The 12th Annual Smart Procurement World conference and exhibition took place in Midrand from 17 – 19 September 2018. Under the theme ‘Innovation that Transforms’, the aim of the event is to encourage and support procurement professionals in demonstrating the innovative value of supply chains for economic growth.
ProfitShare Partners exhibited at Smart Procurement World for the first time this year. We connected with numerous small and medium business owners who showed keen interest in our alternative funding solutions. The networking experience at the exhibition was energising and the feedback received was positive.
Some of the comments from SMME exhibitors and visitors were: “I had to let go of a contract because I could not get the cash I needed to fund it upfront. I will definitely contact you for my next order.” And: “It’s great that you don’t charge interest and you fund 100% upfront. Please save my details so that I can get more information.”
We also held a Lucky Draw competition for Sandton City Mall gift vouchers. Four lucky winners each won R1,000 voucher to spoil themselves. Congratulations again to T. Nkosi (Melokuhle), Z. Sithole (African Olive), T. Mokoena (FearLess Technical Services) and M. Mbambo (Okuhle Wellness Solutions)!
Our CEO, Andrew Maren participated in the conference on the panel discussion: “How to unlock value through innovative ESD models”. The conversation was insightful with industry experts sharing some of the core issues that affect the success of enterprise and supplier development strategies.
Andrew emphasised the importance of integrating more SMEs in the corporate supply chain saying, “Corporates should appoint ten SMEs rather than using only one or two large companies.” Using multiple small companies is more beneficial to the market than retaining a few large suppliers. With the disruptive funding solutions that ProfitShare Partners provides, it is possible for corporates to work with more SMEs without having concerns of the associated performance or financial risk.
Smart Procurement World 2018 offered exciting opportunities to connect with the buyers and sellers in the industry as well as a platform for important, valuable engagements to progress enterprise and supplier development in the industry. We look forward to participating in, and contributing to, events like these that are aligned to our goals of creating maximum social impact and sustainable results for SMEs in the market.
