While we are seeing an increase in the South African talent pool of engineers in the supply chain space – particularly female engineers – there is a downward trend in graduates entering the manufacturing sector. On the Mondelēz Manufacturing Supply Chain (MSC) team, we believe this trend will mean that in 20 years’ time, there will be a shortage of capable people across the industry – and we’re starting to work now to avoid that.
The Case for Manufacturing
Modern engineering graduates don’t see the FMCG manufacturing space as ‘sexy’ enough – they want to work in the motor industry or tech, largely because they don’t have an understanding of how advanced our manufacturing and supply chain sectors actually are. The manufacturing part of the chain has been the most heavily male-dominated section, while women have largely gravitated towards planning and procurement – the more office-bound positions in the integrated supply chain environment.
Mining for Talent
The supply chain space has in the past lacked formalised talent pipelines for a long time and we’re now working on creating a graduate programme that focuses on both men and women, to help us avoid that talent vacuum we’ve foreseen for two decades’ time. We’ll be biased towards female participants because we need to improve the diversity in MSC – if there are two identically-qualified candidates, one male and one female, we’ll show a preference for the female candidate – but if a male candidate is more qualified, he’ll deservedly get his spot. We have two graduate trainees in the programme now, but there’s plenty of work to be done and we’re expanding the scope and reach all the time.
Women in Supply Chain
We’re fortunate at Mondelēz International to have four strong female leads in our supply chain space – a rarity in an industry that remains male-dominated. What women bring to this technical environment is that they are extremely dedicated because of the way they’ve had to fight for their space in it. They are as – if not more – qualified than their male counterparts and also bring a more human side to what can be a clinical environment.
Women don’t see challenges in black & white and are able to be more flexible and adaptable because of all the other challenges that they are forced to solve on a daily basis in every environment in which they operate. When a female leader comes in, her male counterparts may struggle to understand that more balanced leadership style because they’re used to rigidity, and it’s amazing to see how things blossom once they understand that they can engage differently and how that helps the team meet challenges. Once we work together as a team, operating from the same levels of empathy, things flow much better.
That said, the professional body for Supply Chain Management’s (SAPICS) latest Women in Supply Chain Leadership Survey revealed that women in the supply chain profession earn less than their male counterparts and the majority of them have faced gender discrimination in the workplace. 64% of the female respondents said that they had experienced or witnessed gender discrimination in the workplace and 70% of the women surveyed had experienced resistance when leading men.
Connecting Women in Supply Chain
There’s quite a lot being done for the advancement of women in the technical supply chain environment and it’s important to us that it’s done in such a way that men don’t feel like they’re being left out. We want to advance women but we still want to look after talented male team members so that there’s a place for both in the future, in the best interests of the organisation.
In MSC, we have small groups where women can connect and bigger groups like our Women’s Forum. In our region, we have informal forums where female leaders can connect and check in with each other every now and then. These types of forums allow for connection, and for colleagues to be able to share challenges, focus on solutions and celebrate successes together.
For me, supporting women in MSC is not just about equity, but it’s also about boosting the South African economy. Many women either stay home to raise children or are employed at lower levels and therefore make a smaller contribution to the economy – whereas I think that by empowering both genders, more people can contribute to the economy and help improve it.
