Bridging Africa’s Infrastructure Gap: Unlocking Economic Potential Through Innovative Procurement
1 Executive Summary Africa’s infrastructure financing gap—estimated at $50–90 billion annually in 2025—represents a critical barrier to sustainable growth, costing the continent up to 2% of GDP each year and perpetuating challenges like energy poverty and low productivity. Cumulative shortfalls could reach $1.6 trillion by 2030 without intervention. Closing this gap could boost GDP by […]
The ROI of a Product Nobody Uses Is … -100%
When discussing technology used for strategic sourcing such as RFPs, much of the conversation boils down to the solution itself. How much does it cost? How difficult is the implementation? Will it integrate with the ERP system? Will this solution help us get value-for-money (all too often defined as the cheapest solution)? Is the procurement […]
The Crawl, Walk, Run of RFPs
We live in an AI world. It’s still early in the transformation but this is clearly a persistent trend. For all the change AI promises, though, success has been elusive. Here’s MIT Nanda talking about the current state of affairs: “Despite $30–40 billion in enterprise investment into GenAI, this report uncovers a surprising result in […]
Starting the Digital Transformation Journey – Lessons Learnt from Successful Engagements
Caveat Lector: This article is based on my actual experiences. While I usually try limit my opinions, I remind the reader that opinions are like noses – everybody has one. The interested reader would be wise to consider other opinions and experiences when deciding their approach. While this blog focuses primarily on topics related to […]
What Can Figma Teach Us About RFPs?
The biggest problem in procurement is the existence of silos. Siloed data means that teams draft and issue RFPs with a subset of the information they require to write a comprehensive document soliciting supplier proposals. The buyer’s team lacks a full sense of the problem the firm wants to solve with the procurement or its […]
Agentic AI Should Drive Change
They say that generals always fight the last war. This means that generals fail to adapt advances in technology or changes in tactical thinking to the way that they prepare their forces for the next conflict. They don’t adjust their way of operating to reflect the enemy they will fight, readying themselves instead to re-fight […]
AI Agents Will Not Be What You Think
Let’s think about AI from first principles. Imagine the early days of the automobile industry. Cars were made by hand. Skilled individuals used tools (screwdrivers? wrenches? hammers?). The quality of the cars was variable. It was difficult to produce in high volumes. Then, Henry Ford applied principles developed in other industries (like meat packing) to […]
To Fix the RFP Process, Invert the Problem
In business, people take a lot of things for granted. “We’ve always done things this way,” they say. That’s true, but a more relevant question is, “Would we do it this way if we were starting from scratch?” With the Request for Proposals process, the answer is likely no. Consider the evolution of the RFP. […]
Don’t Default to Picking the Polished Supplier
One thing that never fails to impress me is how polished some salespeople are when it comes to the RFP/RFQ/RFI process. They are very good at steering the buyer to weight certain features heavily and to discount other features entirely in the pre-RFP phase. This is, of course, “shaping” the RFP. They are very good […]
What’s the Best Way to Train Procurement Staff?
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Nobody grows up dreaming of being in procurement. They might want to be firemen, doctors, or military […]