FRANCE SUPPLY CHAIN DEPLOYS ITS NETWORK INTERNATIONALLY

Because its mission does not stop at the borders of its territory and because its sector has been expanding for many years, France Supply Chain naturally opens up to the international market. With passionate and involved members, the association launches France Supply Chain International with the ambition to build a worldwide network.

Anxious to enable its members to better understand the increasingly important global challenges, France Supply Chain has created its "International" division. By creating a network of professionals capable of identifying the major trends in the sector, disseminating them and sharing initiatives in each of the countries addressed, it intends to support companies wishing to develop sustainably abroad. "Our members include major groups with internationality in their DNA. We want to provide them with a global vision to feed their thinking in terms of culture, innovation and development, but also benefit from the wealth of their local knowledge to create a global network of supply chain players. To do this, we have imagined a decentralized governance and the creation of country chapters, drawing on each other's knowledge".This is how Jean-Michel Guarnieri, ex-president of Aslog and president of France Supply Chain International, explains.

Local strengths serving a global network

In order to best structure this vast international project, France Supply Chain relies on a central COPIL made up of supply chain managers from major groups and international logistics service providers. Their missions? To identify the countries eligible for the creation of chapters, to coordinate their actions while promoting exchanges. The development of around thirty chapters over 24 months has therefore been staggered by geographical area: the Americas and Africa in 2020, the Near and Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia-Oceania in 2021 and finally, Western Europe in 2022. Locally, one COPIL per chapter will be in charge of identifying and federating local companies, members or non-members of the association, and of animating exchanges. "At the central level, we provide them with material via our labs and all our work, but it is then up to them to decide on an annual programme, to open up membership and to address subjects in line with local issues.This will be the first time that the association has been set up," emphasises Jean-Michel Guarneri.

A concrete organization in Morocco where the chapter Maroc Supply Chain was born, led by a COPIL composed of local experts. In this country positioned as a regional hub, the supply chain is driven by expanding infrastructures, a dynamic economy, the presence of world-class integrated operators and a growing desire for digitalization: "The logistics sector in Morocco represents 6% of GDP and employs about 500,000 people. More than 8,000 people are trained there every year".says Hicham Alami, associate director at GCL. The creation of Maroc Supply Chain is part of this promising context. Four major themes will be addressed by the chapter in 2021: human resources, the supply chain of SMEs and SMIs, digitalization and the place of Morocco in international supply chains.

Africa, a "priority market

Other chapters are also being set up in Africa: in Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire and South Africa. For Yves Biyah, partner at Africa Search Capital, the continent must be considered a "priority market" because of its dynamic population, its level of economic growth, its capacity to adopt new technologies and its increasingly peaceful nature. "Africa has a population of 1.2 billion. This figure is expected to double in the next 30 years. In one generation, we will therefore see a doubling of the need for consumer goods, roads, ports, housing.... This shock of demand will irrigate all the sectors of activity like nowhere else ".he analyses. And despite a lack of intra-regional connectivity and the need for investment in this area, this dynamism should also be boosted by the entry into force on¹ January 2021 of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFTA). As Sébastien Beuque, Deputy CEO Africa Sales & Development at Bolloré Transport & Logistics points out, "Inter-African trade represents only 10% of the trade of the African zone. By way of comparison, in Europe, intra-European business amounts to 70%. The continent therefore has an extraordinary potential".