Procurement Leaders

Procurement − and chief procurement officers (CPOs) in particular − need to become more proficient and comfortable with broader business concerns. It is no longer enough to focus just on your own sphere of business.

"Business acumen is key for a CPO, as is financial acumen", says Vusi Fele (MCIPS), CPO, Absa.

Apart from unpacking the above, Fele also shares his personal 'wish list' for CPO capabilities with SmartProcurement.

How and when did procurement and supply become your passion and career choice?
I have not always considered procurement as a career path. I was initially inspired by scientific and technical jobs: I dreamed about becoming a chemist or a jet pilot. But my professional life developed differently. I started a commercial apprenticeship at a mid-size company based in Germany and one day several emergencies arose in the procurement department. I was asked to join the supply management team and that was the starting point of my successful career in the discipline that became a lifelong passion.

Making progress on society's biggest problems requires governments to make better use of data, involve citizens and collaborate with other sectors.

Procurement is constantly under threat. We always fight for recognition and access to full business spend. And, at the very time when we achieve acknowledgement for our contribution and procurement is widely understood, our function becomes a target.

For decades we have provided supply chain transformation projects, led group-wide savings programmes as well as developed risk and budget control policies and governance.

Yet, unlike other shared-service functions who are accepted as core business functions, we are tolerated as long as we deliver new benefits, yet challenged on our business results and KPIs. Our budgets become leaner with never-enough resources to achieve our goals. Once our skills are understood by the business, it wants to commoditise and outsource them to a systems-led provider or an inexperienced team of 'worker bees'.

Therefore, with this background of change and uncertainty, it is good to reflect upon and be upbeat about where strategic procurement leaders can contribute to society and to business, writes Stephen Wills (FCIPS, MBA), international senior procurement and supply chain expert, and former CPO in public and private business sectors (UK), in this month's SmartProcurement.

Commerce Edge South Africa has announced the appointment of Ronald Mlalazi (FCIPS) as their new Managing Director.

He succeeds Bernie van Niekerk, who, after 18 years leading the business, will now focus on Commerce Edge's international business expansion.

Mlalazi joins Commerce Edge's team of country heads from Australia, Africa outside of SA, and soon-to-be-established USA.

This month SmartProcurement profiles Prof. Marcus Ambe, from the University of South Africa, Unisa.

Full name: Prof. Marcus Ambe

Position: Chairperson of the Tender Committee (Other Projects) at Unisa;
Chairperson of the Supply Chain Management Research Group, Unisa;
Chairperson of the implementation committee for Enterprise and Supplier Development Programme, Unisa;
Professor in Supply Chain Management, Unisa School of Public and Operations Management;
Deputy Chairperson: Technical Standards and Competencies for the interim Supply Chain Management Council, SA

Your organisation's procurement expenditure: R2-billion

Who does P & SM report to: Chief Finance Officer (CFO)

This month SmartProcurement profiles Mark Kuipers, Chief Director: Capacity Building, National Treasury and Chairman of the SCM Council.

The SCM Council seeks to professionalise supply chain management (SCM) within South Africa - making it a discipline governed by national SCM norms, standards and principles. The Council engages with SCM stakeholders to unpack leading practices and strategies that can be used to qualify SCM practitioners in the country.

Currently an 'Interim SCM Council', it was launched as a collaborative effort between National Treasury's Chief Directorate: Capacity Building, within the Office of the Accountant-General (OAG), and the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO). A fully-fledged SCM Council will be established in terms of the Public Procurement Bill as soon as it is enacted.

Matthias Gutzmann recently came across a quote from Fabian Ziegler, the CPO for Shell, at this year's World Procurement Congress in London who said, "Procurement is a relationship business." An article by Steve Kiefer, GM's purchasing chief, called "Relationships Matter" echoes this sentiment.

Fabian's quote is especially resonant because building business relationships - both internally and externally - is so critical to procurement's business success, today and in the future. Sure, other functions also require strong relationship-building skills, but as procurement's definition of value is evolving from "savings only" to "value beyond savings," these (soft) skills are paramount for procurement to deliver on this new promise.

Given the relevance of this topic, Gutzmann, the Vice President of Old Street Labs (the creators of Vizibl - a platform that links buyers and sellers to aid supplier management and collaboration) wanted to explore further and reached out to his fellow CPO friends to see how they improve relationships with their business partners.

Here is what they said:

This month SmartProcurement profiles Ntokozo Zondi, Head: Group Procurement at Orion Engineered Carbons.

Full name: Ntokozo Zondi

Position: Head: Group Procurement

Your organisation's procurement expenditure: R750-million a year (South Africa only)

Who does P & SM report to? Global Supply Chain VP (Frankfurt, Germany, EU)

Ntokozo will be speaking at Smart Procurement World's Western Cape Conference in May 2018

This month SmartProcurement profiles Mogamad Rafique Jassiem from the Oceana Group.

Full name: Mogamad Rafique Jassiem

Position: Executive: Group Procurement

Your organisation's procurement expenditure: Approximately R5-billion p/annum

Who does P & SM report to: The CFO, who is currently also our acting CEO

This month SmartProcurement profiles Yogan Naidu, from Woolworths.

Full name: Yogan Naidu

Position: Head of Procurement

Your organisation's procurement expenditure: A lot!

Who does P&SM report to: Group Finance Director

This month SmartProcurement profiles Sese Chasakara, Chief Procurement Officer at the South African Reserve Bank

Full name: Sese Chasakara

Position: Chief Procurement Officer

Your organisation’s procurement expenditure: Sizable

Who does P & SM report to: Group CFO

Hear from Sese Chasakara at the Smart Procurement World Conference in September. He will be a panellist on the discussion around Why the C-suite needs CPOs to become strategic thinkers.

CPO of VSP Global Greg Tennyson leads transformative change. He is the former VP and CPO (source-to-settle and expense-to-settle) at Salesforce and Oracle.

Greg sat down with ScoutRFP to discuss sourcing’s ever-evolving relationship with business - he talks culture, Moolah (the spend-it-like-its-yours monster) and how CPOs can work with the pace of change at an organisation to reach sourcing-stakeholder “utopia.”

This month SmartProcurement profiles Nombuso Angel Msomi, from King Shaka International Airport

Full name: Nombuso Angel Msomi

Position: Supply Chain Manager – King Shaka International Airports

Your organisation’s procurement expenditure: R250 million per annum

Who does P & SM report to: General Manager of King Shaka International Airport

This month, SmartProcurement profiles Abdul Majid Mahomed from CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply)

Full name: Abdul Majid Mahomed

Position: Head of Professional Body CIPS

Who does the Professional Body report to: Amanda O’ Brien, Group Professional Standards & Regulation Director

This month, SmartProcurement profiles Clement Nhuvunga, from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU)

Full name: Clement Nhuvunga

Position: Head of Supply Chain Management

Your organisation’s procurement expenditure: Substantial

Who does P & SM report to: Chief Financial Officer
 

This January SmartProcurement profiles Hugo du Rand, from Scaw Metals.

Full name: Hugo du Rand

Position: Head of Group Supply Chain

Your organisation’s procurement expenditure: A few billion rand

Who does P & SM report to: Executive Head of Professional Services