Progress

  • completed
  • on track
Global Women’s Economic Empowerment
Commitment Progress Update
Source $20 billion from women-owned businesses for our U.S. business through 2016.

To achieve our end goal of $20 billion, we set annual targets for our U.S. business and have met those targets through the first two years. Spend with women was up significantly for FY2014. Through surveys of our merchants and suppliers, we identified challenges facing women-owned businesses (WOB) and, in partnership with Supplier Diversity and Supplier Administration, implemented a variety of tools and resources to address them. Examples of these tools include:

  • Scorecards: Our WOB scorecards ensure merchants and leaders have visibility into the WOBs and diverse suppliers they currently work with and how each area of the business is tracking against its target. These tools drive focus and accountability across the business.
  • Supplier Academy: In November 2013, Walmart launched Supplier Academy, a set of online educational modules designed to prepare “merchant-ready” suppliers and buyers. Modules such as “Keys to a Successful Buyer Presentation” and “Working with Small and Diverse Suppliers” are aimed at developing strong working relationships and set both sides up for success.
  • Supplier Summits: In 2013, Walmart conducted two types of supplier summits. The first allowed our teams to discuss strategic business growth opportunities with current WOB suppliers. The second focused on finding new suppliers. All in all, Walmart and Sam’s Club held 10 summits last year to help grow existing or identify new suppliers for our business.
Double sourcing from women-owned businesses for our international markets through 2016.

To reach this goal, we need tailored strategies by market. Our first step has been to establish a baseline, then to analyze our supply base, then research the business and cultural realities that affect WOBs in our markets. The following represents a sampling of the progress we have made over the past two years:

  • Assembled a working group representing each of our international markets and Global Sourcing team to share information, ideas, best practices and progress.
  • Identified our WOB suppliers in seven of our international markets.
  • In September 2013, along with other corporate and nonprofit partners, signed a Clinton Global Initiative mega-commitment to advance women entrepreneurs by training 15,000 women business owners and sourcing $1.5 billion from WOBs outside the U.S. by 2018.
  • Gave two grants to WEConnect International to develop training programs for women entrepreneurs on Accessing Global Corporate Supply Chains and Working with Walmart.
Launch a dedicated e-commerce platform designed to give small women-owned businesses/women-empowering businesses access to our customers. In March 2013, we launched Empowering Women Together (EWT), a destination on Walmart.com that connects small WOBs around the world with customers who are looking for products from WOBs. It began with more than 200 items from 19 suppliers in nine countries and has grown to more than 350 items from 30 businesses in 12 countries.
Empower nearly 1 million women on farms and in factories through training, market access and career opportunities through 2016. By the end of 2013, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation had contributed to training 283,280 women on farms and in the workforce.
By the end of 2016, in emerging markets train 500,000 women in the agriculture value chain. By the end of 2013, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation had helped train approximately 307,332 emerging-market farmers and farm workers, of which 132,405 were women. In addition, the Walmart Foundation funded six projects in Africa and Asia that will reach another 370,000 farmers, of which 258,000 are expected to be women.
We will help 60,000 women working in factories develop the skills they need to become more active decision-makers in their jobs and for their families by the end of 2016. By the end of 2013, the Women in Factories program had trained 27,441 women in foundational training for life and work skills. Of those women, 799 completed advanced training. The training has been implemented in 40 factories in Bangladesh, El Salvador, India and Honduras. Training will begin in China in 2014.
By the end of 2016, train 200,000 women for their first jobs in retail in our emerging markets. By the end of 2013, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation had contributed to training 11,846 women in Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador and India in retail skills. The Walmart Foundation also funded Samasource, a leader in microwork, to train 10,000 women in Kenya and Uganda on critical digital and soft skills.
Help 200,000 women in the U.S. from low-income households gain the skills they need for employment by the end of 2016. Since the launch of the initiative, 111,588 U.S. women from low-income households have received training through programs funded by the Walmart Foundation. In 2013, the Walmart Foundation provided more than $20 million to eight national grantees and more than 100 state grants to help 65,000 economically vulnerable women achieve greater financial security through training, education and access to better job opportunities. This included $5.66 million for seven women’s community foundations to continue the Pathways to Prosperity program and $3.5 million to Wider Opportunities for Women to place women into nontraditional jobs, such as advanced manufacturing and construction.
Work with professional service firms and merchandise suppliers with more than $1 billion in sales to increase women and minority representation on Walmart accounts. At the end of 2013, more than 100 professional-service suppliers had been invited to report the gender and ethnicity of their Walmart of Sam’s Club teams using the online tool. These same professional service suppliers will be asked to update their team information in the fall of 2014 to allow for year-over-year analysis of the data. Also in 2014, we will initiate reporting for global accounts and top merchandise suppliers. To ease onboarding process for new suppliers, we are also developing an online training module for the online reporting tool.
Support for these programs will come from more than $100 million in grants from the Walmart Foundation and direct donations from Walmart’s international business. Since the launch of this initiative, the Walmart Foundation has contributed more than $79 million in state, national and international grants toward these programs.