Gold Fields Ghana Limited spent $896 million in 2022 to procure goods and services for its operations with more than 90 per cent of the amount going to local Ghanaian suppliers, the Vice President and Head of Finance, Gold Fields West Africa, Lindley Hassler Witbool, has stated.
He, therefore entreated the 1,600 active Ghanaian suppliers and other business partners to deliver quality products and services crucial to its mining operations in the country.
“With such a large number of suppliers and enormous procurement budget, it is in order to gather all of our business partners, once in a while, to deliberate on issues of mutual concern,” Mr Witbool told participants at a two-day supply chain conference at Tarkwa Mine in the Western Region.
“It is to also share ideas and best practices to navigate global supply chain challenges that directly impact our businesses, learn new trends to improve our business processes,” Mr Witbool added.
It was on the theme “The Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) culture change: An imperative to building a resilient supply chain through partnership”.
The suppliers will discuss supply chain challenges, procurement, energy and decarbonisation, the people factor, female empowerment, gender framework to support female owned businesses and an effective emergency evacuation drill.
He said that 2019 conference provided constructive feedback and ideas from our suppliers and had restructured and improved procurement, tender and payment procedures, to ease the process and eliminate bottlenecks over the few years, hence the theme for the 2023 one.
He said the supply chain strategy supported the development of local businesses through capacity-building strategic incubation including prompt and hassle-free payment for goods and services supplied.
Moreover, Mr Witbool said implemented preferential payment terms for licensed small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) that had established offices in host communities.
This, he explained that host
community SMEs who supplied to the company would receive payment within 10 to 15 days, once they submitted a valid invoice.
In line with ESG issues, Mr Witbool said the company was discussing how to deal with businesses owned and led by women, particularly on gender diversity, “which charges us to increase women representation in our workforce to 30 per cent by 2030.”
This policy, he said, went beyond employing more women to incubating and empowering female entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders.
“We do not intend to unduly prioritise female-owned and led businesses to the detriment of other companies. Once you meet the tender requirements for a job, we will ensure fairness in awarding these contracts,” Mr Witbool stressed.
He said helping businesses to grow fell under Gold Fields ESG priority 6, which is stakeholder value creation, mandating the company to create and share the value of gold with all our stakeholders, including business partners.
He added “As such, our goal is to carry you all along as we explore various opportunities to sustain our mining operations for the long-term benefit of all stakeholders.
“You must learn about our supply chain procedures, understand the requirements for engaging in tender, be aware of our expectations –be sure to follow them–to benefit from the various business opportunities available at Gold Fields,” he said.
Head of Supply Chain, Gold Fields, Theophilus Otchere, described the conference as important because “globally, supply chain is what is getting us moving.”
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI
BOYE, TARKWA
