Sands China Inaugurates 7th Cohort of Local SME Suppliers Into Sands Procurement Academy
Nearly 180 local SME suppliers have completed the programme to date
(Macao,
Sept.
23, 2020) –
Sands China Ltd.
inaugurated the latest cohort of local SME
suppliers into the Sands Procurement Academy
Wednesday, at a ceremony at The
Venetian® Macao’s Adelson
Advanced Education Centre. It is the seventh
group of local SME suppliers to enrol in the
complimentary training initiative to
date.
Co-organised with
the Macao Chamber of Commerce and the Macau
Productivity and Technology Centre (CPTTM),
the Sands Procurement Academy promotes the
development of local SME suppliers by
sharing business knowledge and skills. The
academy’s goal is to help the SMEs gain
experience and capacity for working with
large-scale international corporations like
Sands China, targeted at four categories of
local suppliers: small- and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs), micro-enterprises, Macao
young entrepreneurs, and “Made-in-Macao”
enterprises. administrative
departments.
The Sands
Procurement Academy is a first-of-its-kind
industry training concentrating on practical
knowledge for participating SMEs; graduates
of the programme have given very positive
feedback on the impact to their
businesses.
Wednesday’s latest
group of 25 suppliers comprise a mix of
Sands China suppliers and those that are
potential new suppliers. Among them, 19 had
run complimentary booths at the Sands
Shopping Carnival in August. The three-day
event provided a free business platform for
local SMEs to present and demonstrate their
products and services amid the pandemic
period, and attracted more than 100,000
visits.
They are only the
second group to take the academy’s newest
course, Macao labour law fundamentals,
conducted by Sands China’s human resources
department.
Close to 180 local
SME suppliers have graduated from the
academy to date. Graduating suppliers
receive a certificate and are given
preferential procurement opportunities under
otherwise equal circumstances.
“Sands China remains
committed to raising the capacity of local
SME suppliers to be able to work with any
multinational corporation like Sands China,”
said Charlie Cai, vice president of
procurement and supply chain for Venetian
Macau Limited. “We have seen very
encouraging results with the suppliers that
have already graduated, many of whom have
seen measurable growth since completing our
training programme. We look forward to
serving this newest group of local SMEs and
wish them much success.”
The Sands
Procurement Academy supports the third
pillar of the company’s F.I.T. programme,
which offers Financial Support, Invitational
Matching, and Training and Development.
F.I.T. targets both existing and new local
Sands China suppliers as part of
Sands China’s Local Small, Medium
and Micro Suppliers Support
Programme. It seeks to
continually increase and strengthen
procurement between Sands China and local
SME suppliers by enhancing their
capabilities.
The academy’s
participating local SME suppliers learn
through tailor-made practical training
modules, presented by lecturers with diverse
areas of expertise. The programme’s modules
comprise six topics: quality assurance,
Macao labour law fundamentals, logistics
management, supplier code of conduct,
procurement contract basics, and procurement
process and system overview.
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 a group of 25 local SME suppliers into the Sands
Procurement Academy Wednesday at The Venetian Macao’s
Adelson Advanced Education Centre. Since 2017, the ongoing
training initiative has helped local suppliers gain
experience and capacity for working with large-scale
enterprises like Sands China
Ltd.