SAPICS Executive Summit reinforces supply chain as strategic powerhouse

South Africa’s supply chain leaders gathered recently in Sandton for the SAPICS Executive Summit, spotlighting how resilient, data-driven supply chains are transforming business strategy and Africa’s future.

Supply chain industry body SAPICS hosted its prestigious annual Executive Summit in Sandton, Johannesburg, in September as part of the Leaderex event. The summit brought together supply chain management leaders to explore the evolving role of supply chains as strategic enablers in a world defined by volatility and complexity.

Under the theme “Supply Chain as the Strategic Nerve Centre: Reshaping Supply Chains at the Heart of Decision-Making,” the summit challenged traditional thinking and called on business, government and supply chain professionals to collaborate in building resilient, value-creating ecosystems.

“The Executive Summit reinforced what we’ve long believed at SAPICS: that supply chain is no longer a back-office function. It is a boardroom priority and the backbone of competitiveness, sustainability and inclusive growth in Africa,” says SAPICS general manager Mbongeni Ndlovu.

The event’s keynote address was delivered by Jacques de Villiers, group head of supply chain at Omnia, who tackled the harsh realities of South Africa’s infrastructure challenges and global geopolitical uncertainty. Rather than painting a bleak picture, he showcased how Omnia is turning disruption into advantage through strategic optionality. “It’s no longer about redundancy; it’s about optionality,” De Villiers told attendees, outlining how Omnia is exploring private rail concessions, diversifying port access through Walvis Bay and Maputo and generating its own water and energy supplies.

Internationally, Omnia’s supply chain now sources critical materials from a wide range of regions, reducing dependency and opening new market pathways. De Villiers emphasised that supply chain excellence is not only about cost control – it is a growth driver. Omnia’s achievements include cutting working capital by up to 60%; winning business by proving operational reliability; meeting ESG, regulatory and governance demands; and leading digital transformation through ERP, AI and large language model (LLM) implementation. The company is investing in its people, nurturing young professionals, and allowing them to grow through experience. De Villiers stressed that this is critical to building tomorrow’s supply chain leaders.

A high-powered Executive Roundtable, moderated by Jeremy Basckin (managing director of Neways, which sponsored this year’s SAPICS Executive Summit), featured leaders from Maersk, Transnet Engineering, KPI Cubed, Omnia and Sandvik Mining. The panel discussed the technologies, talent strategies and data-driven frameworks shaping the future of supply chain. The topics they examined ranged from predictive maintenance and supply chain finance to choosing the right platforms (Agility, Blue Yonder, or SAP) and leveraging standards such as SCOR for data alignment and decision-making.

The SAPICS Executive Summit has become a flagship event, reflecting the organisation’s growing role in shaping Africa’s supply chain landscape. “By convening industry leaders, solution providers, academia and public sector stakeholders, SAPICS continues to drive strategic transformation in a sector that underpins economic resilience and sustainable development,” Ndlovu concludes.