CONFERENCE DAY 1
Smart Procurement: The People. The Platform. The Purpose
- TUESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2026
- 08h00 to 17h00
08h00
OPENING OF CONFERENCE | Mzanzi Youth Choir
08h45
THE STORY | The Birth of Smart Procurement – 20 Years that Shaped a Profession
A storytelling session celebrating milestones, partnerships, and pioneers and celebrating the heros.
Editor, Smart Procurement
09h00
VOICES OF THE HEROES | From Battle Scars to Breakthroughs: Building World-Class Procurement
Rapid-Fire Presentations (3 minutes each)
In this high-energy segment, industry leaders share 3-minute snapshots of their journey to building world-class procurement organisations. Expect honest reflections on key challenges, defining milestones, and lessons learned across people, technology, enterprise development, and process.
Focus: What it took to get here, and what lies ahead.
Panel Discussion
Bringing the voices together, this panel unpacks the real stories behind the journey, from battle scars to breakthroughs. The discussion will explore what truly enables world-class procurement and how organisations can continue to evolve for the future.
Takeaway: World-class procurement is a continuous journey, driven by resilience, innovation, and the ability to turn challenges into opportunity.
CEO, Smart Procurement
BCX: Chief Procurement Officer, Telkom
Executive: Enterprise Development, Absa Group
Senior SCM Specialist, Vodacom Group
Head: Group Procurement, African Bank
Group Head Sourcing & Category Management, FNB
Director – Local Government SCM, Western Cape Government, Provincial Treasury
10h20
OPENING KEYNOTE | Can the Procurement of Innovation Become Mission Critical in Public Procurement in Southern Africa?
The spark behind many of humanities recent innovations did not come from the private sector. The drivers and enablers behind the internet, Apple, SpaceX and many more leading innovations was public procurement. We will explore the procurement of innovation. What is it? Why has Southern Africa not embraced it? What needs to change? Why legislation can be used to stimulate innovation, and why nothing is stopping us now?
Procurement Policy Expert, PPIR
11h00
PRESENTATION | Smart Procurement in the Branded Merchandise Industry
Brett Cohen, Managing Director, Promo One
Managing Director, Promo One
11h10
MID-MORNING BREAK
11h50
PRESENTATION | Under Pressure: Behavioural Strategies for High-Stakes Procurement Teams
In high-stakes procurement, pressure is not the enemy — it is uncertainty in motion, and as Erik frames it, adventure is simply uncertainty with better branding. This session equips procurement teams and their leaders with practical behavioural strategies to stay composed, align decision-making, and build trust under pressure — turning moments of risk into opportunities for disciplined, high-performance execution.
Behavioural Strategist, Ridgeline
12h20
PRESENTATION | Smart Procurement Today – Building Resilience, Relevance, and Results
AI acceleration. Rising sustainability pressure. Ongoing geopolitical volatility. New expectations of leadership, talent, and value creation.
But beyond the technology and external forces, this session places a deliberate focus on the human dimension of procurement, the leadership, adaptability, and capabilities required to navigate complexity and drive meaningful outcomes.
The question many leaders are asking now is simple: How do we design the function to thrive in this environment, rather than constantly reacting to it?
Supply Chain Management Expert, Programme Coordinator: MCom in Supply Chain, IMM Graduate School
12h40
FIRESIDE CHAT | New CPO Mandate: Lead with Autonomy, Not Templates
In a rapidly evolving environment, the role of the CPO is shifting, from enforcing compliance to designing intelligent, self-regulating systems. Static playbooks can no longer keep pace; autonomy is emerging as a critical advantage.
This panel explores how leaders are rethinking operating models, empowering teams, and embedding decision-making into systems that reduce manual intervention and accelerate impact, where success is increasingly measured by how effectively decisions happen without dependency.
Vice President for EMEA, Zycus
Head of Non Trade Procurement, Woolworths
Group Procurement Director, Tiger Brands
13h10
PANEL DISCUSSION | AI and Behavioral Science – It’s Place in Procurement
Managing Director, People Shop
Global Award-Winning Behavioural Scientist, Nudge Labs
Founder, Architech
Executive: Commercial Payments, Absa Group
Senior Vice President and Managing Director - South Africa, Wings
13h40
LUNCH BREAK
PUBLIC SECTOR SUPPLY CHAIN SUMMIT
Master of Ceremonies
14h30
PANEL DISCUSSION | Purpose-Led Procurement: Delivering Impact Where It Matters Most
In a world shaped by global uncertainty, supply chain disruption, and rising expectations around sustainability and ethics, procurement is being called to do more than deliver savings, it must deliver impact. This panel brings the conversation closer to home, exploring how purpose-led procurement can drive meaningful outcomes in local economies, communities, and service delivery.
The session will also highlight how aligning purpose with performance is not just aspirational, it is essential to building resilient, responsive, and impactful organisations.
Master of Ceremonies
General Manager: SCM Governance, Compliance and Performance Monitoring, Airports Company South Africa
Director Material Governance, Risk & Compliance
Executive Manager: Strategic Support Office of Group CPO, Transnet
Senior Manager : Procurement & Supply Chain Management, Eskom
Chief Executive Officer, Gautrain
15h20
PRESENTATION | Public Procurement Reform: Assessing Institutional Readiness for Execution
Recent reforms to the Public Procurement Legislative Framework aim to strengthen transparency, accountability, value for money, and service delivery across the public sector. However, public institutions remain at varying levels of readiness to implement these changes, facing challenges such as limited capacity, inadequate planning, weak contract management, and inconsistent compliance. This session explores the state of institutional preparedness and the practical steps required to successfully implement the new procurement framework and deliver on its intended outcomes.
Chief Director, National Treasury
15h50
PRESENTATION | Transparency and Ethics Remain the True Catalyst of Marker Movement
When Procurement goes wrong and dangerous, how can pracrioners be protected?
Lessons from other countries
Public Procurement Expert, Ntakha Consulting
16h30
CLOSING PRESENTATION | From Compliance to Innovation: The Transnet Digital Procurement Transformation Journey
The presentation will draw on Transnet’s digital procurement transformation journey, highlighting lessons learned in modernizing procurement within a large state-owned enterprise, driving innovation, strengthening governance, and delivering business value through technology.
GM: Supply Chain Digital Enablement, Transnet
Group Supply Chain Enablement Manager, Transnet
SUSTAINABILITY, CORPORATE SOURCING AND SUPPLY MANAGEMENT
Master of Ceremony
14h30
FIRESIDE CHAT | What Responsible Sourcing Really Looks Like: Running a Programme in the Real World
Responsible sourcing is often framed in policy terms, but in practice it’s highly operational. This session unpacks what it takes to run a sustainable sourcing programme, from supplier segmentation and standards to due diligence, monitoring, traceability, corrective action, governance, and accountability. It positions responsible sourcing not as a procurement task, but as an operating system requiring active management, clear ownership, and ongoing decision-making, with a focus on how it works in real business contexts.
Director, Sustainable Sourcing | Corporate Sustainability Advisory, SLR
Head of Sustainable Sourcing & Sourcing, NewForesight
15h00
PANEL DISCUSSION | From Supply Chains to Value Chains: Designing for Better Business Outcomes
This session moves beyond a narrow procurement lens to examine value chains holistically, focusing on where value, leverage, risk, dependency, and opportunity sit. It explores how sourcing and supplier systems can be designed around outcomes such as resilience, traceability, local value creation, labour performance, reduced environmental impact, and stronger market positioning. It also considers how export requirements, customer expectations, investor scrutiny, and demand for sustainable products are reshaping value chain expectations, with an emphasis on making these insights commercially practical and operationally relevant.
Associate Director, SLR
Sustanability Lead, Unitrans
Inclusive Procurement Principal, Kumba Iron Ore
Senior Specialist, Valttera Platinum
15h40
PANEL DISCUSSION | Credible Data, Better Decisions: Why Information Quality Shapes Sustainable Value Chains
Credible data underpins effective value-chain management. This session explores why reliable information is essential for designing better outcomes, demonstrating progress, meeting regulations, and making sound sourcing decisions. It covers data’s role in traceability, supplier risk identification, monitoring, programme design, intervention targeting, reporting, and commercial decision-making. It also addresses a common gap—strong commitments paired with weak data—and shows how better data quality turns themes like resilience, inclusion, and sustainability into measurable, defensible, and improvable actions.
Head of Sustainability, Alexander Forbes
Senior Manager- Sustainability Agribusiness, Standard Bank
CEO, AgrigateOne
Head of Procurement, MTN
17h00
Absa Networking Cocktail
