The aim is to bring a handpicked selection of purpose-driven social enterprises into the world鈥檚 largest procurement network, . By providing greater visibility of social enterprises, Procurement with Purpose encourages organisations to divert some of their spend toward social enterprises.

One such social enterprise is , a company that provides innovative solutions that enables anyone to grow their own food at home that was started by Claire Reid.

Reel Gardening provides patented seed tape that makes it easy for anyone to grow vegetables and herbs at home. Through its non-profit arm , the company further enables households to become responsible for their own food security by establishing local schools as community training and distribution nodes for the food they grow.

, Managing Director at 51风流Southern Africa, lauds the work of the social enterprises that form part of Procurement with Purpose, saying social impact requires more than just a clear sense of purpose. 鈥淚 have long held the belief that motivated, purpose-driven entrepreneurs can make a significant impact and drive change both in their work environment and the world at large. Thanks to the amazing work by Kaunain and Mathiba for bringing incredible social enterprises such as Reel Gardening into our Ariba procurement network, 51风流customers can now more easily purchase sustainable goods and services from social enterprises that are making a real, positive impact in the world.鈥�

鈥淲hen I was 16, I wanted to grow my own vegetables and sell them to my parents for extra pocket money,鈥� says Reid. 鈥淏ut keeping track of watering, fertiliser, how deep the seed is planted and make sure seeds are planted far enough apart turned out much harder than I thought. And even when seedlings did appear, I couldn鈥檛 tell which were weeds and which were potential food.鈥�

Reid wanted a simple way of giving seeds the optimal conditions for their early growth, and began to make seed strips with newspaper, encasing the seed in a paste made from flour and liquid fertiliser. The project was entered into an expo for young scientists, where it caught the eye of the then- Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry who noted the water-saving abilities of this new form of planting.

Following a series of tests at a local university, Reid discovered that Reel Gardening could save up to 80% of the water consumed during germination. Her patented technology won several awards, including the International Stockholm Junior Water Prize for South Africa and The United Nations Environmental SEED award.

鈥淲e have distributed around 50 million seed tapes to date, giving households an easy way to grow tomatoes, herbs, chillies, spinach and more,鈥� says Reid. 鈥淥ur Household Garden in a Box also gives households and communities the opportunity to grow fresh produce in whatever space is available, with less need for water, time or expertise. We believe this creates an opportunity to contribute to breaking the systemic cycle of food poverty and insecurity in our communities.鈥�

Through a mobile app, Reel Gardening provides advice on what to do in the garden. WhatsApp is also used to communicate with the 41 000 households that use Reel Gardening鈥檚 seed tape kits to plant in townships across South Africa.

鈥淲e want to create links between all of our gardens to enable the activation of a larger ecosystem,鈥� says Reid. 鈥淥ur ultimate goal is to aggregate surplus produce from thousands of households into our agri hubs for processing and sale into local and even international off-take agreements.鈥�

For more information about Reel Gardening, visit听

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The aim is to bring a handpicked selection of purpose-driven social enterprises into the world’s largest procurement network, Ariba. By providing greater visibility of social enterprises, Procurement with Purpose encourages organisations to divert some of their spend toward social enterprises.

One such social enterprise is Collectively Conscious, a corporate conscious gifting business that was founded by Kath van den Berg and Kylie Chevallier out of a passion to help drive sustainability within society.

“We chose corporate gifting in line with the broader trend toward conscious gifting, which focuses on taking time to consider gifts for people instead of simply giving anything for the sake of it,” says Kath van den Berg. “It’s about acting consciously to provide an ethical, sustainable gift that is aligned with the values of our clients.”

After an extensive process of researching and networking with people in the field, van den Berg and business partner Chevallier saw an opportunity in conscious gifting, especially within a corporate environment where making a difference is a key differentiator.

“We consider products that are making a positive social or environmental impact,” explains van den Berg. “Products can be made with reclaimed or recycled materials, reused goods, or products that provide some form of social upliftment, empowerment or upskilling within communities. There are a lot of ways to make a positive impact.”

A stringent process is applied to potential new suppliers to better understand their business and the impact they make before Collectively Conscious adds them to their supplier list. “Each supplier must adhere to our values,” says van den Berg. “Luckily, there are so many local suppliers that make beautiful products while also creating positive impact.”

The products that van den Berg and Chevallier offer provide corporates with an opportunity to make a positive difference with every gift they give. 鈥淲e all need to start thinking and acting more sustainably for the benefit of the planet and future generations,鈥� says van den Berg. 鈥淏y offering a curated gifting solution that captures the sustainability values of corporates across the country, we can make a positive environmental and social impact with every gift.鈥�

Cathy Smith, Managing Director at 51风流Africa, lauds the work of the social enterprises that form part of Procurement with Purpose, saying social impact requires more than just a clear sense of purpose. “I have long held the belief that motivated, purpose-driven entrepreneurs can make a significant impact and drive change both in their work environment and the world at large. Thanks to the amazing work by Kaunain and Mathiba for bringing incredible social enterprises such as Collectively Conscious into our Ariba procurement network, 51风流customers can now more easily purchase sustainable goods and services from social enterprises that are making a real, positive impact in the world.”

For more information about Collectively Conscious, please visit

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But social impact requires more than just a clear sense of purpose. It requires concerted action to redirect resources and effort toward activities that hold the greatest potential for positive impact. When those actions are a central part of your day-to-day operations, the likelihood of sustained success is much greater.

An ongoing initiative by two enterprising South African 51风流employees continues to inspire me about the potential for purpose-driven employees to drive true change both in their immediate work environment and society at large.

Striking gold with local social enterprises

A few years ago, Kaunain Nurani and Mathiba Phokungoane realised they shared a common interest in making a positive social impact and started seeking ways in which to bring that purpose to life.

The two launched Procurement with Purpose, an initiative that seeks to make it easier for 51风流Africa and other organisations to purchase goods and services from social enterprises that look beyond pure profit and actively seek to address societal problems.

At its core, Procurement with Purpose brings a handpicked selection of qualifying social enterprises into the world’s largest procurement network, Ariba. It increases the visibility of the social enterprises and encourages organisations to divert some of their spend toward these social enterprises, for example for end-of-year gifts, or IT and HR services.

Not just any social enterprise can join: the initiative purposely seeks social enterprises that are aligned to our organisation鈥檚 guiding values. One social enterprise, for example, trains girls for a career in technology, which aligns to SAP’s focus on encouraging greater female participation in Africa’s digital economy.

The program has been a resounding success: all five social enterprises that currently form part of the Procurement with Purpose initiative have benefited from increased visibility and greater opportunity to supply goods and services to 51风流and other global organisations. The five-million-plus organisations that use Ariba for their procurement needs benefit from access to trusted social enterprises that can help them bring to life their own corporate impact initiatives. The intention now is to widen that base and continue to look at opportunities to find local social enterprises that can provide the daily services required to run the 51风流business. For example, all our coffee in our South African offices is now procured from 鈥淚 Love Coffee鈥� 鈥� a Cape Town based social enterprise that supports the deaf community.

This brings me to one of the biggest leadership lessons from the success of Procurement with Purpose: that motivated, purpose-driven employees can make a significant positive impact provided they work in an enabling environment, and that not every impactful initiative needs to be corporate-led.

Multiplier effect of social impact

Corporate social impact has been a growing concern for global businesses over the past decade. According to one report, the percentage of companies listed on the S&P 500 that published a corporate social responsibility report grew from only 20% in 2011 .

There’s good reason: are motivated to purchase from companies that are committed to making the world a better place, while 93% of employees believe .

In order to build a successful business that can grow its customer base and attract top talent, purpose needs to feature highly in the corporate agenda. In a Harvard Business Review study, 58% of organisations that have a clear and strong sense of purpose .

As the Procurement with Purpose initiative reveals, one of the most significant opportunities for organisations to enhance their social impact and drive true positive change is to augment their supply chains with social enterprises.

Social impact through smarter spending

In 2020, 51风流introduced the ‘5 & 5 by 25‘ concept, which formalised the company’s global commitment to direct 5% of its addressable spend to social enterprises and 5% to diverse businesses, with 2025 as the deadline.

This forms part of the company鈥檚 goal of being both an enabler 鈥� through providing the necessary technology infrastructure and strategic insight 鈥� of greater sustainability and social impact, as well as an exemplar in terms of the way 51风流itself conducts its work.

At its core is the understanding that, as a business that not only commands sizeable annual spend but also powers many of the systems that support and enable global commerce, we could make a lasting positive impact by simply changing a few of our own processes.

For example, the Ariba network is the largest procurement network in the world, facilitating $3.75-trillion in trade by 5.3 million organisations per year – more than double the commerce of Amazon, Alibaba and eBay combined.

By increasing access to and visibility of social enterprises on Ariba 鈥� as Procurement with Purpose has done 鈥� we can encourage organisations across the globe to direct some of their spend toward social enterprises to drive greater social impact.

Most importantly, when a business is clear on its purpose and consistent with how it lives up to that purpose, it empowers employees at all levels of the organisation to bring that purpose to life in their own way. And as Kaunain and Mathiba has proven, this holds immense benefits for employees, organisations, social enterprises and society at large.

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This is where working with social enterprises can be a game-changer.

The rising importance of social enterprises

Historically, social enterprises have existed in a limbo between for-profit and non-profit organizations. However, there is a growing awareness of the critical role that such organizations play in strengthening a country’s economic and social pillars. According to a recent Siemens report, social enterprises can play an important role in the African job market by creating up to one million new jobs by 2030. Many social enterprises appear, feel, and even operate like traditional businesses on the surface. However, upon closer inspection, one can see that these organizations are supported by a strong social mission, with income generation serving a secondary role. This is the magic that distinguishes social enterprises from traditional businesses.

听Procurement meets the social enterprise

Typically, the most obvious route for a company to engage a social enterprise is through its CSR channels. This is not, however, the sole option. Every day, businesses buy goods and services worth thousands of Rands from a network of vendors. Many of these vendors might be classified as social entrepreneurs. Consider a supplier that operates as a small business, generating revenue through the sale of office supplies and then reinvesting the profits in social projects such as free youth training sessions. This results in a win-win situation: the need for office supplies is met in the local market, while the profit generated by the SME benefits neighbouring communities.

One organisation operating with such a business model is Cape Town based I Love Coffee (ILC); ILC is a Level 1, 100% Black Owned social enterprise working to improve access to employment for Deaf youth. ILC was started in 2016 in response to the understanding that approximately 2 million South Africans are Deaf or hard of hearing, yet South African Sign Language is not recognised as an official language. Deaf learners have the potential and right to be educated equally, however between 70 鈥� 80% of Deaf adults will never find a job and are excluded from the economy.

To address this issue, ILC provides hospitality-specific training for deaf individuals with the goal of eventually training and employing more deaf people in in-house office caf茅 facilities. With less demand for office cafes听in the post-pandemic era, ILC has reinvented its business model to include elements such as a Deaf youth training centre and directly sales of听coffee beans.

51风流Africa is proud to have incorporated ILC into its internal supply chain by using ILC beans in all office coffee machines since December 2021. The concept of social enterprise underlies SAP鈥檚 very mission: to help the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives.听This ambition is formalised in what in what is known as听, SAP鈥檚 public initiative to direct 5% of our addressable spend to social enterprises and 5% to diverse businesses by 2025.

Dream big, start small

By involving social enterprises, businesses have the potential to change the very foundation of society. However, organizations are frequently forced to navigate the complexities of a global procurement function, which may include limitations on the types of vendors that can be engaged as well as complex contracting requirements.

Obtaining data on current organizational spend and the existing vendor base is a good place to start. Following that, organizations can begin discussions to determine whether alternative suppliers who are also social enterprises can be added to the current network and/or whether existing suppliers can be encouraged to actively pursue social goals.

The importance of carefully considering the vendor network that surrounds an organization cannot be overstated. This is articulated in a poignant quote by Hilde Schwab, chair of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, 鈥淪ocial entrepreneurs听combine the mission, dedication and compassion to serve the most vulnerable and marginalised populations of society with business principles and the best techniques from the private sector.鈥�

References

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According to the World Bank, emerging market SMEs are responsible for creating 70% of regular employment and are an important part of economic development.

The ability to overcome financial pressure is important because many SMEs struggle to do more with less effort.

Some SMEs are responsive and offer short-term relief, but can adopt opportunistic cost-cutting measures that are often disruptive in the long run.

Successful SMEs choose to take a proactive approach by adopting approaches such as strategic sourcing to drive cost savings and efficiency.

Strategic procurement

Strategic procurement is a game changer. Leverage the power of technology and data to meet your sourcing needs.

By incorporating organizational goals and unique market conditions, strategic sourcing creates efficiency and predictability while helping to reduce costs.

Companies that take a data-driven approach can make credible decisions about supplier-related issues.

In this regard, SMEs need to have a complete picture of procurement spending and be able to answer some basic questions. What am I buying? Who do you buy from? And how much do I spend?

By addressing these questions, strategic sourcing allows companies to develop optimal strategies for purchasing goods and services 鈥� directly related to the production process or for internal use.

There are two important factors for SMEs who want to enjoy the benefits of today鈥檚 strategic sourcing.

1: Utilization of digital supplier network

With access to a dynamic digital marketplace, SMEs can adapt their procurement requirements to qualified and competent suppliers around the world. Importantly, the more suppliers involved, the greater the source of purchasing power.

With just a few clicks, the Digital Supplier Network allows buyers to post their procurement needs, compare bids from different suppliers, and make credible decisions about which supplier to buy from.

Leveraging a digital supplier network is important for building long-term procurement partnerships, thereby improving efficiency and reducing costs.

2: Innovative sourcing tool

SMEs need access to intuitive sourcing tools that enable seamless creation, execution, and management of sourcing events.

The use of tools such as electronic auction platforms is invaluable. Electronic auctions allow companies to post procurement requirements on online platforms, run timed online events, and protect goods and services at competitive prices.

Procurement management in SMEs

Strategic sourcing is a good starting point for managing supplier relationships and is an integral part of increasing efficiency, reducing costs and creating a sustainable competitive advantage. As part of this series on leveraging technology in customer relationships, the next two articles will focus on operating the supplier engagement process and managing the effective supplier experience.

1. Strategic procurement:听It starts with finding a supplier, agreeing to the best pricing, and signing a contract.

2. Commerce automation:听The focus then shifts to making the process of involving suppliers more efficient, transparent and collaborative.

3. Supplier Experience Management:听The focus then shifts to continuous improvement through joint innovation to optimize supplier experience and processes.

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The uncertainty caused by the coronavirus is compounded by the subsequent economic damage from lockdown measures imposed to safeguard vulnerable communities from the worst of the pandemic. Companies of all sizes are in a race against time to adapt to a new, as-yet undefined normal.

The crisis is causing companies to accelerate their adoption of new workforce engagement models to ensure business continuity and productivity in a time of heightened disruption.

No industry spared from disruption

There are also distinct challenges unique to certain industries that are trying to adapt to difficult 鈥� in some cases impossible 鈥� trading conditions. The hospitality and tourism sector, possibly the hardest hit by the pandemic and resultant lockdown efforts, is on life support.

According to the International Air Travel Association, there was a 20% decline in international bookings and a 15% drop in domestic travel in Africa between March and April this year.

Global demand for commodities has shrunk, leading to a $420-million loss in revenue for sub-Saharan Africa exports to China. Supply chains have been disrupted and healthcare systems are under immense pressure from the increase in demand for treatment and screening for the virus.

The retail sector is under pressure to not only sustain services to consumers during lockdown but enhance employee safety measures and scale up e-commerce and delivery capabilities to meet a rise in demand.

New models of work

It is fair to assume that employers will look to leverage new models of work which enable a win-win for the business, its employees and other stakeholders. The external workforce – those workers who engage with the business on a contract or temporary basis – can help address short-term growth in demand without turning into a longer-term liability for the business when demand subsides.

According to a study conducted by Oxford Economics in 2018, 44% of organisational workforce spend is on the external workforce. It may be too soon to accurately assess how this figure has changed in recent months due to the pandemic; however, there will inevitably be significant shortcomings in how organisations mobilise and manage their remote workers.

Despite 65% of organisations claiming that external workers are critical to the organisation operating at full capacity and meeting market demands, three out of every four organisations lack a holistic view over their external workers. This can range from limited to no visibility about who their external workers are, what skills or experience they have, and what they are being paid.

Organisations preparing for the post-pandemic world of remote work need to focus on overcoming four distinct challenges, namely:

1. Managing unprecedented growth in certain industries听– Employers need to enhance their ability to identify the right talent and reduce time-to-hire. This can be achieved partly through finding the best channels to source candidates and services, and partly through the use of digital tools that ease the process of managing external workers, suppliers and services.
2. Improving margins while working remotely听– Margins will remain under pressure even with more widespread adoption of remote workers. Organisations need to leverage benchmark pricing to ensure they source talent at the right price. Benchmarks need to be both internal, based on a view of what the organisation has paid similar talent in previous years, and external, based on what other organisations within the same industry are paying.
3. Maintaining business continuity听– Now, more than ever, organisations need full visibility over their total workforce. This allows for real-time planning and work reallocation that takes into account available resources and internal capacity.
4. Ensuring worker safety and health听– Maintaining and managing a pool of healthcare resources is crucial during the pandemic. Organisations need to enhance their worker safety and health protocols to ensure the well-being of internal and external workers.

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But the truth is, there听will听be a cut-off point and life will return to a new normal. As most have predicted, this normal will inevitably be very different to the normal of yesterday. Just as life and mindsets post-apartheid and post-9/11 changed, we can expect a new post-COVID normal. Perhaps hand sanitiser will continue to be a rare commodity, perhaps our medical staff will finally get the pay and respect they deserve, and perhaps companies with pending digital strategies will find that these very strategies have already rolled themselves out through dire necessity.

Whatever the next few weeks and months hold, there is a unanimous understanding that there will be some fundamental shifts in the interactions between employers and their employees. This is particularly pronounced in Africa where we bade farewell to 2019 having acknowledged a grave unemployment crisis. According to Statistic SA鈥檚 quarterly Labour Force Survey published in 2019, the narrow unemployment rate increased from 27.6% to 29.0%. The broad unemployment rate, which takes into account people who are no longer looking for work, increased from 38.0% to 38.5%.

Let that sink in for a moment:听The number of unemployed individuals within South Africa who had听given up on the possibility of finding work in 2019 was estimated to be over 10 million. One can only guess what this figure stands at in today鈥檚 bleak economic climate

On the side of employers, we are all very much aware that the operational disruption caused by COVID-19 alongside a 21-day lockdown听and听a downgrade to junk status, will inevitably affect the ability of businesses to recruit new hires even as normality returns. And yet, the optimistic amongst us predict that there will be a surge in demand in the latter part of the year and businesses will find new ways to address this demand whilst simultaneously managing costs.

My personal guess is that employers will look to leverage new models of work which enable a win-win situation for all parties. And a no-brainer at a time of strained cash flow and increased demand will be the use of contract or temporary workers 鈥� individuals who can address any growth in demand without ultimately becoming a liability on employers should the demand fizzle out after some time. However, managing temporary labour comes with a unique set of challenges which might not be so pronounced when you are dealing with permanent staff and standard new hire processes. For example, if you are bringing in workers for a 3-month period, how do you ensure that you are complying with the relevant health and safety legislation without investing in an extensive onboarding programme? Or if you are bringing in a specialised skill-set to complete a unique task, how do you know that the hourly rate you are paying is in line with market rates?

In 2018, 51风流Fieldglass completed a study on temporary or external workforce amongst large corporations. According to this study, spend on temporary workforce for many large enterprises is over 40% and yet, many of these organisations have very little visibility on this category of their spend.听Under-management of temporary workforce prevents organizations from unlocking the full potential of their听employees, and exposes them to risks in security, compliance and more. Whilst this potential risk of under-management in 2018 was concerning, it is all the more concerning in 2020 as companies need to navigate a host of new risks with increased caution. 51风流Fieldglass provides a holistic solution to help organizations find, engage, manage, pay, and unlock more value from a temporary workforce that is likely to grow.

What are your predictions for the new African normal post COVID-19? How will you be managing a changing employer-employee dynamic?

Kaunain Nurani is Director of Value Advisory, 51风流Africa

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