Poelano Nkombua is a seasoned procurement and supply chain leader with a track record of leading complex, multi-billion-rand procurement portfolios across telecommunications, financial services and business services.
She currently serves as Head of Procurement at MTN, where she leads procurement for MTN Group Management Services and is part of MTN’s Global Sourcing and Supply Chain (GSSC) organisation. Her experience spans multi-billion-rand procurement portfolios across Technology, Corporate & Professional Services, and Facilities, with a strong focus on strategic sourcing, commercial value creation, governance, and the localisation and execution of global procurement strategies.
Throughout her career, Poelano has been passionate about repositioning procurement as a strategic business partner capable of enabling innovation, strengthening supplier ecosystems and creating sustainable organisational and economic value. She has a particular interest in the evolving role of AI and digitalisation in procurement, and how technology and credible data can enable better decision-making, greater agility and more resilient, sustainable value chains.
Poelano holds a Master’s in Supply Chain Management from the University of Pretoria, is a Professional Scrum Master (PSM I) and an alumna of the MTN Female Rising Leaders Programme. She brings to the Credible Data, Better Decisions conversation a procurement practitioner’s perspective on the importance of trusted information in making sound commercial decisions, understanding supplier risk and performance, and translating procurement data into sustainable business value.
