Citi spends billions a year buying things. Technology, professional services, marketing, facilities, staffing, print, legal support, the entire back office of a global bank. In 2022 the company spent $1.3 billion of that with certified diverse suppliers, up from $875 million in 2020, which is what earned it a seat at the Billion Dollar Roundtable, the club of fewer than 40 U.S. corporations that spend $1 billion or more annually with diverse vendors.
So the budget is real. The question is how a small business actually gets a piece of it, and whether Citi's diversity program is still a viable on-ramp after the company reworked its DEI commitments in early 2025. Short version: the door is narrower than it was two years ago, but it's open, and the way in hasn't changed as much as the headlines suggest.
Here's how it works.
What changed in February 2025You should know this before you spend a weekend on a registration. On February 20, 2025, Citi announced it was pulling back parts of its diversity program in response to federal policy changes. The team formerly called "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Talent Management" was renamed "Talent Management and Engagement." Citi dropped its aspirational representation goals for hiring and ended requirements for diverse candidate slates and diverse interview panels.
On the supplier side, the company was more cautious. Leadership said its supplier efforts "require further evaluation" rather than announcing a clean kill of the program. As of this writing the public supplier pages live under a "Supplier Engagement Program" banner, and the diverse-supplier language has been softened in places. The spend itself, the actual dollars going to minority- and women-owned firms, is harder to walk back than a press release, because it's embedded in active contracts.
What this means for you: don't lead with the diversity angle as if it's a guaranteed fast lane. Treat certification as one credential among several. Lead with capability. More on that below.
The two front doors at CitiThere are two different systems, and people confuse them constantly.
The Citi iSupplier Portal is for suppliers Citi has already approved. It handles purchase orders, invoices, and payment status. You can't self-register your way into a contract through it. If you land here as a brand-new vendor expecting to sign up and start selling, you'll hit a wall, because access is restricted to current approved suppliers.
The path for everyone else runs through Doing Business with Citi and Citi's sourcing process. This is where capability gets evaluated, and it's the door you actually want. Citi's published standard is blunt about what it looks for: competitive and value-added capabilities, a proven track record with trustworthy references, good financial standing, quality processes, and a real understanding of Citi's business. Sourcing managers evaluate suppliers against consistent criteria for specific projects and award to whoever offers the best combination of quality, delivery, service, and total cost.
Read that list again. None of it is "you're certified." Certification gets your name into the pool. The capability is what gets you the award.
What Citi counts as a diverse supplierCiti's program covers the standard ownership categories: minority-owned, woman-owned, veteran-owned, disabled-owned, and disabled-veteran-owned businesses. The baseline requirement across all of them is the one every corporate program uses: at least 51% ownership, control, and operation by individuals in the qualifying group, verified by a third-party certification rather than self-attestation.
For the categories Citi has historically prioritized, the certifications that carry weight are the national ones:
- Minority-owned (MBE): certification through the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) or one of its regional affiliate councils. Citi partners directly with NMSDC.
- Woman-owned (WBE): certification through the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). Citi partners with WBENC and has a stated focus on increasing spend with women-owned firms.
- Veteran and service-disabled veteran-owned: certification through NVBDC (the National Veteran Business Development Council) or the federal VetCert program.
- LGBT-owned (LGBTBE): certification through the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).
- Disability-owned (DOBE): certification through Disability:IN.
If you're not certified yet and you're not sure which one fits your ownership, that's the first thing to settle, because the certification you hold determines which corporate programs you even qualify for. CertifyAll handles the filing across the federal and state programs that feed these credentials, so you're not navigating each portal separately.
A quick reality check on timing: NMSDC and WBENC certifications typically take 60 to 90 days and run a few hundred dollars a year in fees. Start that clock before you start chasing Citi, not after.
The Tier 2 route most people missHere's the path that doesn't show up in the headline spend number. Citi tracks both Tier 1 spend (what Citi pays you directly) and Tier 2 spend (what Citi's prime suppliers pay diverse subcontractors). The Tier 2 program exists to push Citi's large prime vendors to subcontract with small and diverse businesses and to build their own supplier diversity programs.
For a small firm, Tier 2 is often the realistic first contract. Becoming a direct Citi vendor as a five-person company is hard. Becoming a subcontractor to one of Citi's existing primes, an IT integrator, a staffing firm, a marketing agency already on Citi's roster, is much more achievable, and that work still counts toward Citi's diversity numbers, which gives the prime a reason to bring you in.
So when you research Citi, don't only research Citi. Research the companies that already sell to Citi in your category, and pitch them on the Tier 2 value you create.
A realistic on-rampIf you want a sequence rather than a pep talk, here it is.
1. Get certified first. Pick the certification that matches your ownership and file it. NMSDC and WBENC are the two that open the most corporate doors, including Citi's. Without a third-party certification, you're not a diverse supplier in any program's eyes; you're just a small business.
2. Build a capability statement that speaks Citi's language. One page. What you do, which NAICS codes you cover, your differentiators, past performance with named clients, your certifications, and your contact. A financial-services buyer wants to see relevant references and financial stability, not a logo collage.
3. Register through Doing Business with Citi, not the iSupplier Portal. The iSupplier Portal is for approved vendors. Start at Citi's supplier landing page and follow the sourcing path.
4. Work the diverse-business organizations. NMSDC and WBENC run matchmaker events, business opportunity fairs, and trade shows where corporate buyers, Citi included, show up to meet certified suppliers. A 15-minute introduction at an NMSDC event beats a cold form submission every time. This is the single best move for a certified firm, and it's the reason the certification fee pays for itself.
5. Chase Tier 2 in parallel. Identify the primes already serving Citi in your category and pitch them on subcontracting. This is usually the faster first dollar.
6. Be patient and specific. Corporate procurement cycles run long. A realistic timeline from first contact to first contract at a company Citi's size is measured in months to a couple of years, not weeks. The firms that get in stay visible, keep references current, and are ready when a specific need opens.
The honest takeCiti's supplier diversity program is real money and a credible reference, but it's not a shortcut, and after February 2025 it's not a program you should assume will be marketed as aggressively as it once was. The durable advantage is being genuinely good at something Citi buys, certified to prove your ownership, and visible to the people who do the buying. The certification opens the door. Your capability is what walks you through it.
If Citi is one target, it shouldn't be your only one. The same certification that qualifies you here qualifies you at dozens of other corporate programs with the same diverse-supplier requirements. Browse the corporate supplier diversity directory to find the programs that match your industry and certifications, and list your business in the supplier directory so corporate buyers searching for diverse vendors can find you. For the bigger picture on how these programs evaluate suppliers and what actually gets you selected, read our guide on getting into corporate supplier diversity programs.
