b'SUPPLY CHANGEIndigenous Procurement has always been something that our corporate members have wanted to be more involved in, in terms of being able to connect with Indigenous businesses and share oppor-tunities, says Natalie Adams, director of the Supply Change program at CCAB. Given the benefits that procurement can provide for Indigenous businesses, it is important to ensure that members have CERTIFIED ABORIGINAL BUSINESS PROGRAM access to the available opportunities. To simplify RFPs (requests for proposals) and communicate them effectively, Supply In September 2013, Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB)Change develops brief postings on launched its Certified Aboriginal Business (CAB) program to increasevarious government RFPs to encourage public and private sector business opportunities for its Indigenousengagement and encourages purchasers business members. It represents yet another CCAB initiative aimed atto utilize the marketplace to share RFPs strengthening the involvement of Indigenous business in the economy. and any other opportunities relevant to Indigenous businesses. Using this single As part of the CAB program, CCAB has a national directory of certifiedpoint of contact provides an opportunity Indigenous businesses publicly available on its website. The directoryfor Indigenous businesses, corporations serves as a resource for Indigenous businesses to profile their companyand government agencies to reduce the and ensures that each registered business receives a designated logo andamount of time they spend searching for buyers or suppliers.physical certificate verifying Indigenous ownership. It also provides a place for CCAB business members to publish tendering opportunities for theWithin the Marketplace, businesses can Indigenous business community.conduct customized searches to identify potential suppliers. Instead of working to To quote one of Canadas leading Indigenous leaders and formerestablish and maintain lists of Indigenous Aboriginal Business Hall of Fame recipient Chief Clarence Louie, Ifsuppliers, they can focus their efforts on you want to support Aboriginal people, buy Aboriginal. By creating asharing opportunities and identifying searchable, countrywide database of Certified Aboriginal Businesses,potential suppliers that match their needs, CCAB provides a starting point for businesses looking to source a newsays Adams. For Certified Aboriginal Indigenous supplier. It facilitates business transactions between corporateBusinesses, instead of navigating various Canada and Indigenous business that have been vetted through CCAB.procurement processes and platforms and purchasing downloaded RFPs, they can read the summaries in the market-place and contact buyers directly and ask How do I do business with your company?OrHowdoesprocure-Supply Change, which isnt just aboutnational sporting organizations acrossment work within your organization? connecting people with opportunitiesthe country, but also some of the largestAdams explains.but is also committed to building sustain- corporations in Canada. Indigenous busi- To become active buyers in the Supply able relationships and trust. nesses accessing that marketplace areChange Marketplace, companies share making deals and connections every day. their methods for tracking and measuring We host webinars to educate non-Indige- their spend with Indigenous suppliers. nous businesses and organizations lookingSUPPLY CHANGE CHAMPIONS Some have shared different ways to collect to do business with Indigenous compa- A key part of CCABs successful Supplythis data, including tracking the informa-nies, as well as assisting Indigenous busi- Change program is played by CCABtion with ERP software (see sidebar on nesses in learning how to best leveragemembers that joined the program andpg. 60). Best practice is to demonstrate opportunities, adds Bull. We have under- actively committed to increasing thethat youve got an Indigenous procure-taken highly regarded research and policynumber of Indigenous businesses in theirment policy, or that youre tracking and work around Indigenous procurementsupply chains. Companies participatingmeasuring your Indigenous spend, or and have earned the trust and confi- can show they are building strongerthat you have some kind of goal or metric dence of the federal government, aseconomic relationships with Indigenousaround Indigenous spend that youre well as some of Canadas largest corpo- businesses and communities. The Supplycommitted to achieving as an organiza-rations and institutions. The companiesChange program has the potential to playtion, says Adams. You have to provide committed to prioritizing Indigenousa major role in supporting growth amongthe details of a responsive member of procurement within the Supply ChangeIndigenous businesses across Canadayour procurement team that can be Marketplace include not only major citiesand connecting non-Indigenous compa- contacted by our Indigenous businesses and post-secondary institutions and evennies with Indigenous suppliers.or CCAB regarding opportunities.58A CCAB PUBLICATIONSpring 2024'