On the Journey to Growth

Let’s go back in time. It’s 2013, and people everywhere are trying to decide if they should buy bitcoin. They’re not the only confused subset of the population. So too are entrepreneurs, around the world, facing a daunting question: ‘How do I get a meeting with Walmart?’

There were ways – but they weren’t necessarily obvious to suppliers outside the ecosystem.

Walmart’s Jason Fremstad, senior vice president of supplier development, saw room to grow. “It was then that we knew: To get more suppliers, we’d need to develop an open-door mentality.”

A Door to Open Call Opens

Unlike in some stories, there wasn’t a gulf between the eureka moment and its implementation. The concept is simple: Any supplier can apply, they need to bring a U.S.-made product, then pitch it to merchants for a chance to sell at Walmart. And thus, Open Call was born.

Since its inception, the concept has proven popular.

In the last 12 years, Walmart has created more than 9,000 unique opportunities for suppliers to pitch their products to merchants. Hundreds of Golden Tickets have been given out, each one a passport to growth, a way for suppliers to find their way to our shelves.

This alone would be a happy ending, were that the whole story. In March of 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic upended everything. And Walmart was not immune. Leaders saw an opportunity in Open Call, but it came with a question: How do we turn this into a capability?

In other words, how do we take a flagship event and turn it into something we can replicate, grow and use to create opportunity? How do you teach someone to fish, instead of just handing them one?

As we’ve seen before, the answer to this question was sought abroad.

In Walmart’s Markets, Growth Summits Prove What Works

To grow Open Call into something even greater, organizers had to write the book on how to host the world’s foremost sourcing event, including an index for what to do next – and then they had to test it. Fortunately for Walmart, we’re International.

“We wanted to take the Open Call playbook and share it with our international market teams, really let them run it,” Fremstad said. “So, we went first to Mexico. But it was important to us that the construct remain the same: This event takes place in the market, for the market. It’s going to open the doors to suppliers who are growing, making or assembling their goods on Mexican soil. Instead of Open Call, it’s a Growth Summit.”

The Growth Summits represent a unique opportunity to align on a shared vision: making life better for people, whether that’s the customers we serve or the small businesses and entrepreneurs we help grow.

“Our vision was to replicate the success of U.S. Open Call in Mexico and Central America, with two main objectives,” said Marco Vigato, who leads supplier development for Walmart Mexico and Central America. “The first is the commercial aspect, where we identify new potential suppliers to add assortment for our customers. But the second is the reputational component, which is part of our commitment to our country, to the communities we serve, that we operate alongside our government affairs teams, partner NGOs and local government to drive local supplier growth – and with it, our reputation.”

It’s a clever move because it points to a fundamental truth about Walmart International’s operations: we don’t go places to extract value, we go places to add it.

Mexico and Central America hold proof. The 2025 edition of the Walmart Growth Summit in Mexico marked its third annual outing and saw more than 250 golden tickets given out. And in Central America, at its first-ever Growth Summit in July 2025, Guatemalan President Bernando Arevalo was in attendance.

But these markets aren’t alone as examples of incredible success. In 2025, we marked another milestone: We celebrated a growth summit in almost every market where Walmart operates internationally. This is a big deal because, on each occasion, the proof points to positives.  

2025 marked the inaugural year for summits in three International markets: Canada, Africa and Central America – the only Growth Summit to host pitch meetings in multiple countries simultaneously. In each, progress. Canada underlined the potential for partnership between the enterprise and government, as Ontario Premier Doug Ford joined the kickoff ceremonies. In Africa, 12 countries were represented, a collective incentive to create economic opportunity for small businesses and entrepreneurs across a sizeable swathe of the continent.  

Chile held its second Growth Summit in November, further cementing its role as an innovation hub for Walmart International and the enterprise as a whole. There were 75 Golden Tickets extended, and more than three quarters of those recipients (85%) qualified as small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  

“This event is a platform for companies to scale their businesses, access new channels, and strengthen their presence,” said Alejandro Konig, a commercial manager in Walmart Chile. “We believe in local talent, and we want to be a growth engine for the country’s SMEs.” 

Ticket in hand? Time to Get Going.

When the adrenaline and joy of a winning pitch finally wane, suppliers face a new question: Now what?  

Fortunately, an answer exists. Walmart has designed and built a training platform called Supplier Academy. It exists to help sellers and suppliers learn the ins and outs of working with Walmart.   

Cat Wiggen is the director of supplier education for Walmart. She says the Supplier Academy is all about access. Another door thrown open.  

“Through Supplier Academy, we’re taking the Walmart purpose global,” Wiggen said. “We’re helping suppliers through free educational resources that most small businesses would typically have to pay for. With Supplier Academy, our suppliers get guided learning designed to help them grow and operate with confidence. We’re making it easier than it has ever been to do business with Walmart.” 

And while “doing business with Walmart” is the goal, it’s not essential. Supplier Academy is a free resource, available to anyone with the drive to learn and grow in retail. 

At its core, that’s what every single one of these efforts is about: Making success possible for entrepreneurs, worldwide, whose businesses began with a dream. Gone are the days when those dreams languish in garages, or half-written proposals. They’re somewhere else now: online and on the shelves at your local Walmart.   

“We’re becoming the retailer trusted around the world, to offer opportunity,” Fremstad said. “When we invest in suppliers, in local economies, and in this company, we’re investing in the future. We’re investing in our shared journey for growth.”