In this episode of the Go4Growth podcast our host Gill wears a different hat. One of the voluntary roles Gill has is as Trustee of a Multi Academy Trust and today she is joined by the Head of Business Transformation for the Trust (Nexus) and they talk through the role of procurement in Education through the lens of both practitioners and governance.

They talk through the journey Nexus has been on from a procurement perspective, including how the Procurement Excellence Programme (PEP) has changed how Procurement thinks and acts and the impact it has had so far and will have in the future.

They consider the role procurement plays in supporting teaching and learning, and share a specific project which is based around Biophilic Design. The impacts are pretty staggering!

Gill & Lana also discuss how procurement can align with the employability agenda? Connecting suppliers and students can be really powerful and Lana shares some of the successes and future plans in this area.

We hope you find it an empowering, inspiring and interesting conversation about the power good procurement can bring to education and we'd love to know what you think. Equally, if you're a supplier who would like to know more about supporting employability opportunities through the many ways this can be done, give us a shout at support@go4growth.co.uk and we'll get chatting!

In this episode, we listen to a podcast version of a recording we made for the CIPS West Yorkshire Branch event back in May 2024.

You'll hear Go4Growth co-founder Gillian Askew talk through some facts and stats about the challenges and barriers to working with SMEs through the procurement lens and similarly how the marketplace themselves view the barriers and challenges to working with the public sector.

There's a look at some research findings from research projects Go4Growth has done and some top tips for buyers and commissioners who want to support the SME marketplace.

To finish off we explore the use of AI in bids (amongst other support) and the Procurement Act 2023 and how it could impact SMEs going forward.

If anyone would like to have a look at the iGov survey we did with YPO and the broader results and insights it gave, you can find it here: https://www.ypo.co.uk/public-sector/go4growth - Public Sector Attitudes to Working With SME Suppliers

We hope you find it useful and as always if you'd like to chat more, get in touch at gill@go4growth.co.uk

In this episode founder of Go4Growth Gillian Askew talks through some of the key areas of the Procurement Act 2023 which comes into force in October 2024.

In the podcast you can hear about some of the key changes such as:

• The bidding process
• Enhanced transparency
• MEAT vs MAT
• Supplier performance and contract management
• The Central Digital Platform
• Dynamic markets and frameworks

Gillian discusses how the Act will change things for smaller businesses, looking at what the current challenges and barriers are and the impact that the Act will have. There are lots of reasons for real optimism that Gillian explores discussing the positives of change for smaller organisations.

There is also information on how to get prepared for the changes in the regulations with some guidance for both procurement and the marketplace about how barriers to entry and growth can be removed.

In this episode co-founders of Go4Growth Gill and Jimmy discuss the Carbon Net Zero. They discuss how critical this agenda is and how the focus has really increased over recent years. Jimmy talks through what it's all about and gives an overview of Scopes 1, 2 and 3

Did you know that 80-90% of the total carbon of an organisation will be in one part of Scope 3 emissions? In the Purchased Goods and Services. It's no wonder that Go4Growth, like others, are focussing on building support for both clients and the marketplace in this area.

They talk about the programme Go4Growth has developed and how it helps public sector organisations and both their supply base and the local business and voluntary sector communities calculate the carbon footprint baseline and create and deliver a government compliant carbon reduction plan.

They talk about data, about how crucial it is and how they are working with primary data (actual data) as opposed to secondary data, which is made up of averages and how this de-coupling the data from spend is really transforming the actual view of the carbon reduction challenge ahead of us. It's also crucial in helping to report on accurate progress, and impact of the decisions and activities being undertaken.

As is always the way with Go4Growth, the programme is fully funded and so therefore free at point of use for the marketplace. Not just free for the first plan, or for a finite period of time, free at point of use forever.

We hope you find this podcast useful, give it a listen and tell us what you think. If we can help you with your carbon reduction priorities, get in touch at gill@go4growth.co.uk

Episode 13 of the Go4Growth podcast is now live.

Episode 13 see's your usual hosts, Gill and Lauren discuss Procurement Reform. The pair discuss the changes expected to come as the Procurement Act 2023 comes into play and how providers to the public sector can prepare for these changes and make the most of resources available.

In addition to procurement reform, Gill and Lauren introduce Go4Growths latest social media venture, Tik Tok. Tune into the podcast to find out more about our plans for Tik Tok or simply find us on the platform @go4growth .

To stay up to date with Go4Growth events visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/go4growth-34413476799

Episode 12 is the third instalment in our Procurement Heroes series and although we might be a bit biased, we think this is another really good one!

This time, Gill chats to Mike Fairbotham and Paul Smith about their careers in procurement, how they got into it and the kinds of changes they’ve both seen in our profession over the years. The group also talked about what still needs to change to really elevate procurement and to make sure it is fit for the world we live in both now and in the future.

Connect with Mike and Paul on Linked In:

Paul Smith: linkedin.com/in/pdsmith

Mike Fairbotham: linkedin.com/in/mikefairbotham

Episode 11 sees Gill and Lauren discuss their observations on transferable skills between public sector bidding, private sector bidding and business to consumer, retail type stuff. Secondly the pair run through what Go4Growth's events calendar is likely to look like for 2024 so people get a heads up with what’s coming next year.

To keep up to date with Go4Growth's upcoming events visit: https://bit.ly/G4GEvents

Gill and Lauren can be contacted on:
gill@go4growth.co.uk
lauren@go4growth.co.uk

Episode ten sees Gill and Lauren discuss all things tech and data.

The episode explores Go4Growth engagement figures over the past two years, how we manage our data currently and how we plan to use AI technology going forward. Ironically, in a podcast when technology is on the agenda, we have a couple of technical glitches during this episode so please bear with us when they do happen.

To speak with a member of the team or to suggest content you'd like us to cover in the future, get in touch on support@go4growth.co.uk or on 07557773837.