Empowering Diversity
Aflac’s VP of Strategy of Sourcing & Procurement, Wassel Lewis, offers relief to Latino small businesses impacted by COVID-19
How did you arrive to the position you are currently in?
In 2007, I joined Aflac’s Information Technology division - Strategic Partnerships department, which was responsible for performing and assessing Business Process Outsourcing opportunities for various internal business units. At the time, we had a decentralized procurement organization where three key functions existed in various business units including Strategic Partnerships, Procurement and Vendor Management. These functions were soon merged into a new organization known as Strategic Sourcing and Procurement. As our maturity model advanced additional functions were added such as Category Management, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Risk, Procurement Administration, Procurement Operations, Supplier Diversity, Supplier Relationship Management and Performance Management. Today, our department is called 3rd Party Management with our team managing all third parties and relationships at Aflac.
Talk about some of the work you have done as Procurement leader in favor of Latino small businesses?
As Aflac expands its business into diverse communities, our challenge is also to expand the business opportunities we offer to diverse suppliers. Currently, 8.5% of our total diverse spend is with Hispanic owned businesses. We maintain close relationships with nationally recognized councils and chamber of commerce such as Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and National Minority Supplier Development Council. I am also involved with Latino advocacy partners through speaking engagements regarding doing business with Aflac. Lastly, my supplier diversity manager sits on several boards where she actively participates in mentoring diverse suppliers.
In your opinion and from the corporate point of view, what are the benefits of providing Latino suppliers with these opportunities?
We strongly believe that as demographics in the United States changes over time, Aflac must change with it. It’s important to understand that the economic enrichment of these various communities through business development is necessary to maintain our company’s and our nation’s competitiveness and growth. The benefits of having Latino and other diverse suppliers as part of our sourcing process is fundamental in providing access to opportunities within our supply chain.
What are your goals in terms of advancing these opportunities for Latinos businesses?
As previously mentioned, we have already ensured that our sourcing process aligns with our supplier diversity program; however, Aflac would like to do more. My team continues to look at categories of spend like professional services, information technology hardware or software and have strategies in place to increase spend with Latino businesses as well as other diverse suppliers within these categories. Expanding categories of spend allows Aflac to better assess gaps and areas for improvement within our supplier diversity program more broadly.
How is Aflac supporting these Latinos business amid the COVID-19 health crisis? What is the plan during and post pandemic?
The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on people’s lives, the economy and our business is something none of us has experienced before. The unprecedented challenges ask us all to think differently and be agile in our response. Small businesses are at the heart of Aflac and understand the importance of cash flow, which is why we provided some financial relief through an interest-free loan program to support 1099 independent sales agents licensed to sell Aflac products. We also offered early payment opportunities to our small business suppliers (certain restrictions apply). Lastly, we provided virtual business workshops to educate Hispanic businesses with best practices on specific topics to aid in business growth and rebuilding.