagement aspirations.
We set ourselves challenging procurement targets in our RAP to increase engagement with the Indigenous sector, but also because we believe the impact we can have through our procurement spend across Australia and in New Zealand can help the communities in which we operate. That's important to all of us at Ventia.
Ventia has been a member of Supply Nation for over 10 years, and during that time we have increased our procurement spend with Indigenous businesses year on year.
The Corporate Member of the Year Award recognises a corporate member that has demonstrated exceptional commitment and leadership and driven significant growth in supplier diversity.
We'd like to congratulate all the finalists in each category for their efforts to build a sustainable Indigenous business sector in Australia.
You can read more about our Reconciliation Action Plan here.
Learn more about our approach to Sustainable Procurement
Reconciliation Week runs from 27 May to 3 June. This year's theme is: More than a word, reconciliation takes action.