Inspiring the leaders of the future with Darren Yang

Traditionally procurement holds the rap of being non-agile, boring and repetitive. Although most procurement teams are rooted within ‘traditional’ practices, hiring digital savvy millennials with quick decisions and a get-go attitude will inject new perspectives and drive the team forward.

This month, Darren Yang Jun Xi from Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd, the young talent winner from the 2020 CIPS Asia Supply Management Award shares about his journey and fosters aspiration in the next generation.

1. What have you learnt so far about success in procurement as a young professional?

The importance of keeping a learner’s mindset – always being curious, open to learning and humility at the heart of everything. I believe that learning can take place everywhere, from everyone and at all level. Taking the CIPS Procurement and Supply qualifications has also provided me additional knowledge to apply in my daily course of work. I am currently taking my level 6 qualification and working towards the MCIPS qualification. Having completed both level 4 and 5, it has been a challenging but yet rewarding journey. I would strongly recommend young professionals considering a career in supply chain to consider taking up the CIPS qualifications.

2. What kept you going during the COVID period?

The world is facing tremendous supply chain challenges brought about by COVID19. These are times unlike any other and our stakeholders require the aid of procurement now to deliver the much-needed supply chain security and optimization. Times like this amplifies the value that procurement brings to the table. COVID19 has taught me a lot about crisis management. Having the chance to experience it so early in my career by itself is a great opportunity for development. On a side note, the world today is facing tremendous challenge due to COVID19. So let’s continue to show care for one another in our day to day life.

3. What does winning the CIPS award mean to you?

This award would not have been possible without the guidance and encouragement from my bosses and mentors that I received over the course of my career. I am blessed to have wonderful bosses who believed in me and giving me so many opportunities to stretch myself. Many of my colleagues at work also invested time to share their wealth of experiences to help accelerate my learning process. For that, I am very grateful too – Thank you! Externally, I am extremely humbled to know that the work I do is well recognized by the judging panel. With this award, I hope I can inspire more young professionals to consider a career in procurement. Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn and I am happy to share more!

4. Any advice for people considering to enter this award?

JUST DO IT! Treat the submission as a celebration of success for yourself and the people that matters around you! This is a great platform to share your accomplishments with the wider procurement community. On a closing note, thank you to Shell for nominating me for the CIPS Young Professional award and all the opportunities given to me within Downstream CP. I know I still have a long way to go in my career and so much more space to grow as a professional. So I will continue to adopt a learner’s mindset and look forward to bringing about more positive changes around me.