By Raymond Rex Awiagah
In an effort to enhance practical procurement skills among students, the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) has successfully organized a Moot Procurement for students at the GIMPA Business School.
The event was held in collaboration with the Ghana Institute of Procurement and Supply.
The moot procurement, held at the GIMPA GB Auditorium is aimed at providing students with real-world procurement scenarios and challenges, allowing them to showcase their problem-solving abilities and creative procurement strategies. It is also aimed at promoting healthy competition, fostering networking opportunities, and encouraging students to explore careers within the procurement and supply chain sector.
The teams were required to analyze and propose solutions for a range of procurement-related issues, including strategic sourcing, contract management, supplier selection, and negotiation.
Students were provided with case studies and were tasked with formulating effective strategies, presenting their proposals, and defending their decisions before an industry expert.
Speaking about the initiative, Prof. Ebenezer Adaku, the Acting Dean of GIMPA Business School, expressed his excitement and highlighted the importance of such initiatives in nurturing future procurement leaders. He emphasized the role of practical experience in complementing theoretical knowledge, stating, “We here at the GIMPA Business School would like to be seen much more as a practice-based business school quite different from the other business schools we have in Ghana. So because of this, we try to have arrangements with the professions and as you can see over here, the Ghana Institute of Procurement and Supply is here to help us bridge the gap between academia and practice”.
Prof. Ebenezer Adaku, further disclosed that “ increasingly the industry players are telling us that, when students come out of academic programs, they would have to retrain them, commit more resources in building their capacity for them to be able to do what they need them to do and we said to ourself this is not acceptable. We are supposed to train students that are fit for purpose so we decided to go on this path of forging meaningful partnerships with the professions so that we will be able to get students that are fit for purpose immediately after their academic programmes”.
Prof. Adaku stressed that the initiative is part of the bigger picture of not only training but also offering opportunities for mentorship “These professionals that you see here, some of them are going to become mentors of our students that will stay with them, develop them to become better procurement mangers in the field”.
The President of the Ghana Institute of Procurement and Supply, Mr. Simon Annan commended GIMPA for the initiative saying it’s an initiative they hope other institutions will emulate.
He said, “This moot procurement is for us to come in and speak to the students about how procurement is done practically, so we taking the procurement circle and breaking it down for them to understand so that when they come out of the school and they happen to be in the industry, they already have the practical experience”.
Explaining further about the collaboration, Mr Simon Annan added that the initiative forms part of activities to bring procurement closer to the students. “ When this is done, it changes their perception and attitude because now, they have a feel of what procurement stands for, how procurement is done properly so that when they get to the industry, the industry will not spend so much money to train them since they already have the practical aspects from the academic world and in effect it reduces the training cost of most of the industry. So that is what we want to do for most of the institutions who are churning out procurement and supply chain professionals in Ghana and we have started with GIMPA Business School”.
The facility of the moot procurement event, Mr. Abraham Ablorh Mensah said procurement is one of the professions and practices that has become the move for the industry and for organizations in recent times. He said, “ Practically, over the years, we have realized that people are not doing the right procurement, people do not understand procurement processes even procurement planning has become a big challenge, and upon hearing of this moot procurement program of helping students to appreciate and understand how to do procurement plan from the practical concept is one of the big issues which is going to help in resolving some of the challenges we have in our industry”.
He said when people become well informed on how to do proper procurement plans, they will be able to move into the industry and help their managers and CEO to manage procurement in the right direction.
Touching on some qualities a procurement officer should possess, Mr. Abraham Ablorh Mensah said: “A procurement officer needs good knowledge in understanding basic supply chain issues, basic computer skills, a procurement officer may need some skills in arithmetic because you need to be doing some forecasting and estimating, a procurement officer needs to have good analytical skills and a good team builder”.
Am MBA, year 2 Student, Emmanuel Adomako from the GIMPA Business School shared his experience, saying, “With this moot procurement, it is going to give me more in-depth”. I believe this experience will help me in my future career.”
The successful conclusion of the moot procurement program marks a significant milestone in the efforts of GIMPA and the Ghana Institute of Procurement and Supply to promote excellence in the procurement and supply chain management profession. The collaboration between these institutions signifies the commitment to bridging the gap between academia and industry, ensuring that students are equipped with the necessary skills to excel in the field of procurement.