Strategic Procurement and Supplier Management
Move your buying function beyond order processing into a source of measurable commercial advantage.
- Next session
- 5 to 9 Oct 2026
- Venue
- Nairobi
- 5 day programme
- FromR18,000
90 programmes in purchasing and supply chain, available as public courses, online delivery or in-house training for your own team.
Showing 90 of 90 courses
Move your buying function beyond order processing into a source of measurable commercial advantage.
A practical programme for officials who must procure lawfully, defensibly and on time.
Value promised at signature is only realised through disciplined negotiation and active contract management.
Working capital tied up in slow moving stock is one of the quietest drains on South African operations.
Freight moving through Durban and City Deep rarely follows the plan. Road, rail and sea distribution...
Stockouts and overstocks usually trace back to a planning process that guesses rather than forecasts.
The purchase to pay cycle is where procurement policy meets accounts payable reality, and in many South African organisations it is riddled...
Category management shifts procurement from reactive order placing to structured, data led sourcing strategies for each area of spend.
Load shedding, port congestion, currency volatility and single source suppliers all expose African supply chains to disruption.
South African and regional importers and exporters must navigate SARS customs procedures, rules of origin...
Buyers are under growing pressure from customers, regulators and investors to prove that their supply base is ethical and environmentally...
Many procurement teams cannot answer a simple question, how much are we actually spending with each supplier and category.
Confusion over Incoterms rules is one of the most common causes of disputed freight costs...
Transport is often the single largest controllable cost in a Southern African supply chain, driven by fuel prices, toll fees...
Poorly structured tenders lead to disputes, appeals and awards that fail to deliver value for money...
Supply chain decisions are only as good as the data behind them, yet many South African organisations still rely on outdated spreadsheets...
Procurement remains one of the highest risk functions for fraud, collusion and conflicts of interest in both public and private sector...
Many organisations select suppliers carefully but then fail to track how they actually perform once the contract begins.
Getting the right materials to the production line at the right time without excess stock requires disciplined planning, not guesswork.
E procurement platforms, supplier portals and basic automation tools are changing how South African procurement and supply chain teams...
Warehouses and distribution centres are the physical heartbeat of any supply chain, yet in many South African operations they run on habit...
Moving fresh produce, dairy, meat, pharmaceuticals and frozen goods demands unbroken temperature control from source to shelf.
Once a contract is signed the real work of extracting value begins, and this is where supplier relationship management earns its place.
Lean thinking strips waste, waiting and excess inventory out of the supply chain so that goods flow only when they are needed.
Sales and operations planning brings commercial, supply and finance teams around a single agreed plan...
Enterprise and supplier development is both a transformation imperative and a genuine supply chain opportunity for South African...
The flow of goods back up the supply chain, through returns, repairs, recalls and recycling...
For any organisation moving goods across borders, freight forwarding and shipping operations sit at the crossroads of cost...
Well run stores keep operations supplied without tying up cash in surplus or losing production to stockouts.
Moving procurement onto digital platforms promises faster cycles, tighter control and richer data...
Buyers across African organisations too often award on the lowest quoted price, only to be caught later by maintenance, downtime...
Deciding whether to produce in house, outsource or import is one of the most consequential choices an African business makes, shaping cost...
Sourcing from Asia and other regions can cut unit costs sharply, but African buyers frequently underestimate lead times...
Buying consulting, cleaning, security, IT and professional services is very different from buying goods...
Procuring plant, machinery and equipment for major projects involves long lead times, large sums and complex technical specifications where...
Preferential procurement is central to transformation and scorecard performance for South African organisations...
Duplicate vendors, banking detail fraud and incomplete supplier records quietly undermine procurement across many African organisations.
Without a clear policy and documented procedures, procurement decisions become inconsistent and hard to audit...
Procurement adds the most value when it is invited early into decisions, yet many African procurement teams are seen as a purchasing back...
When a supplier quotes a price, buyers who understand what it should cost to produce negotiate from a position of genuine strength.
Setting stock levels by guesswork leaves African operations either starved of critical items or drowning in working capital tied up in slow...
When shipments disappear into a black box between supplier and warehouse, African supply chains cannot respond to delays until it is too...
Customers and regulators increasingly expect African distributors to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of moving goods...
Handing transport and warehousing to a third party logistics provider can free capital and sharpen focus...
Automation promises faster, more accurate warehousing, but African distribution centres must weigh the investment against labour costs...
Congestion, demurrage and unexpected charges at regional ports quietly erode the margins of African importers who do not understand how...
Swings in the price of fuel, steel, grain and other commodities can wreck budgets for African organisations that buy in volume.
As procurement grows more strategic, African organisations face a shortage of buyers with the mix of commercial...
Where an African business places its warehouses and how it links them to customers shapes service levels and cost for years to come.
Spare parts supply chains behave differently from finished goods, with erratic demand...
Many procurement disputes across African organisations trace back to loosely worded contracts and boilerplate terms that nobody tailored to...
Framework agreements let African organisations lock in pricing and terms once, then draw down repeatedly through call off orders...
Signing the contract is where the work begins, yet many African organisations file the agreement and never actively manage delivery against...
The long tail of small, one off purchases often accounts for a large share of suppliers and transactions while receiving almost no...
Procurement teams across Africa are increasingly asked to prove the value they deliver...
Visiting and auditing suppliers is one of the most powerful ways for African buyers to verify capability...
Governments across the continent increasingly attach local content, localisation and industrialisation conditions to major contracts...
As African organisations grow, many find their procurement function stuck in a transactional...
Bonded and customs warehouses let African importers defer duties and hold goods under customs control...
Demurrage and detention charges quietly drain the budgets of African importers and exporters whenever containers sit too long at ports or...
The reliability of inbound deliveries shapes production schedules, stock levels and customer promises...
Sourcing direct materials for a factory is a different discipline from buying indirect goods...
Inaccurate stock records cause phantom shortages, emergency buying and painful year end write offs across African warehouses and stores.
The African Continental Free Trade Area and the regional economic communities are reshaping how goods move and where organisations can...
Getting deliveries to customers on time and at the lowest cost depends on smart route planning...
Labour is the largest controllable cost in most African warehouses, yet shifts are often staffed by guesswork and productivity is rarely...
When large supply and works contracts fail, the difference between recovery and loss often comes down to the bonds...
Cross docking moves goods straight from inbound to outbound with little or no storage, cutting handling and speeding delivery...
Floods, breakdowns, stockouts and disasters force African organisations into urgent buying where the normal process cannot keep pace...
Forklifts, reach trucks and other materials handling equipment are the workhorses of African warehouses, and how they are selected...
Too many African buyers walk into supplier meetings without a plan and leave value on the table.
Fuel and electricity are among the largest and most volatile costs facing African fleets, plants and mines...
Technology spend is growing fast across African organisations, yet many buyers struggle with licensing models...
Purchasing cards can slash the cost of processing small purchases, but without discipline they become a fraud and reconciliation headache.
Inclusive sourcing is both a transformation imperative and a resilience strategy for African organisations that want a broader...
Vendor managed inventory and consignment arrangements can free up working capital and cut stockouts...
Getting medicines and medical supplies to African patients demands a supply chain that protects quality, manages expiry and never runs dry.
When floods, drought or displacement strike across the continent, relief supply chains decide who receives help and how fast.
For African retailers, the difference between full shelves and lost sales comes down to disciplined merchandise planning.
Where you place stock inside a warehouse quietly determines picking speed, labour cost and how much you can store.
Online retail is booming across African cities, and the last mile is where margins are won or lost.
Investors, customers and regulators increasingly ask African organisations to account for the emissions in their supply chains...
A warehouse management system can transform accuracy and productivity, or it can become an expensive disappointment if poorly chosen and...
Manual stock records drift out of accuracy the moment they are written, which is why automatic identification underpins any serious...
Misclassifying goods or misdeclaring value can trigger penalties, delays and overpaid duty for African importers.
Mining procurement operates under intense pressure, where a delayed critical spare can halt production worth millions a day.
Healthcare procurement must safeguard patient outcomes while stretching tight budgets across public and private facilities.
Outsourcing production to contract manufacturers can cut cost and add capacity, but it also hands quality and continuity to a third party.
Municipal supply chain officials operate under intense scrutiny, where a procedural slip can become an audit finding or irregular...
Africa loses a large share of harvested grain to poor storage, pests and handling losses before it ever reaches market.