Green Cabbage is more than just a memorable name; it’s a procurement intelligence company that promises to deliver. A company that lives and breathes its win-win business model. Richard Hogg is the Managing Director. He is, in his own words, responsible for “planting and growing the cabbage across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa”. Michael Van Keulen, Chief Procurement and Customer Officer, is new to the business. However, he’s brought with him over 20 years of supply chain experience, and calls himself a procurement “enthusiast”.
The aim of Green Cabbage’s unique name is to keep money at the forefront of people’s minds. “Plant the cabbage, grow the cabbage; green cabbage is a colloquialism for money in some places,” explains Hogg. “Just like how, in the UK, we’d say ‘dough’. We’re trying to save our customers green cabbage.”
Forging relationships
Green Cabbage’s Founder and CEO, Eric Cunningham, created the business with a goal to try to rebalance the relationship between buyers and suppliers. “Effectively, Eric and his colleagues were looking at supporting the procurement community in preparation for negotiations, whether that meant pricing, non-price terms, or negotiation strategies,” says Van Keulen. “After three or four years, in 2019, they had amassed enough data to launch Green Cabbage. That’s how we were born. It was effectively a combination of really deep, broad data sets with subject matter expertise in core indirect categories.”
For Van Keulen, coming into a young company as a new recruit, he has the benefit of a fresh pair of eyes with plenty of expertise. “The challenge as a practitioner has always been that, on one side of the table, you’ve got a buyer; on the other side, you’ve got a seller. But how much information do I have as a buyer, and how can I ensure that I’ve optimised that contract, no matter my decision?” says Van Keulen.
“It’s not even just about price, but also terms, conditions, limitation of liability, indemnification, and other elements of that contract. That’s why I decided to join this organisation. I’ve always been passionate about procurement and supply chain. I love this profession, the community, and I really feel like Green Cabbage has the ability to take procurement to the next level of maturity.”
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