THE President of the West Africa Institute of Supply Chain Leadership, Dr Douglas Boateng, has called for the upgrading of the skills of supply chain and procurement professionals in the country to enable them to meet the emerging challenges in the sector.
He said as procurement had become a key area of national growth, there was the need to constantly upgrade the skills of the players in the sector to enable them to catch up with the changes that come up.
Dr Boateng made the call in a press release in Kumasi.
He said much was expected from professionals in the sector in developing a paradigm shift in terms of how local organisations could innovatively stretch the limited financial kitty through strategic sourcing.
Dr Boateng also stressed the need for Ghanaian organisations to undertake strategic sourcing of goods and services in the face of the dwindling financial returns of local organisations.
That, he said, one sure way of developing local organisations whose growth are crucial to addressing poverty in the country, especially in the rural areas.
Dr Boateng, who is also an editorial board member of ‘Smart Procurement’, an international magazine devoted to effective procurement, said it was only when organisations scrutinised their strategic acquisition that they could post higher performance in their delivery.
“Strategic sourcing has been successfully applied in various public and private sector organisations in many countries and today, it continues to help organisations achieve quantifiable savings,” he said.
Dr Boateng stated that with no sign of a significant upswing in the economic fortunes of the world economy, the downward trend was expected to continue into the foreseeable future.
He said at the same time, there was increasing demand from shareholders of organisations and society at large for higher performance and significant improvements in service delivery.
“This unprecedented financial challenge and socio-economic value shift necessitates that Ghana and other emerging-economies’ public and private sector organisations’ strategic acquisitions processes be scrutinised to meet the challenges of the time,” he said.
According to Dr Boateng, Africa’s policy makers should not be hoodwinked into believing that the boom in commodity exports would completely cushion the continent from any future financial crisis.
He said “the liquidity crisis is already being experienced in some African countries, including Ghana. If these shock waves continue to translate into further unemployment rates, especially among the youth, it could prove politically tricky for African governments.
Dr Boateng stated that while private sector company directors were quickly subjected to the wrath of shareholders if they failed to ethically and prudently use resources, the same could not be said of public sector institutions.
“Why can’t the same yardsticks be adapted for use in the public sector and especially among state-owned enterprises?” he asked.
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