Shawn Barker

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…

It has been a big week (as usual) for Supply Chain Now! Did you miss an episode? Check them all out here: Listen as Daniel Studdard with the Atlanta Regional Commission, talks with Greg and Scott from MODEX 2020 about keeping freight moving:   Rodney Apple with SCM Talent Group joins Greg and Scott from MODEX 2020 to chat about securing top supply chain talent:   On Tuesday, Scott and Greg were joined remotely by Jan van Niekerk with SpotSee, to talk about leveraging technology to protect your shipments during transit:   Scott and Greg were joined by Bob Bova with Accuspeech Mobile from MODEX 2020 and discussed voice automating workflows:   On Thursday we published the new and improved Supply Chain Buzz, with Scott and Greg sharing and discussing the latest news and events in Supply Chain and beyond:   And to finish out the week, Mark Messina and Rick DeFiesta with Geek+ joined Scott and Greg for a discussion about COVID-19’s impact on consumer behaviors, warehouse operations, automation initiatives, and more:   Make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain Now so you never miss an episode and we will see you next week with all new livestreams and…