Oct. 29, 2009 (PR Newswire) --

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) honored PepsiCo with its prestigious "Corporation of the Year" Award on October 28, at the Awards Banquet capping its annual conference. The company was among 73 nominees vying for the award that recognizes a corporate member's exemplary achievements in minority business development.

NMSDC's Corporation of the Year award is regarded as the most significant honor to a major corporation for the utilization of Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American suppliers. In winning the award, PepsiCo demonstrated exceptional strength in areas critical to continuously improving a minority supplier development process.

Supplier diversity objectives are part of PepsiCo senior management's performance goals. The company has a cross-functional Supplier Diversity Executive Council to ensure sustained growth and development in the supplier diversity arena. In 2008, PepsiCo spent $614 million with nearly 400 NMSDC-certified minority businesses. Its first-tier spend increased 10 percent over 2007, despite the downturn in the economy. The company's combined first- and second-tier spend totaled more than $900 million.

"PepsiCo has long embraced forward-thinking procurement principles so that excellent minority-owned businesses have more opportunities to participate in its supply chain," said NMSDC President Harriet R. Michel. "In a year of belt-tightening for many corporations, PepsiCo maintained its solid commitment and continued to rely on the value strong minority businesses bring to the corporation."

PepsiCo established an endowment with NMSDC that continues to fund annual scholarships for minority business owners to attend the organization's Advanced Management Education Program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Additionally, PepsiCo participates in the NMSDC Centers of Excellence, a capacity-building initiative featuring a network of local corporations and minority firms working together to enhance the minority supplier development process by implementing NMSDC best practices. PepsiCo is also a sponsor of NMSDC's Corporate Plus® Program, a designation for minority businesses that have demonstrated success in handling national contracts.

The corporation is active with a number of NMSDC Regional Councils, the Business Consortium Fund - NMSDC's financing arm - and NMSDC's International Program. PepsiCo was a founding member corporation of the Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council (CAMSC) - a Canadian organization modeled after NMSDC. PepsiCo is also active in Minority Supplier Development United Kingdom (MSDUK), the NMSDC counterpart organization in the United Kingdom.