Kenya hosts yet another major global summit

Kenya will once again play host to a major international conference, after 600 practitioners and experts in supply management from more than 20 countries gathered in Mombasa for the International Federation of Purchasing and Supply Management (IFPSM) World Summit.

Kenya is the first African country to host the Summit in Mombasa.

The Summit has also attracted all the procurement officers from both counties and national governments.

It will be opened by the Acting National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani. Also in attendance is IFPSM President He Liming.

The Summit will be hosted by the Kenya Institute of Supplies Management, a member of the IFPSM.

KISM Chairman Chris Oanda, said the objective of the summit, whose theme is sustainable procurement, will be to look at how decisions on procurement can be made to serve economic and environmental interests.?

“The summit has been enthusiastically owned and embraced by our Kenyan supply chain and procurement practitioners who have turned up in large numbers being the chief hosts to our international and regional delegates from more than 20 countries,” said Oanda.

The Government permitted all its procurement personnel to attend the summit, whose theme will be sustainable procurement.

And with over 130 international delegates, Oanda noted that the occasion offers an opportunity for Kenya to market itself. "In addition to a procurement summit, it is also a tourist investment," explained Oanda.

There are about 500 Kenyan procurement personnel, mostly from both national and county governments.

“The National Treasury in the exercise of its policy formulation mandate and wider public Financial Management Reforms request you to facilitate participation of procurement personnel under your Ministry/State Department subject to budgetary provisions,” said National Treasury Principal Secretary Julius Muia.

 IFPSM is a global body of institutions engaged in procurement and supply chain management. It enjoys a wide mandate to influence standards for practice, education and development of knowledge resources for professionals worldwide.

Currently, IFPSM has 45 member countries, most of them in Europe and Asia, even though its membership is rising within Africa.