Welcome to Africa

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.

In order to allow its members to better understand the global issues that are becoming more and more important, France Supply Chain has created its "International" division. By creating a network of professionals capable of identifying the main 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 international activities in their DNA. We want to bring them a global vision to feed their reflections 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 chapters by country, feeding on each other's knowledge", explains Jean-Michel Guarnieri, former president of Aslog and president of France Supply Chain International.

Local strengths serving a global network

In order to structure this vast international project, France Supply Chain relies on a central COPIL composed of supply chain directors of large groups and international logistics providers. Their missions? To identify the countries eligible for the creation of chapters, to coordinate their actions while promoting exchanges. The development of some 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, a COPIL per chapter will be in charge of identifying and federating local companies, whether or not they are members of the association, and of facilitating exchanges. " At the central level, we provide them with material via our labs and all of our work, but it is then up to them to decide on an annual program, to open up membership and to address topics in line with local issues," emphasizes Jean-Michel Guarneri.

A concrete organization in Morocco where the Morocco Supply Chain chapter 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 the GDP and employs about 500,000 people. More than 8,000 people are trained each year," says Hicham Alami, Associate Director at GCL. It is in this context that the creation of Maroc Supply Chain is registered. Four major themes will be addressed by the chapter in 2021: human resources, the supply chain of SMEs, digitalization and the place of Morocco in international supply chains.

Africa, a "priority market

Other chapters are also being set up in the African region: in Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire and South Africa. For Yves Biyah, partner at Africa Search Capital, the continent should be considered as a "priority market" because of its population dynamics, its level of economic growth, its capacity to adopt new technologies and its increasingly peaceful nature.

"Africa has 1.2 billion people. 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 demand shock will affect all sectors of activity like no other," he analyses.

And despite a lack of intra-regional connectivity and the need for investment in this area, this dynamism should also be driven by the entry into force on¹ January 2021 of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). As Sébastien Beuque, deputy CEO Africa Sales & Development at Bolloré Transport & Logistics, points out, "inter-African trade represents only 10% of the trade in the African zone. By comparison, in Europe, intra-European business amounts to 70%. The continent therefore has extraordinary potential.