We are proud and delighted to be a partner of these inaugural award, which recognize and honour some of the country’s leading champions of Supplier Development both at individual and corporate levels, particularly given the positive and transformative impact of each contribution in addressing the socio-economic challenges of our country, through genuine empowerment that leads to sustainable growth.

At Absa, we are driven by one purpose – bringing your possibilities to life. It is with that purpose in mind that drives our approach to Supplier Development. We believe that opening up opportunities for small to medium-sized enterprises to access corporate supply and delivery chains is one of the most efficient and consistent ways in which established corporates can contribute to sustainable entrepreneurship development.

According to the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) – Supplier development is the process of working with certain suppliers on a one-to-one basis to improve their performance for the benefit of the buying organisation. Supplier development is thus strategically linked to the buying organization growth in terms of revenue generation efforts.

Sustainable Supplier development programmers must be premised on two dimensions, the qualitative transformation of an enterprise and growth in terms of the physical size of the enterprise. Both dimensions are needed to ensure the enterprise’s success, its effectiveness as well as efficiency.

To be effective means to do the right things. To be efficient means to do the things right. The correlation between effectiveness and efficiency is tidily connected to the fundamental dilemma of the enterprise’s future, growth or development?

As Corporate South Africa, our supplier development initiatives must and should address both the growth (capacity or optimal size) and the development (quality) aspects of an enterprise. Every enterprise should develop in such a way that its development does not harm the others. In the widest sense, an enterprise should function credibly today as well as in the future.

Supplier Development is not about short-term gains, but all about long-term impact and sustainability of the business and the economy.