The 6th Annual Western Cape Smart Procurement World conference will address a number of thorny issues around procurement. Perhaps the most controversial of these is recovering from state capture. The conference will deal with ways that procurement professionals can drive a constitutional mandate and operate with freedom from external influences.
Debbie Tagg, COO for Commerce Edge, the organisers of the conference, says that procurement remains firmly under the microscope, so it is incumbent upon practitioners to position themselves and their market sector to protect and strengthen core institutions from the influences of state capture in South Africa.
“Like any other country, South Africa has policies that look good on paper, but in the trenches practitioners are frustrated. Policy implementation and rollout in order to achieve the desired effect of efficient service delivery, public value and make organisations more citizen-centric is still a nightmare for many practitioners. The conference will allow delegates to learn about first-hand experiences around the challenges and lessons learnt on how not to go about it,” Tagg points out.
Being held at GrandWest Cape Town from 9 to 10 April 2019, the conference has attracted a number of high-profile speakers that include Karyn Maughan, an award-winning investigative journalist and SA’s top legal journalist; James Brent Styan, Author: Steinhoff inside SA’s biggest corporate crash; Nika Soon-Shiong, International Policy, Office of the President, World Bank; Stephen Wills (FCIPS MBA), International Senior Procurement & Supply Chain expert, Former CPO in Public & Private Business Sectors (United Kingdom); and Ian Russell, Founder, Disrupting Consultancy Pty, ex-CEO BCX Pty, formerly the CPO of Telkom, SABMiller and Absa.
“Another focal point of the conference is how South Africa can build a future where the economy is expanding, communities are thriving, small businesses are growing and more people are employed through innovative entrepreneurship. How can procurement, finance and executive work together to drive meaningful enterprise and supplier development (ESD) in their organisation?” says Tagg.
The event is supported annually by the City of Cape Town and Western Provincial Treasury and event hosts and partners include Sun International/GrandWest Cape Town, DTI Black Industrialists Programme, PPECB, BBF Safety, Commerce Edge South Africa, Department of Economic Development and Tourism.
Running alongside the conference is the Enterprise and Supplier Development Expo, an interactive showcase that allows the participating 150 black-owned SMMEs to fast track their organisations through the focus on local economic development.
- For more information on the Western Cape conference and the upcoming series of Smart Procurement World events for 2019, please visit the website at: www.smartprocurementworld.com
