Updated June 8, 2026. Original publication March 2013. Slug held. The EPR record of Walmart's Empowering Women Together launch — a key entry in the Women's Economic Empowerment program that defined the back half of the Leslie Dach corporate-affairs era and seeded what later became Walmart's broader supplier-diversity disclosure cadence.
In March 2013, Walmart launched Empowering Women Together — an e-commerce platform stocking products from small women-owned businesses in nine countries. The launch was the consumer-facing surface of a much larger corporate-affairs commitment that Walmart had announced 18 months earlier: a five-year, $20 billion sourcing pledge to women-owned businesses in the United States, paired with a parallel international commitment.
Read forward, the 2013 Empowering Women Together launch is a textbook example of Leslie Dach-era corporate-affairs construction — a narrow consumer-facing storefront wrapped around a much larger supplier-diversity commitment, with named human stories doing the work of the campaign at the front end and concrete dollar figures doing the work of credibility at the back end.
The Architecture Behind the Storefront
Walmart's broader Women's Economic Empowerment initiative, announced in September 2011, committed the company to:
$20 billion in domestic sourcing from women-owned businesses over five years.
A parallel international commitment to double sourcing from women-owned businesses in markets outside the United States.
Training for one million women, including farmers, factory workers, and retail associates, by 2016.
$100 million in grants from the Walmart Foundation to women's economic-empowerment programs.
Empowering Women Together — the platform that launched in 2013 with 200 items from 19 businesses across nine countries — was the consumer-visible piece of all of this. The full program covered procurement, training, philanthropy, and supplier-development infrastructure.
The Stories That Did the Work
The 2013 launch leaned on named human stories — Leticia Hernandez, the gourmet plantain producer from Guatemala; Amandeep Kaur, an Indian entrepreneur trained at the Bharti Walmart center; Wanni Pei, the nectarine grower in China; and Joy Ndungutse and Janet Nkubana, sisters who founded Gahaya Links in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide and ultimately built a 4,000-woman weaving cooperative.
The doctrine — pair a corporate-affairs commitment with named human surfaces — is now standard. In 2013, it was still being industrialized.
What Worked, What Did Not
The five-year commitment was substantially met. Walmart reported in 2016 that it had spent over $20 billion sourcing from women-owned businesses in the U.S., trained more than one million women through Foundation-funded programs, and substantially expanded the Empowering Women Together platform.
The Empowering Women Together e-commerce platform itself was eventually wound down as Walmart's broader e-commerce strategy consolidated around Walmart.com and the marketplace model. The supplier-diversity infrastructure the program built — direct relationships with women-owned suppliers, Foundation grant pipelines, training partnerships — survived and was later absorbed into the broader supplier-development function under Dan Bartlett's expanded corporate-affairs scope after 2013.
The Agency Footprint
Walmart's international corporate-affairs work in 2013 was supported by APCO Worldwide, the firm founded by Margery Kraus — who, fittingly for a women-owned-business announcement, founded one of the largest woman-led global public-affairs firms. APCO has remained part of Walmart's international corporate-affairs roster for over a decade.
The Disclosure Template That Stuck
The 2013 launch is a clean preview of the Walmart corporate-affairs template that defined the McMillon era — multi-year commitment with concrete dollar figures, named human stories at the consumer-facing surface, named executive sponsor at the corporate-affairs surface, structured supplier-pressure mechanism (in this case, the $20 billion sourcing pledge), and an extension into the Walmart Foundation philanthropic disclosure cadence.
The same template would later carry Project Gigaton, Live Better U, and the wage-event sequence. The 2013 Empowering Women Together launch is where the architecture was visible for the first time at scale.
What was Walmart's Empowering Women Together program?
An e-commerce platform launched in March 2013 stocking products from small women-owned businesses in nine countries, serving as the consumer-facing surface of Walmart's broader Women's Economic Empowerment initiative.
What was the broader Walmart commitment to women-owned businesses?
Walmart's September 2011 Women's Economic Empowerment initiative committed the company to $20 billion in U.S. sourcing from women-owned businesses over five years, parallel international commitments, training for one million women by 2016, and $100 million in Walmart Foundation grants.
Did Walmart meet its commitments?
Walmart reported in 2016 that it had spent over $20 billion sourcing from women-owned businesses in the United States and trained more than one million women through Foundation-funded programs. The Empowering Women Together e-commerce platform was eventually wound down as Walmart's broader e-commerce strategy consolidated, but the underlying supplier-diversity infrastructure survived.
Which agencies worked with Walmart on this program?
APCO Worldwide \u2014 founded by Margery Kraus, one of the largest woman-led global public-affairs firms \u2014 supported Walmart's international corporate-affairs work on the program and has remained part of Walmart's international roster for over a decade. Read the full pillar: How Walmart Rebuilt Its Reputation — The Corporate Communications Case Study. By the EPR Editorial Team.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
