Ben Pearson, the autistic Entrepreneur, is an inspiration to us all. He said: "I'm really proud to be here today. Having autism, it takes a lot of guts to be here“ after appearing on the recent episode of Dragon's Den.
The Neurodivergent entrepreneur receives a negative perception steeped in bias. They experience discrimination, bullying, and alienation.
Boy oh boy do you miss out on talent, gifts, capability, and exceptional candidacy if you discriminate towards a neurodivergent individual.
You should know that Neurodivergencey is a protected identity in a Supplier Diversity.
Neurodiversity refers to diversity in the human brain and cognition, for instance in sociability, learning, attention, mood, and other mental functions.
ADHD, Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Tourette's syndrome are all examples of neurodiverse conditions.
I love Dragons’ Den.
In fact, I’ve probably watched almost every episode of Sharks’ Tank, Dragons’ Den. I’m now making my way through the Canadian, Irish, and Australian versions of these shows.
Last night I watched as Ben Paynter secured investment from Touker Suleyman, whilst Steven Bartlett discerned Ben’s pitch as ‘the best pitch’ he had seen since joining the show as a judge.
Deborah Meaden said ‘it was refreshing’ to ask a question and get a direct answer in detail.
Ben’s an inspiration. His plus size clothing business turns over millions per year in revenue.
Those without D&I training may find him too direct.
Where there’s no representation of neurodivergent talent within a business, staff may find interactions uncomfortable, which leads to further avoidance and alienation.
If you are a Buyer, I encourage you to work more with neurodivergent business owners.
If you are HR, create a programme to target, and hire the neurodivergent staff member.
Do not pigeon-hole them into roles.
They are not all ‘rain men’ and mathematic geniuses. They don’t all write code.
Sometimes, like Ben, they are just really good at selling plus size clothes to their customer.
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 £800b 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.