“Being black or a woman does not entitle you to 5% of a company’s procurement expenditure,” said Sisa Ntshona, Head of Enterprise Development (ED) at Absa, during an ED discussion at the 2012 Smart Procurement World Conference. “It still requires hard work. I miss entrepreneurial flair”.
Ntshona added that developing customers is a big challenge that entrepreneurs are not always aware of, especially when shifting from supplying the public sector to supplying the private sector. “They must not underestimate the challenges that lie ahead after they receive finance.”
Conversely, from the point of view of a large company seeking enterprises to build, he advised that quality is better than quantity – the right business to work with, one with growth potential, and that is innovative and sustainable.
During the panel discussion, small enterprise exhibitor Basadi Underground Contractors’ MD Zanele Matome expressed her gratitude to enterprise development initiatives. “We need SMMEs to be involved in core procurement opportunities. Please, keep them coming.”
Meanwhile, Smart Procurement World’s procurement and supply chain conference and exhibition attracted more than 1 300 attendees in November. “The exhibition grew by 300% compared with the 2011 event,” organiser Debbie Tagg told SmartProcurement.
Conference delegates had the opportunity to attend presentations by 90 senior procurement and buying professionals with a mandate to reduce costs, increase BEE points and implement supply quality standards.
View a short newsletter released on the second day of the conference: SPW2012Newsletter.pdf
“The conference presented great networking opportunities and I appreciated the [Enterprise Development Expo] initiative to support the growth of SMMEs… I felt that the conference topics covered 70% of content applicable to my environment,” said Rob Kaletsch, Category Manager: Logistics, Mondi Limited.
The second day of the conference hosted 60 senior level executives at the SAP CPO breakfast where 20-year Supply Chain and Procurement veteran Rolf Weiland, Vice President, LOB Procurement Solutions, SAP AG, Germany, presented an interactive session on ‘The Networked Business in Procurement’ on behalf of SAP.
Topics from the 4th Annual Public Sector Supply Chain Summit included:
- Raising awareness around irregularities in procurement and Supply Chain Management.
- Ensuring successful corporate governance in procurement and Supply Chain Management in the context of risk management (King 3), PPPFA and environmental policies.
- Exploring the symbiotic relationship between procurement and enterprise development.
- Preferential Procurement as a driver for ‘Creating new industries’.
- What must we do to achieve and sustain excellence in public sector supply chain management?
- Strategic Sourcing and Supplier Development in State-Owned Companies.
- An overview of the newly released B-BBEE codes – new act, new codes and new challenges.
- Positive tender procedure – achieving transparency and probity in your tender process.
Topics from the 6th Smart Sourcing and Supply Management Conference included:
- Procurement and executive level alignment – how procurement is becoming a strategic advisor to internal stakeholders.
- How business incubation can effectively enhance enterprise development and preferential procurement.
- How to mitigate procurement risk and put effective strategies and procedures in place.
- Solutions & Technology for Sourcing Optimisation – picturing your supply and demand forecasting data.
- Cost management in the supply chain.
- Creating value through enhanced contract management – how to improve your procedures and ensure optimised procurement and contracts.
“Thank you so much for a job well done. Excellent conference,” said Peace Lindile Ntuli, LEAD: Enterprise Development Manager, De Beers Zimele, De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited.
“…the overall quality of speakers was very good,” said Arthur Betts, Principal Specialist SC: Input Materials, Sasol Group Services (Pty) Ltd.
