You Had Me at the Green Font, You Lost Me at Procurement
When people ask me about procurement — which, let’s be honest, is not exactly a daily event — I never know where to begin. Not because the topic is boring, but because procurement is everywhere. It shapes the world around us in ways most people never notice. The toothpaste on your sink, the meal you order at lunch, the bus you take to work, school, or your dentist appointment — all of it exists because somewhere, someone made a procurement decision.
The Bus You Take…
You might think buses come every twenty minutes, every half hour, or once an hour simply because “that’s the schedule.” But behind that timetable is a surprisingly complex set of calculations. At some point, the transport authority sat down and weighed the cost of running a service against the demand for it.
How many people board the bus every twenty minutes?
How does ridership change at different times of the day?
What’s the cost of fuel? maintenance? drivers’ wages?
What’s the price the public is willing to pay for a ticket?
When they match the service to the need — not too frequent, not too sparse — that’s procurement. It is the same logic companies, governments, hospitals, schools, and even households use every day, whether they know it or not.
Procurement is getting the right product, in the right quantity, at the right time, in the right place, and at the right price.
Cost vs Price
You may look at two products with identical features, yet one is inexplicably more expensive. Or a service that seems too cheap to be true. That difference nearly always comes down to procurement.
Cost is what the producer spends to create something — materials, labour, operations, maintenance.
Price is what you pay.
And between cost and price lies the margin — the 15%, 30%, or even 50% buffer that keeps a business alive. Strong procurement determines whether that margin makes sense, whether the price is fair, and whether the product is worth buying in the first place.
Procurement is about trade-offs, priorities, and informed choices., not contracts, paperwork or approvals. It is the quiet engine running under every organisation and, surprisingly, under most of our daily routines as well.
The Point of This Blog
When you rent a flat, you’re doing procurement. You weigh location, budget, commute time, and the hidden costs of making a place feel like home.
When you choose a supermarket, a phone plan, or a dentist, you’re doing procurement.
Even your morning coffee is a tiny procurement decision — you evaluate convenience, taste, price, ethics (if you’re feeling virtuous), and availability.
So yes — procurement is everywhere. It shapes systems, services, prices, and experiences. It connects people, products, and decisions in ways that are invisible until you start looking.
This blog is my way of showing you that procurement is more than forms and vendors and contracts. It is human, it is strategic, and it touches your life every single day.
Stay tuned — we’re just getting started.
