Capital One’s Supplier Diversity Mentoring Program

Supplier diversity is an integral part of the way Capital One does business.

We create mutually beneficial relationships with businesses owned by underrepresented groups including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, veterans and people with disabilities. Capital One invests in growing supplier diversity and provides developmental programs that help businesses to be successful. In 2021, Capital One spent $704 million (11.5% of procurable spend) with diverse suppliers, an increase of $192 million from 2020.

We view our vendors and contractors as representatives of our team. We support, mentor and coach diverse suppliers to enable them to scale.

Launched in Richmond, VA, in 2020, and expanded to Plano, Texas, and McLean, VA, in 2021, Capital One’s Supplier Diversity Mentoring Program provides Black and Hispanic business owners with the tools, resources and guidance needed to be competitive and succeed in today’s marketplace.

"Capital One continued its efforts to engage and support diverse business enterprises in 2021 not only through including them in our supply chain but also by expanding our mentoring and development programs aimed at growing the capacity and capabilities of these businesses,” says Clint Grimes, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at Capital One.

In 2021, we grew our spend with diverse suppliers to more than 10 percent of procurable spend and expanded our developmental programs from three cohorts of the existing Sage and Catapult programs to six cohorts, and added three cohorts of the new Supplier Diversity Mentoring Program.

Among a number of initiatives, we are increasing and accelerating our investments in Black and Hispanic partners and suppliers across our businesses and provide developmental programs that enable businesses to be competitive in the marketplace, whether they are a supplier of Capital One or not. Two of these programs are:

• Catapult, our immersive six-month program designed to help businesses bridge the digital skills gap, through instructional courses, collaborative thinking workshops, access to one-on-one meetings with subject matter experts and regular meetings with a dedicated Advisory Board of Capital One associates
• SAGE, an education program developed in partnership with the Women’s Business Enterprise Council that assists women-owned businesses in creating a three-year business plan

In 2021, Capital One’s Supplier Diversity Mentoring Program, Catapult and SAGE supported 129 businesses. Over 200 associates participated as advisors, mentors and instructors across the various developmental programs.

In addition to these initiatives, Capital One also works with five major non-profit organizations — including the National Minority Supplier Development Council —  that provide access to industry best practices and help us to identify diverse suppliers through curated databases.