  
 P&G continues steady commitment of economic inclusion of minority and women businesses.
CINCINNATI and ATLANTA, Oct. 29, 2001 — The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) today announced its commitment to spend $1.5 billion with minority and women suppliers annually by 2005, making P&G eligible to join the supplier diversity industry's Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR). The BDR is a new initiative sponsored by Minority Business News U.S.A. in conjunction with Women's Enterprise Magazine, which includes an elite group of corporations that spend more than $1 billion annually with minority- and women-owned businesses.
"The supplier diversity spending goal P&G has set continues to underscore our commitment to economic inclusion of minority businesses as part of our business growth strategy," said Gary Simpson, Vice President of Global Baby Care, Product Supply, P&G. "While we spend nearly $1 billion with minority and women suppliers today, we will steadily grow that number by 15 percent each year until 2005."
P&G made the announcement today during the annual conference of the National Minority Supplier Development Council in Atlanta (Oct. 28-31).
Currently, minority- or woman-owned business enterprises play key roles in the testing, production or product packaging process of many of P&G's more than 250 consumer brand products, including, but not limited to: Tide®, Pringles®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Folgers®, Crest®, Pampers®, Tampax®, Dryel®, Always®, Metamucil®, Gain®, and Cheer®.
"With minority populations of today quickly becoming the majority of the population tomorrow, we see a competitive advantage in increasing our business with entities that reflect our country's diverse consumers," said Daryl Hodnett, Group Manager, P&G Supplier Diversity Development. "By doing business with diverse suppliers we also gain key insights into consumer behavior and preferences as a value-add to the quality services our suppliers are already providing."
According to the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of African-American-owned businesses increased 22 percent to more than 800,000, and Latino-owned businesses increased 30 percent to more than 1.2 million.
P&G's Supplier Diversity network of minority- and woman-owned business enterprises is made up of 1,250 businesses, with which P&G will spend 11 percent of its procurement budget in 2005.
"By engaging minority suppliers in our business processes, P&G is enriching and supporting the communities that are supporting us by purchasing our brands every day," said Hodnett. "Supplier diversity is an important plank in P&G's efforts to build our brands' business with the country's diverse consumer base, helping P&G and America's minority communities grow and prosper."
A History of P&G's Minority Business Development
P&G first established a minority supplier development program in 1972 when it spent $44,000 with six suppliers. In 1993, the effort was rearranged to more accurately reflect the purpose of the program: to accelerate revenue growth and employment of Targeted Historically Underutilized Businesses.
P&G's investments in minority and women business enterprises have resulted in ever-increasing expenditures. For perspective, just over 10 years ago, during fiscal year 1989-1990, P&G spent $115 million with minority and women suppliers. During fiscal year 2000-2001, P&G spent $931.5 million, and it will spend $1.050 billion in fiscal year 2001-2002.
P&G is a member of several strategic organizations dedicated to expanding supplier diversity development, including the National Minority Supplier Development Council, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Women's Business Enterprise National Council.
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