In a historic edition, the first online and free, the ME B2B Summit took place on November 10th and 11th, with the participation of thinkers, futurists and great professionals from the market.
There were 5 hours of content and 6 lectures with H2H themes, that is, human to human, made by people and for people.
More than 2.600 professionals signed up to see topics on purchasing, supply chain, technology, trends, ESG, responsiveness, leadership and self-knowledge.
Luiz Felipe Pondé and Martha Gabriel were the event's keynote speakers, and guests from large companies spoke about different challenges involving the B2B purchasing universe.
Arthur Igreja, co-founder of the AAA innovation platform and TEDx speaker, was the presenter and welcomed all the guests on stage. He also gave a talk on “procurement of the future”.
Check out a summary of what happened at the ME B2B Summit 2021!
Broadcast on an interactive and gamified platform
The ME B2B Summit was broadcast through an online, interactive and gamified platform, where the audience watched the lectures and interacted live in the chat.
Everyone was also able to check out the event's exhibitors' stands (sponsors and partners of the ME B2B Summit), simulating the experience of a virtual fair.
Another feature was the ability to network and connect people who selected similar professional interests.
See below a summary of each attraction at the event:
Procurement of the future, with Arthur Igreja
Arthur Igreja recalled that the pandemic forced companies and individuals to look at the resources that were already available, such as remote work and a variety of tools. In addition, companies that were already immersed in the search for innovation suffered much less from the rapid adaptations that were necessary during this period.
The speaker also reinforced that technology does not replace people, on the contrary, it empowers them, and commented on some future trends that everyone should keep an eye on: intensive use of data, information privacy, blockchain, ESG and more collaborative work environments.
The future of purchasing is sustainable, with ALPLA, Hidrovias do Brasil, EDP and FGV-CELog
Murilo Zapellini, head of Procurement South America at ALPLA, Francisco Cortinas, director of Supplies at Hidrovias do Brasil, and Dominic Schmal, director of sustainability at Instituto EDP Brasil, were invited to speak about ESG in procurement.
Priscila Miguel, coordinator of FGV-CELog, moderated the conversation. Among the main topics raised by the participants were: responsible management of suppliers, ESG practices that have been applied in companies and social responsibility.
In the future, we will be eternal beginners, with Martha Gabriel
Martha Gabriel, the keynote speaker from the first day of the event, spoke with Arthur Igreja about the acceleration of technological transformations in the current scenario.
The speaker spoke about the importance of life long learning in people's lives, the reasons why everything is changing so quickly, in addition to current issues, such as the “metaverse”.
During the talk, Martha quoted William Gibson's phrase “The future is already here, it just hasn't been distributed yet”, and reinforced that critical thinking is what helps direct people and companies towards innovation.
In search of the ideal purchasing team, with Cauê Oliveira
Cauê Oliveira, from Youleader Brasil (GPTW), gave a talk full of exciting triggers and shared that an organizational culture focused on people's well-being is the main driver of innovation in companies.
The speaker spoke about Disney’s way of delighting customers, after having had an enriching experience about the company’s culture. Cauê also reinforced the power of diversity to build more efficient teams and the role of leadership in consolidating the “people” pillar within companies.
Uncertain scenarios in purchases, with Nestlé, JBS, Sotreq and Accenture
The panel “Uncertain scenarios: adjusting the purchasing area in real time” was attended by Leandro Chirinea, CPO of Nestlé Brazil; Celina Maria, Supply and Import Manager at Sotreq; and Jerson Nascimento, CPO for South America at JBS. The guest speaker was Flavio Barreiros, Supply Chain and Operations Leader for Latam at Accenture.
During the chat, the guests recalled the biggest challenges faced during the pandemic, the evolution of resilience in the sector and the need to become increasingly competitive in the most diverse unpredictable situations.
“How much time does time have?”, with Luiz Felipe Pondé
The second and final day of the ME B2B Summit ended with keynote speaker Luiz Felipe Pondé. The philosopher and writer brought to mind the relationship between man and the different types of time: biological, psychological, religious, cosmic, secular and social, with the latter being directed at the human dimension, social perceptions and the manifestation of reality.
According to Pondé, “what is time?” is one of the most difficult questions for humanity to answer, since the relationship with time – and its different types – is viewed in different ways by each person.
We would like to thank everyone who joined us on November 10th and 11th. We hope to have inspired you a little, whether in your personal life or at work.
Soon, everyone will have the chance to watch the replay of the lectures. So, follow ME on social media so you don't miss any details.
And if you want to be notified, before everyone else, about the next reference event in B2B e-commerce, just click here and fill out the form. If everything goes well, we will meet in person in 2022.
See you next edition! 😉