Positive Purchasing Power
Two local businesses represent Fresenius Medical Care’s network of diverse and inclusive suppliers.
Fresenius Medical Care works with thousands of suppliers at its different locations worldwide. These suppliers provide us with the necessary products and services to keep our company running and enable us to be a reliable partner for our patients around the globe.
Fresenius Medical Care partners with the business community around its locations and relies on local suppliers to provide services such as landscaping, repairs, cleaning, and much more. Fresenius Medical Care North America’s diverse supplier network empowers local entrepreneurs and their employees. In 2022, the network included more than 8,000 suppliers, accounting for over $1.7 BN.
For us, diversity in sourcing means working with businesses owned by minorities, women, people with disabilities, veterans, or small businesses, to name a few. Many diverse suppliers are small businesses that often encounter unique challenges such as being allocated smaller loans, higher interest rates, and shorter payback terms. By incorporating supplier diversity in procurement, we enrich and diversify our supply chain while promoting the economic development of diverse businesses.
Female ingenuity to the rescue
One of these suppliers is EnvirOx, a woman-owned business based in the U.S. state of Illinois that supplies Fresenius Medical Care North America with sustainable cleaning products and services.
“We were excited to have the opportunity to collaboratively solve the problem of getting the floors in dialysis clinics clean, and making sure they stay clean, in the most effective and sustainable way,” says EnvirOx owner and president Diana Stewart, who took over the company from her father.
“It’s rare for a cleaning chemicals manufacturer to be woman-owned, and I’m proud to be a female business owner and a role model for my daughters and other women."
Homegrown Hawaiian success story
To dispose of medical waste from its dialysis centers on the islands of Hawaii, Fresenius Medical Care has for more than 25 years relied on Hawaii Bio-Waste Systems.
The company was founded in 1991 by local physician Gary Kondo and has grown from modest beginnings to become the local leader in biowaste management, servicing more than 1,200 medical and pharmaceutical institutions in Hawaii. When Kondo passed away in 2011, his son Kevin took over as President and CEO of the minority-owned business. Hawaii Bio-Waste Systems collects medical waste from Fresenius Medical Care clinics on Oahu, Big Island, Maui, and Kauai and manages their reusable sharps container program.
“Being a small business means we can customize our services to Fresenius Medical Care’s needs, which has helped our longterm partnership grow,” says Kondo. “As a diverse supplier, we are supporting both the Company’s sustainability and supplier diversity programs.
