SAP Innovation Awards 2023
Entry Pitch Deck
Empowering Women-Owned
Businesses With SAP
WEConnect International
PUBLICCompany Information
Company Name

WEConnect International

Headquarters

Washington, D.C.

Industry

Social Responsibility Non-Profit

Web Sitewww.weconnectinternational.org

No of Employees 25+

WEConnect International is a member-led, social responsibility non-profit that brings motivated, large corporate, multilateral, andgovernment buyers together with women-owned business suppliers around the world. WEConnect International’s mission is to help drive
money into the hands of women-owned businesses by enabling them to compete in the global marketplace. The organization works withover 180 multinational buying organizations with over $3 trillion in combined annual purchasing power and a commitment to sourcing moreproducts and services from women-owned businesses. WEConnect International identifies, educates, and registers Women’s BusinessEnterprises based in over 130 countries that are at least 51% owned, managed, and controlled by women. The organization makes it easy
for member buyers to access an online database of over 16,000 registered or certified women-owned businesses that can compete on
total value and help buyers achieve their global supplier diversity and inclusion goals.

© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

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Empowering Women-Owned Businesses With SAP
WEConnect International

Challenge

Solution

OutcomeLess than 1% of the $3 trillion in WEConnect
International member purchasing power isspent on women-owned businesses. Yet, allmember organizations have purpose-built
programs to increase their spend with womenowned businesses that represent 33% of theworld’s private businesses. Member buyers
were having trouble searching for qualified
women-owned suppliers on the legacy
WEConnect International platform. Womenowned businesses found it cumbersome toapply for certification, and our staff had
problems registering and certifying businesses
in one language.

USAID and SAP provided funding for a new
multilingual solution named WECommunity. In
Phase 1 of the project, WEConnect International
used SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle andPerformance (SLP) to manage the womenowned business registration process and SAPBusiness Technology Platform (BTP) to manage
the corporate member login and search process.
In Phase 2, SAP BTP is providing both a unified
registration experience and a mobile registration
option for the majority of businesses worldwide
that are mobile-centric. This version will
significantly expand the global reach to eligible
businesses.

- Phase 1 went live in October 2020; Phase 2
is targeted for March 2023.
- 5,064 unique searches for women-owned
businesses were completed since the launchof WECommunity.
- 7,859 new women-owned businesses wereregistered since 2019, a 95% growth rate in 3
years.
- 86 new member buyers joined since 2019, a
91% growth rate in 3 years.
- An estimated 6,172 of the registered womenowned businesses experienced revenue
growth in 2021, creating 24,000 new jobs.
- 12 new countries with certified women
suppliers, a 28% increase in 3 years.

$3T

Streamlining access to $3
trillion in purchasing power
for women-owned
businesses around theworld© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

95%

Growth in qualified andregistered women-owned
businesses over the last 3
years

5K

Over 5 thousand searches
for women-owned suppliers
since the launch of
WECommunity

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““WEConnect International is proud to partner with SAP Ariba to deliver the

WECommunity solution for busy buyers seeking an easy way to find and do
business with women-owned suppliers based in over 135 countries.

WECommunity is also a powerful multilingual tool for women-owned businesses
ready to compete and grow and is a world-class model for inclusive trade and”procurement for a purpose.” Elizabeth A. Vazquez, CEO and Co-Founder,
WEConnect International© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

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Participating Partner Information
Premikati
Premikati is a women-owned procurement and supply chain management consultancy and SAP partner. As WEConnect
International is a non-profit with limited tech expertise and tech resources, Premikati stepped in to provide the technicalknowledge and program management resources necessary to coordinate between the partners and execute this complex
project.
“WEConnect International’s commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive environment mirrors Premikati’s values. Theircontinued efforts to be an innovator in their work to break down gender barriers and foster a spirit of collaboration andsupport has been an inspiration. By partnering with Premikati and SAP, WEConnect International was able to leverage
Ariba™ software to create mass imports of nearly ten thousand suppliers across their ecosystem to be on the same network
and working towards the same goal. As suppliers are the lifeline of businesses globally, not to mention the ability for diverse
vendors to engage on a global network like Ariba – this step was pivotal for WEConnect International and their partner’s
success. Additionally, Premikati was able to revamp WEConnect International’s existing questionnaire document to allow
automation of approval flows based on location and registration type along with question conditionality to simplify the overallregistration process. Together, we will continue to create more opportunities for women and help create a more equitable,
influential, and impactful future.”
Marisol Buczynski-Buchanan, President and CEO, Premikati© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

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Challenges and Objectives 1 of 2
Global Challenges

Business Challenges▪

Less than 1% of the $3 trillion in WEConnect International
member purchasing is spent on women-owned businesses, yet
all the member organizations have purpose-built programs toincrease spending with women suppliers.

▪

Corporate, multilateral, and government buyers have trouble
finding qualified women-owned suppliers. Member buyers
found it difficult to search for qualified suppliers on the legacy
WEConnect International platform.

▪

Women own 33% of the world’s private businesses but earn
less than 1% of member spend on products and services.

▪

▪

Women should have the same opportunities as men to design
and implement business solutions that create wealth andsustainable prosperity in their communities.

Finding, training, and certifying women-owned businesses tohelp them compete in the global marketplace. Women-owned
businesses found it cumbersome to apply for certification with
WEConnect International and were also reluctant to share thesensitive financial data required for certification.

▪

WEConnect International staff had problems registering andcertifying businesses that applied using the legacy systems
and processes.

▪

Only one language was available for registering women-owned
businesses, which severely limited the number and types ofsuppliers that could participate.

▪

Many women-owned businesses are in locations that do nothave the infrastructure to support high-speed desktops and,thus, need a mobile-centric solution.

© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

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Challenges and Objectives 2 of 2
Project Objectives

Why SAP▪

▪

Most of the member buyers were already using SAP.

▪

Having a world-class supplier and brand like SAP was criticalfor solidifying the support of member buyers and women
suppliers.

▪

The platform had to be global and operate in multiple
languages. Few if any other suppliers can match SAP’s
global scale.

▪

The platform had to be secure to gain the confidence of thewomen-owned businesses that must share sensitive financial
data.

▪

USAID funding required a partner like SAP that was willing tocontribute in-kind funding.

Increase opportunities for women-owned businesses to compete
in the global marketplace and thereby improve the lives of theiremployees and within the diverse communities they serve.

▪

Leverage member buyer purchasing power with women-owned
businesses by making it easy for buyers to connect to suppliers.

▪

Make it easier for buyers to quickly search for a product or service
from qualified businesses. Eliminate the need, and backlog, for
WEConnect International staff to manage the searches.

▪

Centralize and simplify the process for women-owned businesses
to register, upload documents, and get certified.

▪

Make it easier for WEConnect International employees andcertification assessors to manage the women-owned businesscertification assessment process.

▪

Provide a platform that women can trust for submitting their mostsensitive financial data.

▪

Eliminate language barriers by greatly expanding the number oflanguages supported beyond English.

▪

Expand the global reach of businesses served with a unified,single workflow and mobile-centric solution.

© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

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Project or Use Case Details
WEConnect International was founded to help women-owned businesses gain access to the global purchasing power of the world’s largest
corporations, governments, and multilateral organizations. To achieve their mission, WEConnect International had to succeed in recruiting
large organizations seeking to increase their purchasing from women-owned businesses; in recruiting, certifying, and training womenowned businesses around the world; and in making it easy for member buyers to quickly identify qualified suppliers to participate inprocurement opportunities. However, as WEConnect International found success in recruiting both member buyers and women-owned
suppliers, the shortcomings of their legacy online database and processes became clear. The old platform and processes were not as
user-friendly, efficient, secure, globally accessible, or scalable as needed. With trusted, entrenched relationships across the world’s
biggest brands, a tested, secure, and scalable global platform available in multiple languages, and an available support infrastructure fornon-profits, SAP was the ideal partner to take WEConnect International’s mission to the next level.

Process Before

Process After▪

Searching for qualified women suppliers was difficult. Member buyers
couldn’t use search keywords, requests were usually urgent, and
WEConnect international employees had to manage the searches. It
required a lot of time and effort to find just one qualified supplier for a bid
opportunity.

▪

Member’s have an intuitive and unified user experience for finding
women-owned business that can meet their procurement needs.

▪

10 languages are now supported. The user experience is centralized andsimplified. Sensitive documents are no longer emailed and are instead
uploaded and stored in a secure, centralized database.

Women-owned businesses could only register in English. They had tointeract with different systems for submitting forms and uploading
documents. Email, which is not always secure, was sometimes used bysuppliers to share documents. Suppliers needed a user-friendly andmobile-enabled option for registration.

▪

Centralizing applications, document submission, and document validation
on a secure data repository makes it easy for staff to processcertifications efficiently.

▪

Phase 2 includes a mobile self registration form on SAP BTP Cloud
Foundry that is then communicated to SAP Ariba SLP via the SAP BTP
Integration suite using iRPA to automate the process.

▪

▪

Internally, it was difficult for staff to convert registration data into
certification data and then assign applicants to assessors.

© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

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Benefits and Outcomes 1 of 2
Business or Social

IT*▪

Member buyers have used WECommunity to search for 5,064
unique women-owned businesses since its launch in October 2020.

▪

▪

An estimated 6,172 registered women-owned businesses
experienced revenue growth in 2021 and created an estimated
24,000 new jobs in 2021.

As a non-profit, WEConnect International does not have an IT
department and has limited technical capabilities. The combinationof SAP’s cloud product suite, SAP’s broad support capabilities andstaff and the expertise and support of Premikati, made what was
initially a seemingly impossible challenge both possible and easy.

▪

Added 12 new countries for members seeking certified women
suppliers, from 43 in 2019 to 55 today (28% growth in 3 years).

▪

▪

Added 15 new countries with registered women-owned businesses,
from 119 in 2019 to 134 today (12.5% growth in 3 years).

The security, global scope and scale, and multi-language support
within the SAP platform were all critical for meeting customer
requirements with minimal IT development expenses.

▪

Added 7,859 new registered women-owned businesses since 2019,from 8,290 to 16,149 today (95% growth in 3 years).

▪

Added 86 member buyers since 2019, from 94 to 180 today (91%growth in 3 years).

▪

Increased member buyer purchasing power from US$1 trillion in2019 to over US$3 trillion today (200% growth in 3 years).

* IT benefits are required if you are using SAP Business Technology Platform products© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

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Benefits and Outcomes 2 of 2
People Related – Personal Perspective
WEConnect International helps women-owned businesses prosper
economically in ways that were not possible before, and thisincrease in prosperity gets passed on to their employees andcommunities. The program also enhances the value of its workers
through additional resources and training. Economic prosperity ispassed on through the hiring of new employees and the purchaseof local goods and services.
In Latin America, for example, women-owned business members
have increased their sales by over five times, expanded theiroperations to new markets, and created more local jobs.
The partnership with SAP dramatically improves the global scopeand scale with which WEConnect International can reachcommunities and women-owned businesses.

““Stoyan Energia Solar is committed tosustainability in the global concept of ESG,
and we are confident that we can make aneven greater impact on the communities andindustries we serve. It is a commitment
inspired by the purpose of our company — tobring clean and renewable energy to the four
corners of the world. And it’s all madepossible with WEConnect International,
which provides access to global markets andenables women business owners to unlock
their potential and achieve success.”
Catia Stoyan, CEO, Stoyan Energy Solar© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC”
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Architecture© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

11

Deployment Details 1 of 3
Deployment status Live

Number of end users

200 member buyers and over 16,000 women-owned suppliers

Date Phase 1 in 2020 and Phase 2 scheduled for March 2023

Transaction Volume

5,064 unique searches since launch and approximately 6,000+
new women-owned business registrations since launch

SAP® technologies used:
SAP Product

1

2

SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle andPerformance (SLP)

SAP Business Technology Platform(BTP)

Deployment Status
LIVE / POC

Live

Phase 1 – Live
Phase 2 – March 2023

Contribution to ProjectManages the women-owned business registration process in Phase 1
Manages the corporate member login and search process in Phase 1;
For Phase 2, SAP Services created a mobile self-registration form on SAP BTP
Cloud Foundry with a Fiori user interface, which is then communicated to SAP
Ariba SLP via the SAP BTP Integration suite with iRPA to automate the process345© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

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Deployment Details 2 of 3
Solution/App details developed on SAP BTP

The following SAP Business Technology (BTP) Solutions are part of the project:
SAP BTP Solution (list
Cloud Products only)

Contribution to Project

SAP Business Application
Studio; SAP CloudApplication Programming
Model; SAP Intelligent
Robotic Process Automation

SAP BTP provided a fast, accessible, and tailored brand experience to the self-registration process; theStudio development tool and Application Programming Model was used to create the SAP HANA Cloud
artifacts and the Fiori app; SAP iRPA automations (bots) are called when a self-registration SAP Fiori form
is submitted; the first bot logs into SAP Ariba SLP and submits a supplier self-registration form and thesecond bot sends an invitation email to the user indicating the next-steps of the process

Technology

1

Application Development
and Automation

2

Extended Planning andAnalysis3

Data and Analytics

SAP HANA CloudA SAP HANA Cloud database is used to store the information sent from the Fiori app to the iRPA bot, as
well as to receive responses from the iRPA bot, enabling the solution to handle a retry mechanism in caseof posting error from the Fiori app

4Integration

SAP Integration Suite

Integrations were created to orchestrate the communication between the SAP HANA Cloud, iRPA, and theFiori app5

Artificial Intelligence

Listed on SAP StoreNo

Monetized (sold to your customers) No

Co-innovation with SAP© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

Number of customers using the solution/app

N/A

No

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Deployment Details 3 of 3
The following offerings from SAP Services and Support and other packages were
utilized during the implementation or deployment phase:
SAP MaxAttention™

SAP Preferred Success

Managed Business Services

SAP ActiveAttention™

SAP Preferred Care, on-premise

Cloud Application Services

SAP Business Journeys

XX

SAP Enterprise Support

Embedded Launch Activities

Project Success

Learning Success

RISE with SAPX

Activation and Optimization Services

Partner Success

Other: SAP Deployment Services and SAP Enterprise Support

Contribution to the project
An SAP team worked with the customer to materialize their requirements in an end-to-end solution based on SAP BTP cloud services.
The team captured customer requirements and then designed and quick-prototyped a solution that the customer approved using the
SAP BTP no-code/low-code tools. The team enabled the customer’s cloud subscriptions, configured and developed the solution
components, and assisted the customer to test and go-live. With Supplier Enablement, SAP onboarded suppliers to SAP Ariba,
including education, tracking, and support. Enterprise Support also provides the post go-live product support for the SAP Ariba/BTP
solution. Throughout this process the team assisted the customer in the mindset shift to SAP BTP and cloud computing.
© 2022 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ PUBLIC

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