Standard Lesotho Bank’s head of procurement, Lesenyeho Ntsane, has highlighted the pivotal role played by sustainable supply chain, and other macro factors on the country’s economy.
Ntsane said this during SLB’s Supplier Symposium on Monday this week which was aimed at enhancing communication and collaboration between the bank and suppliers.
The meeting was held under the theme: “Driving sustainable and inclusive economic growth, in partnership with our suppliers, clients and stakeholders.”
It provided a platform for networking, sharing best practices and fostering innovation, ultimately improving supply chain efficiency and building stronger relationships.
The symposiumdelved into topics ranging from sustainability practices, innovative supply chain models and the importance of diversity and inclusion.
Ntsane described a sustainable supply chain as a network of interconnected businesses and processes that work together to produce and deliver goods and services in a way that minimises negative environmental impacts, promotes social responsibility and ensures economic viability.
He mentioned shocks that have affected the supply chain over the past five years, and challenges that supply chain practitioners face that have to be dealt with in future.
“The need to have this discussion about supply chain is that competition between companies is done through supply chain, therefore our ability as a bank to deliver to our ultimate clients is dependent on what the suppliers here are able to provide.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that the suppliers are always aligned with the bank’s strategic goals such as Environmental, Social and Governance initiatives and Third-Party Risk Management as the value chain participants,” Ntsane noted.
Speaking of the value chain shocks of the bank over the past five previous years, he stated that Covid-19 was one of them which impacted everyone.
SLB needed to step in to help the country in terms of oxygen supply and beds which were in shortage in hospitals.
“So, our responsibility goes beyond daily transactions; and we are contributing to the supply chains of this country.
“The Suez Canal blockage trade loss was estimated at US$14 million, resulting in delayed goods and that shows how important supply chains are. We ordered servers which took eight months without getting those and that underpins the importance of managing value chains, hence we are here,” Ntsane said.
From the previous symposium, he indicated, some of the impacts they have observed as a bank including enhanced compliance with the regulatory requirements like tax and money laundering laws.
He therefore urged the need to ensure that there is no money laundering and modern slavery in supply chain.
“We need to work together to come up with better solutions that will help us scale up, and do everything we can to drive this economy while not impacting negatively on the environment. We need to remain socially responsible while also ensuring that our values and practices are aligned.
“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress and working together is success,” he added.
On his part, SLB chief executive officer, Anton Nicolaisen, underscored the vital role SLB plays in driving Lesotho’s economic growth.
He said as one of the key corporates in this country, SLB acknowledges the responsibility they have in developing supply chain in supporting economic growth.
“As one of our first components, we want to be a trusted bank in everything we do, as well as by growing Lesotho in creating prosperity, which is one of the important words to Basotho.
“We want to create value, through providing financial solutions. I trust that today’s session will help us by putting tools that will equip suppliers with knowledge to grow their businesses,” Nicolaisen noted.
He reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to growing the nation by offering tailored financial solutions and revealed that 85 percent of the bank’s supply base is locally sourced, noting the importance of nurturing local partnerships. “As the bank, we depend largely on technology therefore there are issues like cyber security, money laundering, and we need to have systems stability and therefore depend on suppliers. Therefore, as we do that we ensure that this value chains impacts positively on the economy as well as on the social aspect,” he added.
