Mombasa: Procurement and supply chain professionals have been urged to continuously sharpen their skills through training to remain competitive and improve efficiency amid technological transformation. Over 100 procurement and supply chain professionals from eight African countries have completed a transformative training programme conducted in Mombasa, equipping them with modern skills to boost efficiency and stay relevant in an era of rapid technological change.
According to Kenya News Agency, the Kenya Institute of Supply Chain Management (KISM), in partnership with the World Bank, conducted the intensive 18-day course that brought together 105 professionals from Kenya, Gambia, Eswatini, Lesotho, Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Speaking at the closing ceremony, KISM CEO Kenneth Matiba said the regional collaboration reflects KISM’s vision of becoming the Pan-African hub for supply chain professionalisation and excellence.
‘The purpose is to foster peer-to-peer learning where professionals from across the region can share experiences, challenges, and knowledge. We all operate in an ecosystem defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity,’ Matiba noted. Participants were trained on the use of the World Bank’s standard bidding documents and Request for Proposal (RFP) templates, as well as managing procurement processes for works and consultancy services. The course also covered contract management, ensuring compliance, and monitoring the performance of contractors and consultants.
KISM CEO explained that at the institutional level, the course aims at assisting countries, national and county government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), and public sector entities to increase their efficiency and cost-effectiveness in conducting, monitoring and reporting procurements of the World Bank-funded projects. The training is offered in three phases annually: Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced Levels, which have been curated in response to the growing demand for more in-depth experiential learning.
In 2018, the World Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding with KISM to offer training materials, resource persons, and programme execution support. ‘This is the backbone of our being here today, and we are grateful for the mutually reinforcing co-partnership with the Bank,’ said Matiba.
The Institute is also rationalizing its programmes to sustain industry-relevant content that addresses emerging issues such as the application of artificial intelligence and blockchains in supply chain management, humanitarian and health supply, transport and logistics, and inventory management. ‘Our view is that we have to be holistic in our approaches so that we take care of both the demand and supply sides of operating environments when it comes to the capacity building programme. This means we have to address the public, private and third sectors,’ stated Matiba.