Staff Blog: Victoria Poppleton - " If there is one gap in your supply chain, it can stop your business in its tracks"

Hello, I’m Victoria and I’m relatively new to the Business Doncaster team, joining in July this year.

I may sound like a bit of a geek but I have a real passion for supply chain that, I suppose, started when I took Economics at A-Level!

Since then I’ve studied transport at university and have worked in logistics within the UK and Europe ever since graduating.

I was keen to return to my hometown to enhance it further and was immediately attracted to the role at Business Doncaster.

Doncaster has so many opportunities and potential to be even greater than it is already.

I loved the fact that this role provides a free service to support businesses and an opportunity to increase awareness of supply chain.

The pandemic has taught people how important it is. If there is one gap in your supply chain, it can stop your business in its tracks. If you cannot transport goods or get people to carry out work for you the domino effect can be significant.

My role is to work with businesses in Doncaster to make their supply chain processes more efficient and show them opportunities that they may not necessarily see because they’ve always done things a certain way.

This could be the sourcing of materials, waste management and finding more local suppliers for cleaning work etc.

I am also part of a team delivering a supply chain programme on behalf of South Yorkshire funded by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. (SYMCA) The main focus of this programme is to find new contractual opportunities for local businesses both locally, nationally and internationally. The programme will also deliver a series of supply chain events in the form of ‘meet the buyer’ and supply chain masterclasses aimed at supporting regional businesses to grow, expand and bid in for more work.

There are public sector opportunities out there too. It can be hard but I, along with my colleagues across the region, am here to help businesses through that process. We will help to point you in the right direction.

Furthermore, there are many major inward investments coming into Doncaster and South Yorkshire The businesses here are extremely varied with different skills and opportunities coming in that will create work for businesses, people and the town itself.

When we are aware of one of these investments, we speak to the company’s procurement teams and ask what they need. We can then provide a list of local businesses to the company to support them.

If your business wants to be on our radar, please get in touch with me. We can then look to connect you to opportunities.

So far, since joining Business Doncaster, I have been extremely busy attending meet the buyer events, visiting businesses to see the great work they are already doing in the region and setting up a dedicated LinkedIn group for South Yorkshire supply chain, which you can join here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12579012/

If you are a small to medium enterprise or micro business in Doncaster and have a supply chain issue that requires support or you just want to review your processes please call me on 01302 736474 where I will be delighted to assist.

Remember - you don’t have to go as far as you may think to get what you need.