We sat down to chat with Stephen Young, SAP’s Global Lead for Procurement with Purpose, to talk about what he’s up to at SAP. They are working on how to create change through supply chain diversity and to leverage purchasing power to make the world a better place.

The video from this conversation is featured in our new course, the Social Procurement Professional Certificate program, where Stephen’s insights help inspire cohorts of private and public sector procurement leaders to “take a leap of faith” and move beyond Corporate Social Responsibility to system and culture change.

SAP is truly committed to social procurement as seen in their 5 & 5 by ’25 campaign. They are targeting 5 percent of addressable spend with social enterprises and 5 percent with diverse businesses by the year 2025. In setting this target, SAP aims to inspire organizations around the world to buy more goods and services from social value suppliers and make a positive collective impact on the societies they operate in. SAP initiated their engagement with social procurement beginning in 2008 when they started regularly purchasing catering from H.A.V.E. and Potluck Cafe, both social enterprises in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. This purchasing has resulted in employment and training opportunities for persons facing barriers to employment. Their engagement progressed to a Social Purchasing Partnership with Buy Social Canada in 2019 and now we are proud to call SAP a founding Buy Social Pledge Leader.

Learn more about becoming a Buy Social Canada Social Purchasing Partner to take on a leadership role as we work together to create healthy, vibrant communities.

Scale up your social procurement knowledge with the Social Procurement Professional Certificate course.