Last week, the Supplier Capability Development team shared the project results with Agora's leadership team during the final Steering Committee meeting. Thanks to a fantastic team made up of two Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP) consultants and individuals from BIF and Agora, the project delivered a new Agora SME capability development tool which will be used to assess perishable SME capabilities across 10 different areas, from their business strategy to product quality mindset.

The team also piloted this tool and assessment method with a subset of suppliers, and shared these results with the team, highlighting the hot spots for improvement, whilst also celebrating successes – both for the SME suppliers and within Agora.

So the first major milestone for the project has now been reached and everyone is happy with the progress made so far, whilst being aware that there is still a lot to do in order to achieve the project’s ambitious goals.

The Supplier Capability Development project will now go on to assess the rest of the Agora’s SME perishable suppliers and then train, coach and support them in closing their capability ‘gaps’. The result will be that suppliers will grow as Agora grows. Not only that, but they will become more inclusive businesses in themselves - improving the way in which they procure from the ultimate producer and providing more equal employment opportunities for low income groups.

For Agora that means more reliable suppliers, who can meet their demand and quality requirements. Ultimately, we are well on the way to helping Agora achieve its ambitious growth strategy for 2015.