Sands Procurement Academy Inaugurates Fifth Group of Local SME Suppliers
Programme helps prepare local SME suppliers for more procurement opportunities
(Macao,
May
28, 2019) –
Sands China Ltd. held an
inauguration ceremony Monday at The
Venetian® Macao’s Adelson Advanced Education
Centre for the fifth group of local SME
suppliers to join the Sands Procurement
Academy. The event was co-organised with the
Macao Chamber of Commerce and the Macau
Productivity and Technology Centre (CPTTM).
The Sands Procurement Academy is an
initiative to develop local suppliers
through the sharing of business knowledge
and skills. Suppliers are then able to gain
experience and capacity for working with
large-scale international customers like
Sands China. Four types of local SME
suppliers are targeted by the academy:
small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
micro-enterprises, Macao young
entrepreneurs, and “Made-in-Macao”
enterprises.
Feedback from past participants has been
extremely positive, as the programme is the
first of its kind in the industry, and is
focused on practical knowledge.
Monday’s event inaugurated 30 suppliers
into the academy. These suppliers
enrolled in the academy at a booth set
up at Sands China’s April 10 SME Open
Day, which saw a total of 70 suppliers
enrol in the programme. The remaining 40
suppliers will join the next round of
training later this year. Companies are
able to send up to two representatives
to take the academy’s training modules.
Around 115 local SME suppliers have
graduated from the academy to date.
Monday’s new cohort of 30 will complete
their training modules in June.
“Sands China is very pleased to be
welcoming our fifth group of local SME
suppliers to this valuable programme,”
said Charlie Cai, vice president of
procurement and supply chain. “The Sands
Procurement Academy represents our
long-term commitment to supporting local
SME suppliers, and we look forward to
continued positive results from this
important initiative.”
The Sands Procurement Academy supports
the third pillar of Sands China’s
F.I.T. programme, which
offers Financial
Support, Invitational
Matching, and Training
and Development. Part of Sands
China’s Local Small, Medium and
Micro Suppliers Support
Programme, F.I.T. aims to
continually increase and strengthen
procurement between Sands China and
local SME suppliers. This is
accomplished by enhancing suppliers’
capabilities, targeting both existing
and new local Sands China suppliers.
The Sands Procurement Academy provides
tailor-made practical training modules
to local SMEs. Lecturers with various
areas of expertise facilitate the
modules, which cover seven topics:
effective warehouse operations, quality
assurance, logistics management,
procurement process and system overview,
procurement contracts, supplier code of
conduct, and the eight disciplines (8D)
model of problem solving – the latter
led by a CPTTM lecturer.
Suppliers who complete the academy’s
coursework receive a certificate upon
graduation and are given preferential
procurement opportunities under
otherwise equal circumstances.
Sands China’s Local Small, Medium and
Micro Suppliers Support Programme is in
line with the Macao government’s
initiative to “buy local” and
demonstrates Sands China’s commitment to
supporting local enterprises as part of
the company’s corporate social
responsibility efforts. It is part of
Sands China’s supplier relationship
management strategy, which guides the
company’s long-standing effort to
support local suppliers, whom it views
as its strategic partners.
Photo caption:
Sands
China inaugurates its fifth cohort of local SME suppliers
into the Sands Procurement Academy Monday at The Venetian
Macao’s Adelson Advanced Education Centre. A total of 30
suppliers are participating in the latest session of the
training programme.