Supply Chain starts and ends with collaboration.
-Stela Jaqueta
Episode Summary
In this new episode of Whiteboard Wisdom, host Scott Luton welcomes Stella Jaqueta, a procurement professional and supply chain enthusiast, to discuss the importance of collaboration in supply chain management.
Jaqueta emphasized that successful collaboration is key to achieving efficiency and cost reduction, gaining competitive advantage, and fostering innovation and product development. She also highlighted the importance of establishing clear goals, developing trusting relationships, and aligning incentives for effective collaboration. Watch and learn more!
Episode Transcript
Scott Luton (00:23):
Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and special guest, the one only Stella Chita with you here today. Welcome to Supply Chain now. Stella. Hey, you doing today?
Stela Jaqueta (00:41):
I’m great. Thank you Scott for this amazing opportunity. I’m feeling great. I hope you’re also having a great day.
Scott Luton (00:48):
I am. It’s so great. It’s wonderful to reconnect with you. Really enjoyed our time together in Cape Town. We did a panel discussion, you were a keynote, you joined me for an interview. We had a great time and it’s great to have you back here today talking about what’s going to be a special conversation, especially for our supply chain, our community on YouTube. Three reasons why collaborations are key in supply chain. So we all know successful collaboration is how we get it done in global supply chain. I’m looking forward to getting Stella’s take on that as well as some of the Been there, done there. I’m sorry, been there, done that. Tips on how to achieve optimal collaboration and Stella collaboration is not only really effective and powerful, it can be a whole heck of a lot of fun. Right,
Stela Jaqueta (01:37):
Right. I think it all starts and ends with collaboration. Yes. And we’ll delve into that.
Scott Luton (01:44):
We sure are. We sure are. So a couple of housekeeping things before we jump into today’s discussion. Hey, I think federal regulations require me to ask you to like and comment the episode. If you enjoy the conversation, hey, share it with a friend, they’ll be glad you did. So lemme introduce my friend, the one and only the proven practitioner, Stella Chitta. So she’s a procurement professional and a supply chain enthusiast who is passionate about serving as a voice and advocate for the development of the African supply chain. As I mentioned, I met Stella in person in Cape Town at an industry event where she was a featured speaker, and I’ll tell you, she knocked her hats and our socks off. Stella is also podcast host of your Africa supply chain podcast, Y-A-S-C-P, Yas P, which by the way, that’s the first Mozambican supply chain podcast ever. So Stella, great to have you back with us. How are you doing?
Stela Jaqueta (02:39):
I’m doing great. Yeah. Scott, I thank you for this amazing opportunity for having me on this amazing program that you started with the web series. So thank you so much.
Scott Luton (02:50):
You bet. Well, we have you back, not just because we like you, we have you back because I really love your thought leadership and today we’re talking about the power of collaboration in supply chain, right Stella?
Stela Jaqueta (03:05):
Yes.
Scott Luton (03:06):
So when you start to think about that, Stella, when you start to think about the power of collaboration in supply chain, my hunch is a couple of things come to mind, huh?
Stela Jaqueta (03:18):
Yes, Scott. One of the things that I really love when I was thinking about, okay, with supply chain, it all starts and I think it starts and falls with collaboration. And all I want to do is I love to start with definitions because it really brings us into a base understanding on what we, in order for us to have a common understanding, I can say, and collaboration, according to the dictionary, it says that it is the situation of two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing. And I love definitions that are very simple, straight to the point. We are all understanding here. First thing is that you can’t do it yourself. You can’t do it yourself. It takes two to tango. It’s like in a marriage it takes two to be in a marriage. So collaboration, it starts with having two or more people, two organizations coming together for that amazing union.
(04:18):
Another thing about collaboration is that there is a goal to be achieved and it’s very important to have a vision set in that standard because sometimes an organization or two organizations can come together, especially in supply chain. Let’s give an example, right? I love examples. So you’ll have a lot of examples. Let’s say an organization is trying to get into the African market and they don’t really have operations, they don’t even know how to navigate into that. And they now want to partner with a local African organization that’s in South Africa in order to distribute their products, in order to introduce them to the market. It is very important to communicate that, to share that information in order for both of them understand where the South African organization can get that information and how that other organization that is coming from another continent, from another organizational culture is also benefiting from that partnership. So collaboration, there must be a goal to be achieved. Yes,
Scott Luton (05:24):
Ella? Hey, really quick if I can, otherwise, if we don’t have a goal, an objective, some kind of agenda, some kind of priorities, otherwise we’re just sitting around a table enjoying each other’s company, breaking bread and having a good time, which isn’t bad, but what are we doing here? What are we doing here? That’s such a great point. And so what’s the third one? Stella?
Stela Jaqueta (05:45):
We all need to be in agreement. Scott, you can’t have a collaboration if you’re all not in agreement. It must be to achieve the same thing if we want to increase our customer database, you are all in agreement if you want to get yourself into a different product or bring new innovation that both of the parties need to be in agreement. So it must be, you guys need to be in the same understanding of what you want to achieve at the end of the day. Collaboration. Remember, you can’t do it yourself. You need to have a goal to achieve and you all have to work on the same path. You all have to be in agreement.
Scott Luton (06:30):
What a great opening, a segment that is to establish and align around not just the definition of collaboration, but some of the hallmarks of what we need to lean into collaborate. And I love your emphasis on examples. I think examples is how we learn, not learn best perhaps, but it’s a real powerful learning tool. So when you think of really successful and cool collaborations here in our time, what comes to mind? Stella?
Stela Jaqueta (07:03):
I love sneakers first of all. So I was like, okay, I love sneakers. I’m like, Ooh, air Jordans, Nike, and Michael Jordans coming together and please Nike. And if you want to sponsor this episode, you’re welcome. So this is a great collab, great organization, two entities. You have Michael Jordan that has his fan base and you already have Nike that has its own fan base and they came together that perfect unit. And up until today it is standing strong and making profit in distributing and getting it into new markets. We have Adidas and Stan Smith, again, another sports organization, another sports entity which is stands smith, right, with Adidas coming together in order to get that shoes and even reach customers that before they couldn’t reach it by themselves. So you have people who are fan of stands made of his work and you have people who are fan of Adidas shoes and perhaps they couldn’t reach them by now. This collaboration, they can, how can I say? Synchronize?
Scott Luton (08:12):
They can shoot for the moon. Oh, synchronize and shoot for the moon, right?
Stela Jaqueta (08:15):
Exactly. And the last one that I really like is also Savage and Fenty. It’s another great collaboration and when we talk about collaboration, you need to have those pictures in mind, how it can really bring benefit not only for your organization but also to the world. Because right now we all know, I think even people, even if you want to comment on the section, if you have Michael Jordan, like Air Jordans stands Smith, so we all know that. Okay, we’re in the same page.
Scott Luton (08:48):
Stella, there’s other shoe lovers out there, right? Other big shoe fans out there, right, Stella?
Stela Jaqueta (08:53):
Yeah, yeah, it’s a comments.
Scott Luton (08:57):
So I love those examples and I think one more came to mind as I was getting ready for today and toys are Russ, I grew up with toys are Russ as a brand, it was a toy store. We’d all go there and try to pick out our holiday gifts, Christmas gifts, whatever. And of course the retailer went under. And then in the last year or two, maybe a couple years back, I can’t remember exactly, I think Target licensed the Toys R Us brand so they could stand up a Toys R Us website where Target was kind of the back office, but it was a toys brand and what a cool collaboration that for many folks my age, it kind of took us back to our upbringing and I bet there’s a lot of sentimental purchases and shopping that took place. So I don’t know the sheer outcomes, but I thought that was a really cool collaboration between two brands. One that was around for a lot of our upbringing. So alright, so we’ve established some cool collaborations. We’ve established that Stella is a big old shoe lover. We’ve established that I’m a child of the eighties. Give my Toys R us. Alright, so looking at what’s next, let’s talk about three reasons why collaborations are absolutely key in supply chain. Stella, what comes to mind?
Stela Jaqueta (10:17):
The first thing, and again Scott, we’re in supply chain, I know efficiency and cost reduction just gives us the thrills when we hear these words. So I needed to bring that on. Have to have to, yeah. Okay, so I’ll give, as you say, we love examples here and it’s a great way for us to learn. So imagine that you are an organization that produces cards and you really want to implement just in time inventory management system because you want to minimize your inventory levels, you want to reduce the cost of holding excess stock, right? So you now for that to really happen, you need to collaborate with your suppliers, you need to collaborate with your logistics provider in order to have the products or the inventory just in time for your production. So that means what information sharing needs to be on time on point, real time demand, forecast, production schedules because your supplier needs to know exactly when you’re going to produce, how are you going to do it so that they can bring the inventory on time. And it is important to have integration in order for you to now you’re reducing your extra stock. The second one, competitive advantage we’ve mentioned here about Michael Jordan and Nike. Nike and I believe that partnership, it has only rendered them competitive advantage because people, they can stand on cues now just because an air Jordan has been released. Not that I did. Not that I did,
Scott Luton (11:54):
No. Are you sure?
Stela Jaqueta (11:58):
Not that I did, but I know a friend that knows a friend that did that. Ah, gotcha, gotcha. So competitive advantage, when you come to collaboration, you get to reach new markets, you get to meet new people that you yourself could not reach it as an organization. So there’s only great things that you can achieve from a great collaboration. And lastly, innovation and product development. For example, one of the things that I’ve mentioned, let’s say that you are a company that wants to really go into the African market and we know that the African market is different from the American market is different from the European market. So you need to sometimes to localize your product so you could partner with a local organization that knows the market, that knows the culture, that knows how people will respond to your product and adapt your brand, adapt your imagery, adapt your product in order to fit that specific market. So these are the three reasons that I believe collaborations, if it’s done right, mastery, beautiful,
Scott Luton (13:04):
It’s beautiful and fun and effective and it produces outcomes and it also helps organizations, partners across the ecosystem, new and old, achieve greater innovative things, right? Move mountains. And I want to point out two things. I loved all of that. I was taking, I’ve got six pages of notes already, Stella, but two things in particular. You mentioned communication, right? What’s old is new. Again, communication is so vital. However, you also mentioned integration. So think about if in the current state or future state, if as much as we want to pick up the phone or shoot an email or shoot a text or what have you or Slack or whatever, imagine if we can integrate our partners, our collaborative partners within our current technology platforms so that it’s not even needed. It just happens. It just happens. And talk about ways that, yeah, it is magic, right? Talk about ways we can pull friction out of our day-to-day or make it easier for our team members to be successful, what they want to do, make it easier for that success to happen. That is also a very beautiful thing, Ella, respond to that. If you would, before we move on to my next question for you.
Stela Jaqueta (14:20):
No, as you’re speaking Scott, I was like imagine the magic that you can create out of that because when we collaborate, when we integrate well mean that I’ll talk about the relationship aspect of it. It really, there’s only so much that you can gain from it and both parties only have to gain out of this amazing relationship and magic. Then all the good things can come out.
Scott Luton (14:51):
Lots of good things to know. I love
Stela Jaqueta (14:52):
Collaboration.
Scott Luton (14:53):
I do too, but we’re having a lot of fun with it because it can be very fulfilling and rewarding. However, to keep it real every day isn’t like walking on the tulips and beautiful with no tough. I mean there are days that it’s tough to collaborate and I think we’re going to probably touch on this in just a second, but that’s a really important thing to acknowledge because great partners can collaborate good or are well on the good days and the bad days. So with that, I think that’s a great segue. I want to ask you about as we’re calling it the how So Stella in your view, when folks ask how can we optimize our supply chain collaborations, what three things come to your mind?
Stela Jaqueta (15:41):
Yes. Remember what I said in the beginning that you can’t do it yourself. You need to establish a goal and you all need to be in agreement. So it all starts with that. It starts with having a clear vision of what goals you want to achieve. Define it from the beginning, from the get go. If your objective it is to reduce lead time, it is to minimize inventory. Be very clear with your future partner or with your potential partner or even with your supplier, what you want to achieve at the end of the day. Because you may say, I just want my deliveries to be next day. I don’t want it to take it a week. I need my deliveries to be next day because that’s what I want. But then the supply doesn’t understand, doesn’t understand why you want it, maybe because you are having too much cost, you’re having too much inventory or maybe because your customers, they prefer to the goods to be delivered next day rather than a week. So you guys need to be in the same understanding of what goals you want to achieve. The why is very important, right?
Scott Luton (16:50):
Yes. Hey Stella, if I can add just one more thing. If your suppliers and your collaboration partners know your why, they might have solutions that are even better than what you want to do, right, Stella?
Stela Jaqueta (17:02):
Exactly, exactly. Yeah, it is very important because now again, that collaboration, that relationship as we’re going to discuss now, it just has so many things that you can benefit out of it. The second one, as I say, develop trusting relationship and guys relationship takes time. It’s not just you approach them and be like, I want this, this, this and that. That’s not relationship, that’s a transaction. So it’s very important with collaboration, develop a, fostering a trusting relationship. And it takes time, it takes communication, it takes information sharing in order for you to actually know where you guys want to achieve. And Scott, some of the that, and I’ll give you an example. Let’s say I start Jata sneakers, right?
Scott Luton (17:55):
Love it, love it
Stela Jaqueta (17:56):
Jacket. Maybe it’s a brand, please. I’ll patent
Scott Luton (18:01):
Trademark.
Stela Jaqueta (18:01):
Let’s say trademark it. I start Jata sneakers and I partner let’s say with Christiana Ronaldo, and we make millions and millions of dollars because of that collaboration, right? And Nike now wants to partner with Jata sneakers. Cool. And now Nike, since it has been there in the market for so long and they know they have the distribution channels in order, they have the network all set up for them and it’s bigger than of course check get the sneakers that just started a month ago. They can be like, okay, let’s partner, but it’s on my terms. You have to adhere to my terms. Okay, my terms and condition, you adhere to this. So now it’s like I have to, this is a relationship or this captivity because you want that collaboration. Yeah,
Scott Luton (18:57):
I love your point, relationship versus transaction. Because for Chita sneakers in this example, it’s got to be good business for Chita sneakers. It can’t just be about doing business with a big brand that you’d love to work with. If the relationship isn’t there, it may not be good business. I think that’s one of the points you’re making, Stella. Right?
Stela Jaqueta (19:18):
Exactly. Exactly. It’s very important in order to have open communication, open communication in order for you to really get the most out of this relationship. Right? And lastly, you need to align your incentives. Okay, we are businesses, we want to make profit at the end of the day doing good, fostering, surveying our customers. We also want to make profit and it’s very important to measure it up in five years, in 10 years. Can you say that this collaboration, this relationship has brought you results. For example, before me partnering with Jata sneakers, I was in this level and now after partnering with them for five years, I can see that my turnover has increased 50%, 70%. It’s very important to measure how will the profit be shared. Because I can say I brought my name in, I have all the resources, all the network, but you are just there just for the cloud I can say. So it’s very important how you share the profits and other incentives in order to also, it’s beneficial for both parts because we don’t want this to be strenuous when you should say, okay, I have to do it for because of the money. No, it’s not only because of that, it’s also for the learned lessons that you’ll have it. So for me, Scott, these three things will just take the relationship and collaboration to a whole nother level.
Scott Luton (20:53):
Love that. I love your perspective here. And I would just add to that, if you don’t do number three there, which is align incentives so that all parties are incentivized to lean in and make the collaboration happen. I can promise you this, 99.999 times percent of the time, it’s going to be a short term collaboration and it’s going to be transactional, a true relationship. So build for the big picture as often as you can. Okay, Stella, really have enjoyed your perspective here today. I wish we had a couple more hours, but I got a couple of final questions before we sign off here today. I love what you’re doing at your African supply chain podcast, your Africa Supply Chain podcast. Hang on a sec, hang one sec. Lemme mark that. I got to get that right. So Catherine, just give me a quick thumbs up. I added an end there on that second word. So I’m going to start right back where I start to move and we’ll make a mark of that. Okay? So I’m going to pause and I’m going to pick back up and we’re going to wrap with those two quick questions. I’m going to sun off here we go in three.
(22:07):
Alright Stella. Love it, love it, love it. I got a couple quick questions before we let you go. I wish you had a couple more hours here. I can’t wait to see you in person next go round. Alright, but when it comes to your Africa supply chain podcast, which is a pioneering podcast, as we mentioned the first Mozambique supply chain podcast. I loved your innovation and your thought leadership. What’s been one of your favorite recent episodes,
Stela Jaqueta (22:34):
Guys? So many, but okay, I’ll just say two, but I’ll just be very brief around it. Okay. One of them is African leadership that I recorded with Benjamin Ong. Oh my gosh, that episode every time he was speaking I was just like loan
Scott Luton (22:54):
Literally. Oh, must’ve been good. Okay. Alright.
Stela Jaqueta (22:58):
Oh my gosh. African leadership, that one was amazing. And also love this episode, I did it with Sophia Riva Herrera where we talked about Gen Z because we are also Gen Z in supply chain navigating this world. So it was a different perspective. We also to get different opinions. So these episodes are just in my heart. Love it. So I love recording them.
Scott Luton (23:21):
Love it. Stella, you and Sophia, you are quite the one two punch, not taking anything away from you at the first show you mentioned, but we’re going to have to get you and Sophia together because I think you’re quite a tandem. So I look forward to future collaborations. Hey, no pun intended, right? Alright, so for folks out there, maybe they want to tune into your podcast, maybe they want to tune into just talk shop or supply chain or business. Maybe they want to bring you in and have you speak to their organizations, you name it. How can folks connect with you? Stella?
Stela Jaqueta (23:53):
Yes, the easiest way. You can see my name there, Stella Jata. You can go to LinkedIn and get access to me and also you can either email me as well, I’m available at stella dota@gmail.com. You can reach out to me anyways. Also, I’m also on Instagram at Stella Dota. You can reach out to me at any please. And your African supply chain podcast is also on LinkedIn. Reach out, I’m available. It’s going to be an amazing collaboration.
Scott Luton (24:27):
Well, I really enjoyed your perspective here today and I’ll tell you, you’re the same person as genuine and thoughtful and sharp and person as you are here in the digital studio. So it’s delightful to have you back and look forward to reconnecting soon. Stella Sheta, y’all check her out, connect with her. Okay. Hey folks, hope you’ve enjoyed this conversation with Stella as much as I have. Be sure to connect with her, but even more importantly, the onus is on you to take one thing. One great piece of advice from the truckload that Stella brought us here today. Put it into practice deeds, not words. Your team will be appreciative, your suppliers, your collaboration partners, they’ll appreciate it. Hey, successful collaboration can offer all sorts of returns to the ecosystem and all parties within. So let’s jump on this opportunity. Your team sure will appreciate it. With that said, Scott Luton here on behalf of the supply chain now team, challenging you to do good, to give forward and to be the change that’s needed and we’ll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain. Now. Thanks everybody.
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Stela Jaqueta is a Podcast Host, Procurement Professional and Supply Chain Enthusiast. Her main goal is to be a voice and advocate for the Development of the African Supply Chain. She has a Masters in Supply Chain Management from University of Pretoria. During her career, she has been exposed to practical projects that dealt with end-to-end supply chain. Additionally, she has published an academic article on the Physical Distribution Challenges and Adaptations in emerging African Markets. Her drive has always been to see the development of African Markets which has led her to write articles that assimilates Supply Chain Professionals with Create thinkers. One of her achievements include being ASCA Ambassador for 2023. And ultimately, her zeal steered her to start the first Mozambican Supply Chain Podcast titled: YASCP (Your African Supply Chain Podcast) out of the desire to showcase African Supply Chains in an uncomplicated manner. The podcast has covered topics such as cultural training in Supply Chain, Procurement, African Supply Chains and Supply Chain Talents. Her dream is to see Africa taking its rightful place as a Global Competitive Player. Connect with Stela on LinkedIn.
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