London, 10 May, 2022: Today, at the 12th Microsoft Ability Summit, the Valuable 500 and Microsoft announce a strengthening of their relationship with Microsoft becoming an Iconic Leader company working across all of the six Valuable 500 transformation pillars.

The Ability Summit brings together some 12,000 Microsoft employees, people with disabilities and industry professionals to Imagine, Build and Include the future of disability inclusion and accessibility.

Microsoft was the first Valuable 500 member company to join the launch of the Valuable 500 at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2019. Microsoft is the 15th Iconic leader company and will work across-pillars tied to bridging the Disability Divide, coined by the World Bank, to narrow the gap for people with disabilities across access to education, employment and accessible and adaptive technology intersecting with other solutions and initiatives.

To deliver the transformation programme helping all of the Valuable 500 members to make significant advances in disability inclusion, the 15 iconic leaders will co-fund, co-build and co-test solutions using their industry experience to help catalyse progress for the entire community. These leaders include Allianz; Apple; BBC; Deloitte; EY; Google; LSEG; Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd; Microsoft; Omnicom; P&G; Salesforce; Sony; Sky and Verizon. The CEOs of all of these companies are committed to working together to lead by example and transform the business eco system for disability inclusion.

Already active in the Valuable 500 Culture pillar, Microsoft is actively participating in the Self-ID/Census solution as part of the Advisory Panel, and providing input around the Talent solution. Microsoft will be sharing tools and resources that it has developed to embed disability inclusion and accessibility into the fabric of the company over many years. All 500 of the Valuable companies will have access to frameworks, processes, training and other assets to apply to their own organisations. This will provide a holistic framework for Valuable 500 companies to meet companies where they are on their disability journey based on Microsoft’s groundbreaking Accessibility Evolution Model.  As part of the Valuable 500 Digital Hub, the framework will outline questions to help pinpoint progress, with a focus on recommending a variety of disability services, resources, and insights from Microsoft and other Valuable 500 member companies. This will be the first resource curated by and for the world’s leading companies on disability inclusion.

The power of the Valuable 500 collective, the expertise of the  Valuable Directory companies, and the leadership of Microsoft will all come together to massively raise the bar on disability inclusion in the corporate sector.

Proud to be a new Iconic member in the Valuable 500. As the founding member for the Valuable 500, we’re proud to continue our Partnership with Caroline and the Valuable 500 family as we charge to help close the disability divide.

Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Microsoft Chief Accessibility Officer

 

Todays announcement is another milestone for the Valuable 500. Microsoft will make available its holistic resources framework covering all aspects of accessibility/inclusion to the community. This includes People and Culture; Vision, Strategy and engagement; Investments; Standards; Training; Support tools; Procurement; Product development lifecycle; Sales, marketing, and communications. In each area, a company can see where they are and receive advice on next steps, best practices, assets, referrals to consulting services and connections to other member companies. Over time, this will become increasingly interactive, with lessons learned across the Valuable 500 companies, and increasing access to interfacing with the ecosystem.

The Valuable 500 has embarked on its transformation programme of embedding disability inclusion within leadership agendas and radically transforming the business system across the whole supply chain for the benefit of all. Its membership includes 36 of the FTSE 100 companies, 48 of the Fortune 500 and 28 of Nikkei. As a collective, the organizations committed to taking action towards disability inclusion, have a combined market cap of $23 trillion, revenue of well over $8 trillion and over 22 million employees operating around the world.

It is estimated that 15% of the global population are people with disabilities and this number significantly increases to 53% when families of those living with disabled people are taken into account, with a spending power of $13 trillion per annum. The Valuable 500 is committed to assisting its members to successfully address this market and benefit from the significant pool of talent, and diversity of thought of people with disabilities as employees and customers.

 

Media Contacts

For interviews and further information, please contact:

Amy Shaw, Campaign Director, Seven Hills

Richard Poston, Chief Communications Officer, the Valuable 500

Notes to Editors

About the Valuable 500

The Valuable 500 was announced at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in January 2019. Today the Valuable 500 is the largest community of Global CEOs committed to disability inclusion in business.

Since its creation, the Valuable 500 has achieved its initial goal of getting 500 multinational organisations to make a public commitment to disability inclusion in their organisation, igniting a historic global movement for a new age of diversity in business. The Valuable 500 and their global impact partner The Nippon Foundation, will be working closely with the World Economic Forum and International Disability Alliance – bringing together a leading philanthropic organisation with the most prestigious global business network and the voice of the global disability community.

By engaging with the world’s most influential business leaders and brands, the network now has a combined revenue of over $8 trillion, combined market cap of $23 trillion and employs a staggering 22 million people worldwide. Its members include 15 global CEOs and companies who will be spearheading the transformation programmes and services to be offered under Phase 2 – under the pillars of Culture within organisations; C-Suite story telling; the Customer journey: Reporting; Representation and Research.

After reaching this important milestone, the Valuable 500 is determined to create a community that supports and empowers its 500 members to systematically transform their businesses, so they include the 1.3 billion people living with disabilities worldwide, thereby unlocking their business, social and economic potential.

We believe that if business takes the lead, society and government will follow. Truly inclusive businesses can build truly inclusive societies.