Meet Our Procurement Team – Clara Nyamandi-Shoko
Contracts and Procurement Associate Clara Nyamandi-Shoko is another of Lidiar Group’s Contracts and Procurement Team who is bringing experience, knowledge and critical thinking to our organisation and our clients’ projects.
“We are facing a number of challenges with supply, demand and costs across vital resources,” says Clara. “It’s a global problem that, without sound strategies and procurement planning, often has severe consequences for clients and their projects.”
“I have over a decade of experience bringing my ingenuity and thinking to procurement solutions for clients and stakeholders, and with constantly rising costs and higher than normal operating costs, we see more and more projects being challenged to meet their targets. It’s a very interesting time, but I firmly believe that with the right strategies, forward plans and approach, the bumps in the road can be minimised.”
A detailed and analytical professional, Clara believes that a baseline of data is the important building block for a procurement strategy and plan.
“To support the clients I work with, I always look at their current situation to provide a starting point for the strategies they may wish to consider. This starts with undertaking a Procurement Strategy review and Spending Analysis, as this is where we can see immediate efficiencies or areas of concern.”
“I would then use the data to identify cost-saving initiatives and look at how we can use performance specifications to widen the supplier network. Through the optimisation of the supplier database, we have new opportunities to connect with alternative or new suppliers. For example, we may identify a strategy to pursue regional and local suppliers hence reducing heavy reliance on imports and single sourcing as well as meeting any local procurement or local content requirement the client must fulfil.”
“From there, it is all about creating strategic relationships to ensure the supply of critical lines at the most economical cost. What often works well is a collaborative approach with a shared vision or goal, supplier development programs, and joint sourcing opportunities. Still, it really depends on the project, client and supply chain as to how we finalise the eventual strategy.”
“We would then consider using technology to support the changes in the procurement cycle, making it easier to, share information, manage resources, analyse costs and identify areas of potential savings.”
Clara’s approach has worked well for our clients, resulting in global variations in pricing being minimised where possible.
“A simple change I undertook recently for a client to combat constantly rising costs was to implement a procurement contract in a stable currency. It sounds straightforward, but the approach we take to support our clients is to consider every angle, from the complex to the straightforward. In this instance, a simple solution resulted in fewer price variation requests and contracts being fulfilled within the expectations of the client.