On Thursday 8th of September, over 450 attendees gathered at Old Billingsgate to celebrate the efforts of both large corporations and ethnic minority-owned businesses in making supply chains more inclusive and competitive.
MSDUK’s annual awards ceremony was a cultural experience this year. This year’s we saw a record number of entries from across MSDUK’s members with hundreds of entries received for 8 distinct categories. Our guests were treated to a fun-packed evening of fine dining and first-class entertainment hosted by the legendary British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter, and charity giant Sir Lenny Henry!
Our awards dinner was a “Thali”, an Indian Dietary Tradition that is accompanied by small round bowls called katoris, which includes several fried snacks, flatbreads, a variety of vegetable preparations cooked in ghee, and sweets. A special thanks to our outstanding carters Payal Catering for delivering an unforgettable dining experience.
Mayank Shah, Founder & CEO of Minority Supplier Development UK (MSDUK), looks back on the progression of MSDUK over the last 16 years and said, “It’s great to see how far we have progressed and even more so to see how supplier diversity has now taken centre stage in corporate procurement strategies 2022 has seen over 100 global and British companies join MSDUK and opening up business opportunities for ethnic minority businesses. Supplier diversity programmes help address the issue of economic inequality and encourage entrepreneurship in under-represented communities.”
With so many great nominees this year, it was hard to pick just one winner in each category! But now that we have done it congratulations to all our winners! You are going to be seeing a lot more of their work over the coming years as they continue to revolutionise the supplier diversity industry! Meet the winners of all our categories and congratulations for your contributions to supplier diversity and business success!
This award recognises a Supplier Diversity leader’s support and commitment to supplier diversity globally!
Congratulations and BRAVO to Nedra Dickson, Managing Director and Global Supplier Inclusion & Sustainability Lead at Accenture for winning the Global Supplier Diversity Advocate Award!
Nedra holds several Board of Director positions within the Global Supplier Diversity Community and has been recognised for her incredible work. She is dedicated to growing entrepreneurs via Accenture’s Diverse Supplier Development Program (DSDP).
This award is recognising a supplier diversity professional’s support and commitment to MSDUK and its Ethnic Minority Business (EMB) suppliers.
Heartfelt congratulations to Krystle Roberts for winning the Supplier Diversity Advocate of the Year Award! Krystle leads the EMEA Supplier Diversity efforts at Meta to help diverse-owned suppliers do business with Meta and the people and communities that Meta connects. With over 15 years’ experience in Strategic Sourcing and Category Management, Krystle is passionate about how diversity within the supply chain can increase resilience and competition, whilst driving economic and social value for all.
This award acknowledges an MSDUK corporate member that has demonstrated exceptional commitment and leadership as well as delivering exceptional outcomes through their supplier diversity programme in the UK.
The winner of the Established Corporate supplier diversity Programme Award is CBRE! Congratulations on your well-deserved success!
CBRE is the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm! Their Supplier Diversity Programme is a business commitment to mentor, develop and integrate diverse suppliers into the provisioning of products and services for CBRE or their customers. In 2020, CBRE announced a pledge to spend at least $1 billion with diverse suppliers in 2021 and to grow this spend to at least $3 billion in five years.
Congratulations to Meta for winning the MSDUK Emerging Corporate Supplier Diversity Programme Award!
This award recognises an MSDUK corporate member that has joined MSDUK since January 2020 and has demonstrated exceptional commitment and intent to drive supplier diversity in the UK.
Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. The Meta Global Supplier Diversity team works to give diverse suppliers across the globe the opportunity to compete for and win Meta contracts. Meta is a proud member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR) and they look forward to using our influence to push the industry toward a more global, scalable, and collaborative future.
This award recognises the most inspiring ethnic minority entrepreneurs from across the UK for their poise and determination to succeed.
Congratulations to Sherry Vaswani founder and CEO of Xalient for winning the Entrepreneur of the Year Award!
Sherry is the founder and CEO of Xalient, a technology services company providing cybersecurity and computer networking services to large enterprises in over 50 countries. She has previously been recognised as one of the Most Influential Women in UK Tech and is passionate about waving the flag for women in the tech industry herself, as well as encouraging others to do the same.
This award recognises some of the most dynamic, creative, and visionary ethnic minority women entrepreneurs in our network!
A huge congratulations to Julianne Ponan for winning the MSDUK 2022 Business Woman of the Year Award!
Julianne is the founder and CEO of Creative Nature a Top 14 allergen free brand, through her own experiences and challenges living with allergies she focused on Creative Nature to be at the forefront of ‘free from’ innovation, pushing the boundaries and launching a range of free from foods with good nutrition. Creative Nature has grown from strength to strength launching the brand into Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Co-op, Asda, Tesco and exports to 14 countries including the UAE.
This award recognises a business that has shown significant demonstrable growth over the last two financial years within the competitive marketplace in which they operate.
The winner of the High-Growth Business of the Year Award is Xalient! Warmest congratulations on your achievement.
Xalient is an established global provider of network transformation solutions and service with a portfolio of customers including well-known brands and household names. Recently, they were ranked 40th in the prestigious Sunday Times Hundred list for 2022, which recognises Britain’s fastest-growing private companies.
This award is given to the overall winner of the annual MSDUK Innovation Challenge, where they will receive a £20,000 cash prize and corporate mentoring
Congratulations to the social category & overall winner Sheana Yu Founder & CEO of Aergo Health!
Sheana Yu is an award-winning Design Engineer with a passion of delivering social impact and change through design; this has been partly influenced by her own experience of scoliosis (curvature of the spine). She was a winner of the Innovate UK Women In Innovation competition, which enabled her to scale her business and commercialise Aergo Health’s core technology. Aergo Health is helping people around the world to live life to their fullest potential by offering smart solutions for managing posture. The Aergo PS, uses air cell technology to create a dynamic postural seating system for young wheelchair users who require additional postural support.
A huge Thank you to our headline sponsor Unilever, reception sponsors Barclays & GSK, and drinks sponsors Abinbev and Diageo! A special thanks to our partners, speakers, suppliers, caterers and entertainers for making this such a memorable evening; without you, this event would not have been possible.
Julie Chen
FOUNDER & CEO
THE CHEEKY PANDA
David Chen
Co-CEO
KAPSULE
Since 2006, we have been at the forefront of driving the supplier diversity movement in the UK. Align with organisations dedicated to supplier diversity and become a part of the MSDUK community. As a member, you will connect with a network of corporate leaders who, are committed to empowering ethnic minority businesses. The companies below represent just a glimpse of our extensive corporate network.
T. +44 (0) 116 2532520
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3 Burton Street, Leicester LE1 1TB UK
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