Procurement, Supply Chain & Innovation Forum

Public procurement represents 15 to 20 percent of GDP across most African economies. When it works — when it is transparent, efficient, digitised, and competitive — it is one of the most powerful tools a government has to create value, build local industry, drive integrity, and deliver services to citizens. When it fails, it is the continent's most exploited channel for corruption, waste, and institutional failure.

But procurement does not exist in isolation. Behind every government contract is a supply chain — a logistics network, a warehouse, a freight corridor, a last-mile delivery system — that either gets the goods there or does not. And behind the supply chain is a private sector ecosystem of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, technology platforms, and logistics operators whose performance determines whether public procurement delivers its promise.

For the first time at APSCA, we are creating a procurement forum that brings all of these dimensions together — Chief Procurement Officers alongside supply chain innovators, Public Finance Management specialists alongside ERP technology providers, Auditors General alongside logistics operators, and anti-corruption regulators alongside procurement integrity technology companies.