MEDIA RELEASE NOVEMBER 2010

Corporate Express, Australia’s leading single source supplier of products for the office has appointed Message Stick Communications, an Indigenous-owned business as its national telecommunications service provider. This is represents Corporate Express’ first deal with an Australian Indigenous Minority Supplier Council (AIMSC) certified supplier.

A founding member of the Australian Indigenous Minority Supplier Council (AIMSC), Corporate Express has a strong commitment to addressing social and economic disadvantage working towards social inclusion.

Jennifer Levasseur, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, said it’s an exciting time for Corporate Express: “We’re really pleased to be signing with Message Stick; our vision is to assist indigenous Australians to secure economic independence by enhancing their opportunities for education and gainful employment, and to improve awareness of Indigenous communities amongst our employees.

“As part of our supplier diversity program, we’re currently looking at more ways to work with Indigenous-owned businesses and offer AIMSC certified products to customers throughout our supply chain. This means that customers are able to take advantage of our distribution infrastructure to meet their own diversity purchasing goals,” Mrs Levasseur said.

Message Stick Communications Chief Executive Michael McLeod said the agreement is a major win for AIMSC and Indigenous suppliers throughout Australia.

“This is one of a number of contracts to be signed via our certification through AIMSC and demonstrates that Australian companies and Indigenous-owned suppliers can do business on commercial terms rather than for charitable purpose,” Mr McLeod said.

The partnership with Message Stick supports Corporate Express’ overall Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and strategy of engaging with more indigenous suppliers.

“This commitment to supplier diversity is integral to Corporate Express’ Indigenous support program and is a key element of our Reconciliation Action Plan,” said Ms Levasseur.

AIMSC is a three-year pilot program funded by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Industry & Investment NSW. AIMSC will play an important role in closing the gap on indigenous disadvantage by facilitating growth in indigenous enterprise.  In its first nine months of AIMSC members and certified businesses reported $1.256m worth of business transactions.