About us

ABOUT Young Purchasing Students

Young Purchasing Students (YPS) is a community of purchasing and supply management students at institutes of higher education. These include both technical and general universities as well as a variety of professional studies.

The goal of YPS is to share knowledge and experience related to field of purchasing. This is realized in several ways. Besides a newsletter and web-site to facilitate discussion and the dissemination of information, various events are organized on a regular basis:

• local meetings that revolve around an educational institute,
• regional events taking place at a purchasing organization, and
• a yearly (inter)national conference that is organized in cooperation with YPP, where state-of-art purchasing theory meets practical excellence.

The knowledge base is supported by a strong academic backbone of NEVI Procurement and Supply Chain professors and PhD students who contribute to YPS by providing academic resources and support. In addition, YPS has close ties with YPP and NEVI for professional input.

YPS is intended for students who are conducting their final research project or a practical internship. Especially the orientation-phase can be accelerated considerably by building on the existing knowledge base within YPS. Knowing what research previously has been performed and who to contact for further information provides a boost to the initial phase of a project. Also in later phases the process of sharing knowledge and experience can be beneficial to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in the field. Also, YPS is a good stepping-stone for developing interesting contacts for a future career in the field of purchasing. Finally, sharing experiences and helping each other along is fun!

We are a relatively young network and gaining momentum quite rapidly. After a modest start at the Eindhoven University of Technology at the end of 2003, YPS has now grown to a national network with members and local groups at all the major universities in The Netherlands. Further growth opportunities are currently being explored at the professional studies and across the national boarders.

The constant drive for further professionalization and expansion of the network is fed by the enthusiasm of active students willing to contribute to YPS. However, the turnover rate within our community is quite high, as students are only active for a brief period of time. Therefore, YPS is constantly searching for new students who have an interest in purchasing and supply and recognize the importance of helping each other along.

All activities are on a voluntary basis. This implies that you determine by yourself how to utilize the knowledge and experience in the YPS community and what you contribute to YPS in return.

If you are a student and have an interest in purchasing, don?t hesitate and apply for the free membership of YPS by sending an email to info-YPS@youngpurchasing.com

The Board of YPS consist of:

Siebe Offringa is member of the board and joined young purchasing in May 2009.

Siebe holds a Bachelor Degree (BA) in Business Administration. During his final year of studies, he joined the Board of NEVI Groningen / Drenthe till December 2008. Siebe started his working career within COFELY at the Central Sourcing Department as a Management Trainee, since September 2007. From September 2009, Siebe starts as a jr. Commodity Manager Facilities. In this job he is for the group wide, responsible for several facility contracts.

To contact Siebe, please send an email to siebe@youngpurchasing.com

Nikki Goossens

Three years ago I started my study, Business Studies, at the University of Tilburg. Currently I am in my last year of the Bachelor phase. The study incorporates different business facets under which the purchasing and logistic fields. My first acquaintance with YPS was during the course on logistics and it immediately interested me. The first activity I participated in was at Essent. This day showed me a very nice combination between pleasure and education. I came in contact with a lot of different people like students from different universities and professionals. Besides the networking I got a closer look on the purchasing process of the company. YPS has very exciting events in prospect which I am going to organise with the other committee members of Young Purchasing Students. With the events we hope to make students enthusiastic about the purchasing field and also give them the opportunity to network and learn a lot more about interesting people and companies.

Lisette Fransen

In 2005 I started my study Business Administration at the 'Radboud University' of Nijmegen. At this moment I am finishing my Bachelor which results in a 'Bachelor of Science' degree. I have always been interested in all sorts of aspects where organisations are dealing with. My study involves a broad view off al these aspects, also purchasing. During the second year of my study I followed the course 'Operations Management and Logistics'. In my opinion such a fascinating field of study. In a competitive, dynamic and complex environment organisations constantly have to be adaptive. That is what makes it such a challenge to coordinate all the different issues organizations are dealing with. As the youngest member of the YPS board I hope to have new fresh ideas and make more students enthusiastic about the events we organise. It is a significant chance for students to join YPS so that they can enlarge their network and learn a lot about all purchasing aspects leading companies have to challenge.

Pieter-Bas van der Linden

Back in 2007, I started studying International Business at the Maastricht University. Currently, I am halfway my bachelor phase, with a major in Finance and Minor in Supply Chain Management. Given this study is very broad and that I am interested many different fields; this study would match my points of criteria. Young Purchasing Students attracted my attention when one of the Board-members informed me about the many possibilities YPS offers. With my financial background I was able to fulfill the task as a Finance Manager. In addition, my minor in Supply Chain Management broadens my view and experience in this area. YPS provides me a great opportunity to meet new people and to get a closer look at the purchasing field of large Companies. With this, I hope to generate fresh ideas for many new events in order to make other people more enthusiastic.

Gerben Bekema

In February 2007 I started my study ‘Facility Management’ at the Hanzehogeschool Groningen. I’m performing this study in a fast way, 3 years instead of 4 years. For the last year of this study I had to choose a final direction: I’ve chosen Purchase Management because it really interests me. After almost a year of internships at the purchasing departments of the CJIB (Leeuwarden), University Hospital Antwerp and the Vermaat Group (IJsselstein), I realized the field of purchasing is my future. While doing this, I joined some activities from the NEVI and YPS, because people in the work field considered it to me. I enjoyed this events and a friend convinced me to participate in the YPS board, because I like to organize events and activities. Also I like to socialize with people, especially in the field of purchasing of course. I hope I can convince a lot of people to join YPS and visit our events!

Alex Grinwis

Three years ago, I started the study of Logistics and Economics at the Hogeschool Rotterdam. Due to my background, I was able to follow the shortened course. This resulted in the possibility to graduate this year with the title of Bachelor of Business Administration. After my graduation, the plan is to follow a pre-master year at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. This will create the possibility to start a masters degree in Finance and Investments. Young Purchasing Students was brought to my attention, when one of the current board-members informed me about the search for new active members. As I minored in Supply Chain Management, I immediately thought about the possibilities such a community could bring into the logistical work-field. The sharing of knowledge is one of the key drivers to prevent failures and work together on a better future. Awareness of the importance of logistics to companies plays a major part in this. Organizing events that help reaching these goals, is my motivation for joining YPS. I hope that it will be possible to share these thoughts and ideas with my fellow colleagues in order to make the Young Purchasing Students a respected community. With that, I would like to invite everyone interested in purchasing and logistics to visit our events and join our community!

Former YPS board members:

• Gul Ender Oren
• Johannes Elmarasy
• Linda Tackenkamp
• Anton Lettinga
• Laura van de Ven
• Ivo voor den Dag
• Tim Beijer
• Aaron Berg
• Bart Dorgelo