Senamile Dlangalala

Senamile Dlangalala
Industry and Projects Coordinator at the innobiz DUT Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Durban University of Technology.

Ms Senamile Dlangalala is the Industry and Projects Coordinator at the innobiz DUT Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Durban University of Technology. Holding a Master's degree in Agricultural Economics, she has extensive experience in entrepreneurship development, project management, business incubation, and support. She coordinates and administers entrepreneurship programmes that support student entrepreneurs and start-ups, while fostering partnerships between academia, industry, and communities. Senamile is actively involved in national entrepreneurship initiatives and is passionate about developing entrepreneurship ecosystems that drive student venture creation, innovation, economic inclusion, and sustainable socio-economic development.

Beyond Compliance: Reimagining Enterprise and Supplier Development in Higher Education
From Procurement Spend to Sustainable SMME Growth

Supplier development in Higher Education has the potential to achieve far more than compliance. It can strengthen supplier capability, improve performance, stimulate innovation and build more resilient and sustainable supply chains.

In this interactive breakaway session, representatives from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and Durban University of Technology (DUT) share their experiences of establishing and implementing Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) programmes. Rather than presenting two institutional success stories, the session takes the form of an open and practical conversation about what motivated their programmes, what has worked, what has not worked as expected, and what they have learned along the way.

The discussion broadens supplier development beyond SMMEs and considers the diverse Higher Education supplier ecosystem, from emerging businesses to established suppliers, specialist providers, manufacturers, professional services and technology companies.

UJ and DUT will explore practical approaches to building supplier capability, improving procurement readiness, expanding market access and measuring meaningful impact. They will also consider how institutions can avoid creating supplier dependency and instead support businesses to become competitive, sustainable participants in broader markets.

The session offers practical lessons for institutions seeking to establish, strengthen or rethink their own supplier-development programmes.