Positive Purchasing Establishes Firm Footprint In Latin America

Positive opens Latin America office. Positive Purchasing, the specialist procurement and negotiation training and consultancy business, has recently announced the opening of its Latin America office in Mexico. Based in Guadalajara, and serving all of the principal cities and countries in the region, the office is being headed up by procurement expert Armando Islas.

With over 30 years’ experience in the FMCG sector, of which 15 years were spent working on different continents, Armando is well-placed to lead the company’s regional development. Experienced in Operations and with a specialization in Procurement, he has worked across a number of sectors in Oil, Gas, Dairy, Baby Food, Wine and Spirits and the Edible Oil Industries on an international scale.

Within the field of procurement, he has undertaken local, regional and global responsibilities from Buyer to CPO (Chief Procurement Officer) level, and has been deeply involved in the design and development of training, coaching and mentoring programs for people across the globe. Armando enjoys creating and supporting cross-functional teams to build on diversity and develop creative and innovative solutions with a 360 approach.

Commenting on the company’s expansion into Latin America, Positive Purchasing CEO, Jonathan O’Brien said:

“This is a very exciting time for Positive Purchasing. Armando brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge of procurement and negotiation on a global scale. With his deep understanding of how our Red Sheet Negotiation and Buyer’s Toolkit programs could help both public and private sector organizations develop the purchasing function and better meet the challenges they face whilst securing increased value, I feel sure Armando is well placed to build a solid client base in Latin America who will benefit from their engagement with Positive Purchasing.”

Of his new role, Armando Islas said:

“I have been a huge admirer of the work of Positive Purchasing in transforming procurement capability for a number of years and was delighted to be given the opportunity to head up the new Latin America office.

“It’s fair to say that procurement and negotiation skills are not as well developed in Latin American countries as they are in some European countries. I look forward to the opportunity of elevating individual capability as well as introducing new processes and structures to support the move from transactional purchasing to more strategic procurement for companies in the region.”