Crowne Plaza Dubai picks up procurement award

Pushpa Nair, director of procurement at the Crowne Plaza Dubai has been named as the Procurement Person of the Year at last night’s Hotelier Awards.

The award, which was sponsored by Du and presented by senior director of sales Shadi Farah, pitted five of the region’s best hospitality procurement specialists, with Negussie Tedela, purchasing manager at the Movenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta Gate also highly commended.

Speaking after receiving her award Nair said: “I’m so happy to be honoured with this award. Procurement has changed a lot in the 20 years since I started. Today it has become a partnership where if you don’t have mutual respect between yourself and your suppliers then it doesn’t work.”

“I always try to challenge my team as well as my suppliers as we want to always ensure that we can maintain quality and all of our departments are happy with what they have.” She added.

As director of procurement at Crowne Plaza Dubai, Pushpa Nair astounded the judges with her canny foresight and strategic development. It was clear that through her efforts she has saved the hotel millions, challenging assumptions but never compromising on quality. She provides support to other IHG hotels, maximising efficiency, rehauling supply chains and integrating team centric cultures across the board.

Pushpa’s passion for procurement runs deep and she is constantly scanning the market for ways to improve and make the supply-chain more efficient. Short of two staff, she managed to deliver the same high level of performance by cross training 12 colleagues from different departments. Signing a number of short term and long term contracts, Nair also saved the hotel over AED 800,000, while other initiatives have saved over AED 2,000,000. During a recent re-branding, Nair’s insistence on challenging initial offers saved the hotel more than AED 224,000, a 30% reduction on the initial offer.

With over two decades of experience in Procurement and Hospitality, Pushpa Nair first joined the hospitality industry in 1993 as part of the pre-opening team of the Crowne Plaza Dubai. Starting off as a personal assistant to the general manager, Nair quickly saw her responsibilities delve into FF&E selection, supplier short listing, many of which fell under the umbrella of Procurement, a field she felt at home in. This affinity for the field was noticed by both the owners and the GM and a transfer request to the procurement department was granted. Nair a started off in the department as an assistant purchasing manager, and after working with several finance directors, she quickly became a known name within the Intercontinental Hotels Group, and was promoted to purchasing manager before taking o her current role of director of procurement.

Below is the full shortlist for the Procurement Person of the Year Award, while full details including why each were chosen can be found here:

Mohammad Sulaiman Muhaiullah, Dar Al Tawhid InterContinental
Kalinga Dissanayake, The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal
Negussie Tedela, Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta Gate
Pushpa Nair, Crowne Plaza Dubai
Ibrahim Saadeh, Radisson Blu Martinez Hotel Beirut