Procurement leaders put supply chain resilience at the heart of Middle East growth ambitions

(MENAFN- Sheila Tobias) 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 CIPS MENA Conference & Awards on 28th and 29th October 2026.
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.
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 conference will also recognise individuals and teams demonstrating excellence and delivering meaningful impact within their organisations and the wider profession.
Sam Achampong, Regional Director, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific at CIPS, said: “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.
“Organisations are recognising that procurement is not simply about buying well or achieving the lowest possible price. The strongest teams are helping their organisations make better strategic decisions, understand where vulnerabilities lie and build the capability they will need for the long term.
“That requires a different kind of procurement profession; one that is commercially confident, able to challenge established thinking and increasingly involved in decisions before they become fixed. 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.”
Across the Middle East, procurement is increasingly moving upstream in organisational decision-making. Early involvement can allow procurement teams to identify supply risks, understand market capacity and engage suppliers before key project parameters have been fixed.
At the same time, investment in local supply chains and supplier development is creating opportunities to build capability closer to home. Stronger local ecosystems can support skills development, improve responsiveness and help organisations diversify sources of supply, while robust governance and supplier assessment remain essential.
Technology is adding another dimension. Better data, digital procurement platforms and artificial intelligence are giving teams new ways to understand spend, assess supplier performance and identify potential vulnerabilities. However, these tools also increase the need for professionals capable of combining technology with commercial judgement and a detailed understanding of supply markets.
“The opportunity for procurement is significant. The profession has the ability to help organisations move from reacting to disruption to anticipating it, from focusing primarily on price to understanding long-term value and from managing suppliers to building stronger supply ecosystems,” Achampong continues. “Those capabilities will become increasingly important as the Middle East continues to invest, diversify and pursue its long-term development ambitions.”
The CIPS MENA Conference & Awards takes place on 28–29 October 2026 in Riyadh, KSA. The Awards will recognise outstanding achievements across the region’s procurement and supply chain profession, with 20 team categories and six individual categories.
To learn more about speakers, topics or register, visit

MENAFN08102026004232015376ID1111778651