CIPS convenes procurement leaders to examine geopolitical risk
The growing importance of resilient supply chains to the Middle East’s long-term development ambitions will be in focus as procurement leaders from across the region come together for the upcoming CIPS MENA Conference & Awards on 28th and 29th October 2026 in Riyadh.
With countries across the region continuing to pursue major investment and economic diversification programmes, procurement and supply chain teams are operating in an increasingly complex environment.
Alongside securing value and maintaining cost discipline, professionals are being asked to navigate geopolitical disruption, strengthen supply resilience, develop local supplier capability and utilise rapidly evolving technologies.
Pressures
These pressures are changing both the role of procurement and the skills required of the profession. The conference will bring leaders together to examine how organisations can anticipate supply risk, build stronger supplier ecosystems, make better use of data and technology and ensure procurement contributes earlier to strategic decision-making.
“The scale of ambition across the Middle East is extraordinary but ambition ultimately has to translate into delivery. Procurement has an increasingly important role to play in making that happen,” stated Sam Achampong, Regional Director, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, CIPS.
“Bringing professionals together to share experience and learn from what others are doing well is an important part of building that capability across the region,” he continued.
The CIPS MENA Conference & Awards will recognise outstanding achievements across the region’s procurement and supply chain profession, with 20 team categories and six individual categories.
