VISA
He beams a warm smile as he reaches for his smartphone and shares photos of his recent visit to Anfield , home of his beloved Liverpool Football Club – football being a universal , global language and reference . Equally ubiquitous is Visa , or as their latest strapline puts it , “ everywhere you want to be ”.
The payments giant has faced unprecedented change , as the world transitioned to more digital payments , while also having to manage its own reaction to remote working , supply chain disruption and global shortages . All in a day ’ s work for a procurement leader ?
“ Over the 20-plus years of my career , I ' ve seen procurement change vastly from initially just being a processing function for most companies ,” says Manikkam . “ Now more of what we see in the industry is procurement functions being closer to the business , and even to the clients , to drive better business value to reach business goals .”
Manikkam ’ s scope covers the whole spectrum of procurement in 22 markets in Asia Pacific across all spend categories , working with diverse suppliers at a localised level .
Manikkam ’ s career started as a consultant and he worked his way towards middle management in consulting and then switched over to the corporate world on the client side . That has seen him work across multiple regions – in the US , in Europe and also in Asia – and in global companies across multiple industries and sectors .
It has been a solid career path , with foundations formed while performing military National Service duties in Singapore .
“ I spent three years in the Singapore army as a commissioned army officer within the Ist
Commando Battalion ,” he recalls . “ It taught me a lot of things , especially leadership skills , self-discipline and development in my mental and physical endurance . I was put in situations where I had to react quickly , thinking out of the box and also overcoming challenges to deliver outcomes . So now when I ' m in the corporate world and face similar challenges – people challenges , organisational and transformational challenges , operational challenges – what I have gained from those learnings has been very helpful for me .”
126 February 2022