The 4th Annual Procurement Strategy Summit kicked off yesterday at the Dusit Thani hotel in Dubai which witnessed global procurement leaders and experts come together to hold a dialogue on procurement strategy and driving innovation and growth in the procurement industry. Mark Fadel, General Manager (optimum Procurement) inaugurated the summit with his keynote presentation on '21st Century procurement and supply chain skill sets' followed by sessions on customer centric procurement strategies and risks and challenges faced by global procurement teams. Speakers from segment leading organizations like Amazon, Synertrade, CIPS, EFECO, ADCO and Transguard addressed the delegates on key issues surrounding strategic sourcing and effective procurement strategies.Key highlights of the day included a panel discussion on 'Effective contract management for maximizing financial performance and minimizing risk' moderated by Mark Fadel which had Mohamed Badawy- Cheif Sourcing Officer (Takween Advanced Industries), Jonas Rolo- Head of EMEA Corporate Procurement (Amazon), Fosi Audi- Regional Director (POOL4TOOL), Andre Da Silva- Head of Global Strategic Sourcing (Mubadala Petroleum) and Lalit Dhamija- Team Leader of Procurement Process (ADCO) as panelists and a special session on 'Building future procurement leaders- A view point from milennials' by Sidhant Dhamija- Procurement Category Manager (Transguard).The sponsors and exhibitors also demonstrated innovative solutions and technologies tailormade for the procurement industry to equip participating companies with better market reach and promote healthier customer engagement. Synertrade, GIS and POOL4TOOL are onboard as the Gold, Bronze and Lunch sponsors respectively, while Tejari has partnered as the Strategic Procurement Sponsor for the event. Pagero, Syncron and PROMENA joined as visiting partners while Optimum Procurement is the Knowledge Partner. The event is supported by CIPS and conceptualized by Fleming. Today, the second day of the summit will have dedicated sessions such as 'Digitalization in procurement- Unleashing the power of digital procurement' by Abdelghany Eladib- Founder and CEO of Integrated Business Solutions, 'Potential of internet to revolutionize procurement' by Filipe Barreiros- Procurement Director (OSN), 'Developing Supplier Market' by Gustavo Rico- Global Procurement Director (Unilever) and presentations on the impact of BREXIT and risk and fraud mitigation. A panel discussion titled 'Emergence of e-procurement- taking the function forward to the next level' moderated by Lalit Dhamija followed by a roundtable discussion involving all the delegates will also be hosted today.