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
Leaders Forum
Invite Only
- Wednesday, 16 SEPTEMBER 2026
- 07h00 to 08h25
07h05
OPENING | Welcome by Breakfast Sponsor
Executive: Commercial Issuing, Absa Group
07h15
PANEL DISCUSSION | Turning Supplier Payments into a Strategic Advantage
Presenter, Carte Blanche
Executive: Commercial Issuing, Absa Group
Senior Vice President, Customer Solutions Center Lead, Africa, Mastercard
Chief Executive Officer, Topmed Healthcare Distributors
07h40
Round Tables
Roundable 1: Empowering Procurement Decisions Through Advanced Payment Solutions
Senior B2B Lead Acquisition, Absa Group
Commercialisation Manager : Commercial Issuing, Absa Group
Roundtable 2 : The Spark, The Middle, and The Finish: AI as the Execution Engine.
Regional Vice President, Sub Saharan Africa, Coupa Software
Roundtable 3: Beyond the Algorithm: Leading with Human-in-the-Loop Procurement
Supply Chain and Operations Lead, Accenture Strategy and Consulting
Roundtable 4: What Would Rassie Do? Benchmarking Procurement for World-Class Performance
Managing Director, Oxalys
Roundtable 5: What Happens When AI Becomes Your Best Category Manager?
Director: Smart Manufacturing & Industry MEA, NTT DATA
Roundtable 6 : Trust & Integrity: Building Trust That Enables Supplier Collaboration
Editor, Smart Procurement
Roundable 7: Value Beyond Savings: moving from “we save money” to “we drive business performance”
Procurement Leader, PWC
Roundtable 8: Sustainability Data: From Measurement to Financial Impact
Associate Director, SLR
Roundtable 9: The Spark, The Middle, and The Finish: AI as the Execution Engine
Managing Director: Africa, Cogniviti Labs
Roundtable 10: Can Your Procurement Team See the Next Disruption Before It Happens?
Director, NTT DATA
Roundtable 11: Unlocking the Strategic Value of Public Procurement Analytics
System Manager – Supply Chain Systems and Data, Transnet
Data Manager, Transnet
Roundtable 12: Empowering Procurement Decisions Through Advanced Payment Solutions
Payment Specialist- B2B Lead Acquisition, Absa Group
Director Regional Head B2B Acceptance Africa, Mastercard
Conference Day 2
Smart Procurement: The People. The Platform. The Purpose.
Innovation, Influence, Impact
- WEDNESDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2026
- 08h30 to 15h40
09h20
OPENING KEYNOTE: Smart Procurement for Africa – The Continental Playbook
As Africa accelerates its integration agenda, procurement is playing a pivotal role in shaping more connected, resilient, and competitive supply chains. This keynote explores how regional collaboration, trade frameworks, and policy alignment are influencing procurement strategies and unlocking new opportunities across the continent.
From enabling intra-African trade to strengthening local value chains, the session will highlight how organisations can navigate complexity and leverage continental scale—reinforcing that a coordinated, Africa-focused procurement approach is essential to driving sustainable growth and building a truly competitive economy.
Secretary General, ASCON
President, African Supply Chain Confederation
09h50
KEYNOTE PANEL | Discussion by the banks: Markets in Motion: The Investor’s View on Procurement and Economic Growth
In an era of shifting markets, constrained capital, and heightened regulatory scrutiny, banks are uniquely positioned at the intersection of procurement, investment, and economic development.
This keynote panel brings together leading voices from the banking sector to unpack how procurement decisions are increasingly shaping investment outcomes, risk profiles, and long-term value creation across Africa.
The discussion will explore how financial institutions are leveraging procurement insights to inform capital allocation, unlock new growth corridors, and support sustainable economic expansion.
Takeaway: Procurement is no longer a back-office function — it is a catalyst for investment, a driver of competitive advantage, and a powerful force in accelerating national and continental
growth.
Regional Vice President, Sub Saharan Africa, Coupa Software
Senior Trade Finance Transactor, Standard Bank
Senior Economist and Head of South Africa Macroeconomics Research. Absa Group
Divisional Executive of Trade, Nedbank CIB
10h35
Sponsored by Next-Gen: RAPID-FIRE REFLECTIONS | Next-Gen Procurement Talent – The Future is You(th)
In a rapidly evolving landscape, the future of procurement will be shaped by those entering the profession today. This session gives the stage to young professionals and students to share bold, forward-thinking ideas on what procurement could, and should, look like in 2045.
Through a series of short pitches, participants will present fresh perspectives on technology, sustainability, enterprise development, and new ways of working. Unconstrained by legacy thinking,
these future leaders will challenge conventional models and offer innovative solutions to tomorrow’s challenges.
Managing Partner, Talanta Consultancy Services
Procurement Officer, Tsebo
Comodity Buyer, Weir Minerals
Sourcing: Category Manager, African Bank
What will procurement look like in 2045, and what must today's leaders start doing now to prepare for that future?
11h05
SUCCESS SHOWCASE | From Assembly to Opportunity: The ESD Success Stories Every Practitioner Should Know
South Africa has seen powerful examples of how localisation, supplier development and ESD can move beyond policy and compliance to create real economic opportunity. This showcase brings together success stories that demonstrate what is possible when organisations deliberately invest in local content, build supplier capability, open markets to SMEs, and create meaningful opportunities for women and youth.
From growing local supply chains to strengthening SME participation and building future competitiveness, delegates will explore the approaches, partnerships and decisions that made these initiatives successful. Most importantly, they will walk away with practical lessons and proven approaches they can apply to their own ESD, localisation and supplier development strategies.
Founder & COO, KAI Connect
Chief Operating Officer - Corporate Funds Management, Absa Group
Chief Executive Officer, TMP Africa
Managing Director, Jalusi Tech
Head of Transformation and Corporate Investment, BMW Group
11h45
MID-MORNING BREAK
PUBLIC SECTOR SUPPLY CHAIN SUMMIT
Presenter, Carte Blanche
12h30
TREASURY LEADERS DIALOGUE | Public Procurement Reform: Readiness, Leadership and Delivery
South Africa’s procurement landscape is undergoing unprecedented change. Treasury leaders discuss institutional preparedness, regulatory developments, capability requirements, digital enablement, and the leadership needed to ensure reforms translates into improved service delivery. A stronger governance approach, procurement strategies that enable transformation and contribute to the local economy and most of all, greater public value.
President, African Supply Chain Confederation
Chief Director: Transversal Internal Audit Risk & Forensic Man Ser, Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury
Chief Director, Limpopo Provincial Treasury
Director: Municipal Supply Chain Management, Gauteng Provincial Treasury
Deputy Director General: Governance and Asset Management
Chief Director, Free State Provincial Treasury
Director Strategic Procurement (Government Travel Services), National Treasury
CORPORATE SOURCING AND SUPPLY MANAGEMENT
Master of Ceremony
12h30
50 min: PANEL | Bought the System. Now What?
Organisations continue to invest heavily in procurement technology, yet adoption rates often tell a different story. Why do employees revert to old habits? What costs are hidden behind low utilisation? And what does the next generation of digital procurement look like? Join this candid discussion as industry leaders unpack the realities of digital transformation, collaborative procurement platforms, and the practical steps needed to turn technology investments into measurable results.
Director, NBH Capital
Supply Chain and Operations Principal Director, Accenture
Global Procurement Lead – Contract Manufacturing, Governance & Capability, PepsiCo
Managing Director, Oxalys
VP IM Enterprise Architecture and Business Enablement. Sasol
13h20
PRESENTATION | Future Intelligence: Why AI Without Communication Intelligence Never Lands
AI doesn’t fail because of the technology—it fails at the human layer. Deon Basson explores why communication intelligence is critical to turning AI ambition into real-world adoption. Using the powerful formula FI = CI × AI, he shows leaders how clear, intentional communication can reduce resistance, align people with technology, and turn AI from an invisible asset into a visible, actionable force for transformation.
Leadership Strategist, Founder, reCInate
13h50
LUNCH BREAK
14h40
THE FINAL WORD | The Titans of Spend
Before the curtain falls on the 20th Smart Procurement World Indaba, take your seat for the conversation everyone will be talking about. The executives behind South Africa’s largest procurement budgets take the stage for one exclusive, no-holds-barred discussion. From billion-rand buying decisions and supplier development to AI, resilience and economic growth, this is your final opportunity to hear what matters most from the leaders shaping the future of procurement.
CEO, Smart Procurement
Head of Procurement, Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa
VP: Procurement, AECI
Head Of Procurement, Afrimat
Head of Supply Chain, Valterra Platinum
Head of Procurement, MTN
Supply Chain Vice President, Sasol
15h40
CLOSE OF CONFERENCE