Sipho Bengu– has 23 years of experience within the Supply Chain (Procurement) space. Sipho has worked in Management roles in various sectors i.e. Mining, Telecommunications, Building & Construction, Consulting, FMCG, Public Sector, VAS Marketing, and Financial Services sector where he is currently holding a Senior Management role as a Lead Supplier Development.
As a refined and astute negotiator and out-side the box thinker Sipho has been instrumental in reducing Cost to income ratio in the industries where he has worked before. This resulted in Total Cost saving of more than R200m in his tenure at Absa Group Procurement when he was still a Commodity Specialist looking after Technology as a Category. Sipho has an MBA, which he obtained in 2015 through Management College of South Africa. Sipho has also worked in the Middle East for a period of six months under the employ of MTN.
Sipho is part of the Supplier Development Management team within Absa, which looks at Supplier Diversity Transformation, which seeks to provide SMME’s business opportunities within the Bank. By providing SD financial lending opportunities so that SMME’s (Small Medium Entities) can grow their businesses, and create jobs. This is in line with Absa’s group strategy, which talks to “Play a Shaping role in Society”.
Quote: “Successful people are not gifted; they just work hard and then succeed on purpose” author unknown.