Peter Bolstorff

The top supply chain trends in Africa right now include ecommerce, sustainability, technology and skills development. The e-commerce boom that was fuelled by Covid-19 is showing no signs of slowing. It is predicted that in 2025, e-commerce transactions in South Africa will grow 150% to R225 billion. While African consumers are clearly sold on the speed and convenience of online shopping, they are also increasingly recognising that there is an environmental price to be paid, and they are demanding greener e-commerce supply chains. African businesses also recognise that to compete on the global stage, and for Africa to rise as the supply chain powerhouse that many predict it can be, they must align with global environmental standards. Integrating sustainability into supply chain and logistics is therefore a growing imperative in Africa. African companies are investing in technologies like electric vehicles, renewable energy sources and advanced data analytics to measure, manage and minimise their environmental impact. They are optimising transportation routes to have fewer vehicles on the road and to cut CO2 emissions. They are adopting circular supply chain models, to get more use out of products and move beyond the traditional “take-make-waste” approach. Takealot, which is South Africa’s largest online…

When healthcare supply chains break down, the consequences are measured in more than missed delivery windows or higher procurement costs. They can show up as delayed procedures, frustrated clinical teams, wasted inventory, and, most importantly, compromised patient care. That urgency is at the center of a new Supply Chain Now conversation featuring Mark Holmes, Head of Global Supply Chain Market Strategy at InterSystems, and Michael LaRocca, Founder and CEO of Ready Computing. Together, they explore why healthcare organizations need a new level of supply chain intelligence—and how integrated data, automation, and AI can help hospitals move from reactive problem-solving to proactive orchestration. Why Healthcare Supply Chain Disruption Is Different In retail, a stockout may mean a customer chooses a different store. In healthcare, a missing item can mean a surgery is delayed or canceled. As Holmes puts it in the episode, not having the right product at the right time for the right procedure is a fundamentally different kind of failure—one that affects lives, outcomes, and hospital economics all at the same time. The business impact is significant. Holmes notes that globally, procedure cancellations related to supply availability can average around 10%, with some regions experiencing even higher rates. A…