Businesses Urged to Cut Supply Chain Vulnerabilities amid Global Shocks
African businesses have been advised to strengthen their supply chains as geopolitical tensions, changing trade policies and other global disruptions continue to create higher costs, production delays and shortages.
The call was made at the second African Centre for Supply Chain conference held in Lagos, where industry experts examined ways to make African supply chains more secure and better prepared for unexpected shocks.
The conference, themed “From Fragility to Foresight: Securing Africa’s Supply Chains amid Geopolitical Shifts,” brought together stakeholders to discuss the challenges facing businesses and the need for stronger long term planning.
Director General of the African Centre for Supply Chain, Dr. Obiora Madu, said businesses could no longer focus only on efficiency without considering the risks that could interrupt their operations.
Madu urged companies to diversify their suppliers, identify weak points within their supply chains and maintain alternative sources of critical materials. He also advised businesses to examine where their suppliers obtain goods and raw materials to avoid becoming dependent on a single upstream source.
He noted that the COVID 19 pandemic exposed the dangers of excessive dependence on China for supplies, while rising energy costs have also pushed businesses to consider alternative sources of power.
Madu further called for greater use of rail and inland waterways as part of efforts to reduce transportation and logistics costs across the continent.
Professor Frank Ojadi of Lagos Business School said the ability of African economies to continue producing and delivering goods during periods of disruption would increasingly shape their competitiveness.
He advocated stronger regional production networks through the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, arguing that greater cooperation among African countries could help reduce dependence on distant markets and strengthen local supply chains.
Ojadi also encouraged businesses to make better use of technology, including predictive analytics, the Internet of Things and satellite data, to detect potential supply chain problems before they become major disruptions.
Director of Mechanical Engineering at the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Olasunkanmi Ojowuro, stressed that reliable transport infrastructure was central to building secure supply chains.
He called for increased investment in roads, railways, waterways, ports and data driven transportation systems, noting that supply chain resilience must be planned and developed before a crisis occurs rather than after businesses have already been affected.
