The 2nd edition of Fleming Gulf's Procurement Management Summit, an event that looks into the procurement, purchasing, sourcing and contracting across industry sectors inaugurated yesterday at Dusit Thani, Dubai, UAE. The event was chaired by Asad Zaidi, Director of Procurement and Performance Improvement at Al – Futtaim Automative.

With over 90 participants that comprised of high ranking officials in the field of procurement and purchasing, the event opened to a session by Hariharan Laxminarayan of Emirates Aluminum who addressed the attendees on how the procurement mindset is changing from being cost focus to a more value centric function. Sessions included ideas on creating a strategic procurement function by Ahmed Abdi of Qatar Foundation and the benefits and risks involved with single sourcing by Brijesh Ansari of Alshaya Group.

With an overview of e-procurement, e-tendering and e-auction systems by Silver Sponsor Antares Systems, a panel discussions also witnessed attendees discussion how to measure the procurement performance. The conference also witnessed a special address from Rebecca Fox, General Manager at CIPS and supporting partner at the event. A closing reception Zest organized by cocktail sponsors Zycus ended the day with a fun networking session for procurement leaders in and attendees at the conference.

The event today will focus on the secret of negotiation by Hamilton Rozario of DUBAL and a case-study on transforming from purchasing to strategic sourcing by Zaidi. Lalit Dhamija of ADCO and Megan James of Abu Dhabi Tourism & Cultural Authority will highlight on skills development and competency management for procurement staff. A closing panel will have leaders discuss on how to hire the right talent for procurement and to ensure talent sustainability.

Supporting the event was CILT and PASIA who are leading trade bodies in the field of Supply Chain and networking sponsor C1India