Social Traders, an Australian industry body dedicated to social enterprises, has partnered with RobobAI, a global fintech company, to provide businesses with comprehensive, real-time insights into the impact of their supply chain spending.

RobobAI is known for leveraging artificial intelligence to create transparent and ethical supply chains. The partnership is expected to assist businesses in evaluating and quantifying the impact of their spending with certified social enterprise suppliers. Social Traders' 2024 Report on Identified Social Enterprises (RISE) analysed 5,795 social enterprises, which represents nearly half of the estimated 12,000 social enterprises in Australia.

Social enterprises in Australia contribute significantly to community impact, investing $5.7 billion annually and creating 89,000 jobs. The partnership comes at a time when mandatory sustainability reporting has commenced, beginning on January 1, 2025, initially for large businesses. This requirement will extend to all businesses over the next three years.

The new partnership will support businesses in identifying and analysing procurement spend with certified social enterprises. Social Traders, established in 2008, is a national certifier of social enterprises in Australia. The organisation supports businesses in delivering and reporting on social performance through social procurement, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices, and upholding human rights.

RobobAI's AI platform aids businesses in consolidating, cleansing, and classifying spend data with certified social enterprise suppliers. The partnership aims to help businesses report on and grow social impact through everyday purchasing.

CEO of Social Traders, Tara Anderson, said: "This partnership aligns with our ambition at Social Traders – making business for good, business as usual." Anderson further elaborated, "Social Traders specialises in activating business as a mechanism to deliver social and environmental impact. Social enterprises are the ultimate example of that. We also partner with traditional businesses to deliver and report on sustainable business practices, in particular through their supply chain and connection with social enterprises. Through our new partnership with RobobAI, businesses will be able to report on and grow social impact through their everyday purchasing."

CEO and Founder of RobobAI, Julian Harris, said: "Using insights from Social Traders extensive database of certified social enterprises, coupled with the speed and intuitive functionality of RobobAI's platform,, businesses will be able to dive into granular supplier and category level detail within clicks. With this information, businesses can get a Social Impact Report from Social Traders that demonstrates tangible impact outcomes from their spend with certified social enterprises." Harris also stated, "We see this partnership as an opportunity to create genuine change by helping businesses shift their spend towards more ethical and sustainable suppliers to create meaningful impact to communities and the environment."