US UPS once again features in WBENC’s Elite Eleven

For the fifth consecutive year, UPS has been named among America’s Top Corporations for Women Business Enterprises by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the leading third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women.

UPS’s inclusion in the WBENC’s Elite Eleven highlights the company’s effort to provide opportunities to women- and minority-owned businesses. Through its supplier diversity program, UPS develops mentoring relationships with smaller companies and works with other major corporations to increase diversity among suppliers. In 2003, UPS spent more than US$187 million with women- and minority-owned companies.

UPS has ranked among WBENC’s Top Corporations since the lists’ inception in 1999.

For its fifth annual listing, WBENC surveyed Fortune 1000 US companies for best practices on issues including senior management involvement; identification and development of WBEs; internal buyer education; program structure; development of mentor-protégé initiatives; resources and measurement, as well as internal and external communications. To compile its list, WBENC then formed a committee consisting of corporate representatives, women business leaders, and women business advocates to evaluate survey results.

UPS’s commitment to diversity in all areas has been recognised by several organisations, including the National Urban League (2003 Corporate Leadership Award), the NAACP (2001 Corporate Citizen of the Year Award) and the Native American Business Alliance (2002 Corporation of the Year Award).