The road to recognition is never an easy one but yesterday I was thrilled when it was announced that Kaleida had won Coventry Building Society Supplier Awards 2023 in the category of Diversity & Inclusion.
I had the idea for Kaleida back in 2015 when in the role of H/o Sales for an international software company selling CRM solutions to financial service organisation.
I grew fed up of continuously missing out on opportunities when buyers entered the market for a new CRM system because there was no tool to help them announce their buying intentions to suppliers who were not within their supply chain.
I also experienced the impact of unconscious bias when walking into a boardroom to sell and seeing little to no representation of marginalised identities.
🤷♀️ No women sitting it the executive chair.
🤷🏾♂️ No one who shared my reflection making the buying decision.
♿️ No one visibly disabled running the process.
A lack of representation in those rooms has a detrimental affect on communities and those who aspire to be successful - so I began to build Kaleida in my mind.
Truth is, in 2019/20 I emailed over 100 investment organisations pitching the idea and looking for investment. I was unsuccessful.
There’s something quite debilitating when a lack of credibility meets diversity; but I powered on. Determined to help those who experienced affinity bias that caused imposter syndrome within themselves.
Fast forward 4 years after bootstrapping the build and wearing every hat under the sun to design, create, market, and launch the Kaleida platform, here we are today, officially an award winning platform.
My family and I sacrificed holidays, birthdays, and family time together to get to this stage but I am thrilled to say that we won’t be stopping here.
2024 promises to be our most successful year yet as we continue to push the boat on what it means to have a fully-inclusive supply chain.
So, to all those budding entrepreneurs, to all those who experience the cold stare of unconscious bias, to everyone frozen like a deer in the headlights because of imposter syndrome, I hope this award inspires you to continue to rise to your aspirations.
My thanks to the whole of Coventry Building Society and the team for the award, and to Rebecca Howard and Dave Sharpe🎤 for hosting a magnificent event..
About Us
"Finding Diverse Suppliers is time-consuming as the process today involves researching against multiple databases."
Founded in 2019, Kaleida International is a B2B marketplace for Tenders connecting Buyers to Suppliers, and Diverse Suppliers. With a focus on helping the Chief Procurement Office achieve its ESG goals, and alerting companies to new revenue opportunities, Kaleida's fully-inclusive platform helps Buyers find, identify and assess Diverse Suppliers they can invite to Tender.
In 2023 Kaleida will publish £600b in both Public and Private sector tenders for suppliers, and Diverse suppliers to apply to. By increasing access to commercial opportunity, we believe we can drive equality through providing access to economic parity.
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