The involvement of the World Bank has been cited as a great catalyst in the growth of the Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM) and achieving its goal of becoming the Pan African Centre for Supply Chain Management.
This support has not only strengthened the capacity of KISM members in procurement but has also broadened their expertise to encompass the full spectrum of World Bank-funded projects.
Speaking at Traveller’s Hotel, Mombasa, during the closing ceremony for a 10-day Intermediate Course Training for Procurement of Goods, Works, and Consulting Services for World Bank-Funded Projects, KISM’s Chairman John Karani noted that this holistic approach has ensured that the Institute members are well-versed in key aspects of procurement, allowing them to implement best practices and adhere to international standards.
“KISM has been able to enhance the professional capabilities of our members, driving excellence and fostering a robust supply chain management framework across Africa, thus making us the true Central Pan African Supply Chain Excellence,” he said.
Karani added that they are set and ready for the full scope as they now take Focus to all of Africa.
“The World Bank has been a great partner in helping us entrench and enhance our pan-African agenda,” he reiterated.
The chairman said that the programme has equipped its participants with specialised procurement methods that prioritise efficiency, quality, and value in public spending while remaining adaptable to individual countries’ situations.
Karani highlighted that the training started in 2019, benefiting more than 3000 members since then, and has now progressed into a structured programme that builds upon each other, namely, basic, intermediate, and advanced. This intermediate edition had 138 participants.
He said that with the help of the World Bank, they have been able to train their homegrown trainers, who now train other trainers, adding that this is a strategic move to embed capacity building for World Bank-funded projects within the institute, thereby facilitating its growth.
Karani said that achieving the goal of being the Pan African Centre for Supply Chain has been a very structured journey to first put in place their internal institutional strengthening in terms of capacity and discipline.
“We recently recruited seven directors, and for the first time we have a substantive CEO who is a world-class professional. Along with him, we have five directors who support him in capacity building, resource mobilisation, publicity, and compliance,” Karani said.
He highlighted that the aspect of ensuring that supply chain companies are based, registered, and licensed has been their key process for the last four years.
Karani cautioned that those doing supply chain work who are not licensed shall be candidates for their disciplinary committee, which does a comprehensive process of investigating, taking into consideration all the aspects to ensure they are removed from the register.
However, he noted that once they are removed from the register, they get an opportunity to be heard, noting that their disciplinary mechanism gives them a chance to be the first point of contact for all their members.
By Fatma Said
