Charles Malack Oloo, KISM Vice President urged students in attendance to pursue professional courses. It gives them an added advantage when it comes to the job market. “We have end to end visibility of the company. We position ourselves as value provider in the organizations we work in” he observed.

He observed that as the regulator, their work is to register, license, train, discipline supply chain professionals.  “When things go wrong, supply chain managers gets all the blames”, he opined. He noted that they have grown in leaps and bounds. The numbers has grown from 2,000 to 20,000 professionals in 2023.

University of Nairobi ViceChancellor, Prof. Margaret Hutchinson took the opportunity to thank the event partners; KISM, AISCR, who collectively contributed to shaping the supply chain conference with the tools for job creation.  She noted that many countries were in attendance. The countries represented included ; Ghana, South Africa, Cameroun, Nigeria, South Africa, United States of America and Kenya, being the host. “ Conference aims at providing interdisciplinary communication where participants share results of research as they disseminate research findings”, she said. The Vice Chancellor was represented by Prof. Mary Kinoti, Director, IPMO (Intellectual Property Management Office).

While giving her keynote speech, Dagmawit Bekele, Director Peace Fund observed that without logistics, no country can prosper. She outlined the successes they have witnessed in Ethiopia agricultural sector due to efficiency in different import that is brought to the country like fertilizers. “We are agrarian country dependent on agriculture. There was improved in performance,” she said.

She insisted on the importance of peace and stability in ensuring trade across the continent. “We are more interested in silencing the gun initiative. Africa supply chain is diverse,  we have a population of 1.5 Billion people , we are rich in culture and economic activities. We have so many conflicts, habiting supply chain. We need to silence the guns, “ she said.  

She urged participants to tap into technology revolution. “ Tap into tech growth : block chain will improve efficiency. With high mobile penetration farmers can access markets timely. We must work towards adopting digital tools to enable sustainable supply chain,” she concluded.

The 2 days event brought together industry players, industry and the government agencies involved in supply chain.  There was also the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between African Institute for Supply Chain Research, AISCR and Kenya Institute of Supplies Management, KISM.