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Meet the Buyer 2021: Community Wealth Building (Supply Chain) Stage

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Learn more about the Community Wealth Building (Supply Chain) Stage at Meet the Buyer 2021!

There will be the biggest agenda to date at a national Meet the Buyer event with three main stages: including the Inclusive Growth Stage, Sustainability and Innovation Stage, and Community Wealth Building (Supply Chain) Stage.

Suppliers are invited to watch presentations throughout the day. Each stage has a slightly different timetable, with in-built time for visiting the virtual stands. There is not enough time to watch every single presentation and take part in every live question and answer session, so the Supplier Development Programme encourages all suppliers to plan their time in advance. All presentations, including each live question and answer session, will be available on the Supplier Development Programme's YouTube Channel after the event. Please click to subscribe!

All three of the stages will begin the same way on 8 June:

9:00am Portal Opens (Please note: suppliers will not be able to interact with exhibitors until the 10:00am start!)

10:00am Meet the Buyer 2021 Opens

  • Keynote Address by SDP Chair, Councillor Heather Brannan-McVey

10:10am Ministerial Address (Subject to Parliamentary Business)

  • Welcome from Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism & Enterprise

Following these two opening plenary sessions, the three Stages will begin.

At 10:15am, the Community Wealth Building (Supply Chain) stage will feature a presentation from SDP’s newest Corporate Member, Robertson FM. Suppliers will learn a bit about what the company does, what future contract opportunities it has and where to find them. If you're not part of the FM supply chain, and you don't think that this session is relevant to you - think again! There are many opportunities available in local areas throughout Scotland for different areas of work, and Robertson FM wants you to engage - whatever your sector. Be sure to engage with the Q&A and submit your questions to have them answered live!

At 11:30am, you can join for the latest news on the Kype Muir Wind Farm Project in South Lanarkshire from the Banks Group and SDP's Corporate Member, RJ McLeod. Suppliers can read more about the project in SDP’s recent article about Announcing the contract win for RJ McLeod as part of Banks Renewables “Connect2Renewables” initiative, which ensures as much of the investments made in these projects benefit the local community as much as possible. This session will be followed by a live Q&A, giving suppliers the opportunity to ask how they can get involved as a subcontractor on this contract.

At 12:00pm, there will be 30 minutes of dedicated time for suppliers to visit the exhibition stands.

At 12:30pm, there will be an address from Gillian Cameron, SDP Programme Manager. You'll be able to hear more about SDP's latest offer for Scottish SMEs, supported businesses and third sector organisations: tender training on demand through eLearning! SDP’s expert trainers will be on hand to give their expert tendering tips to bid for the upcoming opportunities you'll hear about direct from exhibitors on the day. Many SDP trainers have been in both a supplier and a buyer role, so they understand the tendering process very well. This session will be a great opportunity for you to ask any question about the tendering process you may have - and maybe pick up a new tip or two to earn extra points on your next tender!

After SDP’s presentation and live Q&A, there will be another hour of dedicated time for the suppliers to visit the exhibition area, from 1:00pm-2:00pm.

Local and Sustainable Sourcing in Scotland’s School Meals: How can suppliers get involved?

Buying local food and drink is critical to Scotland's public sector, but how can small suppliers get involved? At 2:00pm, there will be a presentation from the Soil Association and Scotland Excel focusing on local and sustainable sourcing in Scottish school meals and the very important Food Frameworks that suppliers can bid for with Scotland Excel, which supplies to all 32 Scottish local authorities and other public sector bodies. The presentation will be given by Lucie Wardle, Soil Association Scotland Food for Life Supply Chain Officer, and Laura Muir, Scotland Excel Senior Procurement Specialist. The presentation will be followed by a live Q&A for suppliers to ask questions.

The final session of the day will also be on the food and drink sector. Suppliers will learn more from lead organiser Lee Fitzpatrick about the #FoodHeroScot campaign, and how it is designed to showcase the innovation and creativity of Scotland’s hospitality industry in responding to the climate change emergency. The presentation will also be followed by a live Q&A.

To get the latest updates, view the main agenda on the Meet the Buyer page.

Meet the Buyer 2021 closes at 4:00pm.

Next steps

Prior to the event, the Supplier Development Programme advises all attendees to look at the full agenda on the Meet the Buyer page to help you decide which presentations you wish to attend prior to the event. You will not be able to attend all of the presentations as they are across three stages and some run at the same time. Don’t worry if you miss a presentation you really wanted to see, because you can watch all the presentations on demand or at a later date on the Supplier Development Programme website or on the SDP YouTube Channel.

There's still time to book a free place for Meet the Buyer 2021 on 8 June. Register your place on the SDP website.

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