Workshops

Workshop 1

Creating Buy-In For Sustainable Procurement

Launching or accelerating sustainable procurement practices is a challenge for even the most visionary and passionate of organisations. Through case studies, this session aims to support procurement practitioners in developing and presenting the business case for responsible sourcing and buying practices and to guide stakeholder engagement.

Christelle Marais, Senior Manager, IQ Business, South Africa

Elyse Douglas, Senior Scholar, NYU Stern Centre for Sustainable Business, USA

Louise Nicholls, Managing Director, SusEco, UK

Bonte Edwards, Manager, Environmental Management & Sustainability, JG Africa, South Africa

Manav Sachdeva, Associate Partner, Letsema, South Africa

Implementing Sustainable Procurement

Sustainable Procurement requires buying organisations to consider social and environmental factors alongside financial considerations when making buying and sourcing decisions. This session will support procurement practitioners to identify and implement relevant sustainability within their strategy, supplier engagements and day-to-day operations.

Christelle Marais, Senior Manager, IQ Business, South Africa

Manav Sachdeva, Associate Partner, Letsema, South Africa

Jayde Alexander, Senior Consultant, Lestema, South Africa

Workshop 2

Our Journey Towards Sustainable Procurement

The facts are clear. We are living beyond the planetary boundaries and all businesses have one big decision to make; Will they drive the topic of Sustainability with urgency and priority, or will they play defensive and try to get away with minimum effort.

This session will outline some the experiences that Bayer has made over the last 20 years and provide practical solutions for companies and individuals who are growing impatient, and increasingly concerned about the successful delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Procurement is extremely powerful and well positioned to drive a positive change across the World’s Supply Chains. This requires personal leadership and a strong sense of responsibility. This session aims to convince the participants to take action – today!

Thomas Udesen, Chief Procurement Officer, Bayer and Co-Founder, The Sustainable Procurement Pledge, Germany

Integrating Sustainability Priorities Into the Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) Process

In this session, we will review a contemporary approach to SRM that links corporate objectives to the strategic and operational aspects of SRM. The process spans decision and action areas ranging from supplier selection, relationship management, performance evaluation, and gainsharing. We will explore how conventional approaches must adapt to integrate triple-bottom-line thinking that elevates mutual value creation while effectively managing risks.

Prof Thomas Goldsby, Haslam Chair of Logistics, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Business Logistics, Department of Supply Chain Management, University of Tennessee, USA