Kubyane shared his vision and insights with African supply chain professionals at the 2022 SAPICS Conference through his keynote delivery themed 450 Billion reasons to add blockchain to Africa’s supply chains. Here are some of the highlights from his keynote
Image Credit: SAPICS
Hundreds of supply chain professionals from across Africa and around the world gathered in Cape Town on 12th to 15th June 2022 for the 44th annual SAPICS Conference. The event was well attended: with experts from 29 countries represented.
This year’s conference was a milestone for the industry, as the first in-person meeting for the African Supply chain community, since the start of the pandemic back in 2020, according to organiser SAPICS, The Professional Body for Supply Chain Management.
Shadrack Kubyane , covered by Engineering News, has been dubbed “Africa’s Blockchain Baron”. He successfully grew a small USD500 business into a USD 2 million enterprise in just three years; this pioneering South African businessman remains a villager at heart.
Kubyane the co-founder of Coronet Blockchain, a blockchain consultancy and business-to-business-to-consumer marketplace, explained how their first use case, was focused on using blockchain to transform Africa’s USD7 billion hair extensions sector. The entity has now evolved its focus to incorporate blockchain's focus on food security and fashion, further to the beauty vertical. His visionary outlook, demonstrated how blockchain’s are being deployed by his firm to repair the continent’s broken and fragmented supply chains, an aptly timed input.
Image Credit: SAPICS
Image Credit: SAPICS
Video Credit: SAPICS
image Credit: SAPICS
Image Credit: SAPICS
Shadrack Kubyane the CEO and Co-Founder of Coronet Blockchain: snippet from the Keynote Presentation
One early morning 50 days after the AfCFTA, I received a call from a man I have never spoken to. The caller greeted and asked: " Mr Shadrack, do you know a Zulu proverb that says Ubuhle bendoda zinkomo zayo?"
Yes sir I do, I told the caller. "What does it mean?" he asked me.
My response to the caller was swift, perhaps from my decade earlier discussions of that subject: it means the beauty of any man is seen in his cattle [ownership]. It is a traditional rural type due-diligence instilled by village fathers and elders for lobola [dowry] negotiations. Aimed at ensuring that before approving a young man's request for your daughter's hand in marriage, you make ensure that he has means to take care of her. Owning many cattle, as an incoming son in law, meant his house is a land of milk, meat and money.
On the other side of that conversation: I found myself part of a delegation heading into Ethiopia to address this nation's challenges. Being Africa's cattle capital, home to almost 60 million cattle, the nation's supply chain frameworks had to be re-evaluated in context with the Africa Continental Free Trade [AfCFTA]'s unfolding mandate, to increase inter-trade within Africa, to more than 450 billion USD, by no later than 2035.
How can Ethiopia, Africa's cattle capital, battle poverty alleviation and fragmented supply chains. Raw materials leaving the nation, then return as finished goods, re-sold at a premium to Ethiopians? A classic African case of lack of value addition, costing the nation, dearly.
Prior to jetting out to Ethiopia, when realising how the cow hide [raw material] and leather goods trade was central to my East Africa delivery, I jokingly told my team: "I am basically heading out to Ethiopia to talk to a man about a cow?" That moment would mark the theme of our journey, including my learning useful portions of the Amharic language, during the trip.
Today in continuation of that dialog, where I spoke to a man about a cow, I am going to take you to 3 critical supply chains primed for disruption via blockchain. They are Manufacturing, Trade and Agriculture. These will benefit most from blockchain implementation.”
Here's the link to the full keynote on this topic
Image Credit: SAPICS
Image Credit: SAPICS
image Credit: SAPICS
Image Credit: SAPICS
SAPICS comprises of professional members from across the spectrum of South African supply chain industry. Since its foundation in 1966, SAPICS has become a leading provider of knowledge in supply chain management, production and operations in South Africa. SAPICS is the South African custodian of three internationally accredited certification programmes from APICS - Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM), Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) and Certified in Logistics, Transportation and Distribution (CLTD).
Also closely aligned to the Demand Driven Institute (DDI) and the Institute of Business Forecasting and Planning (IBF) SAPICS has access to some of the worlds leading bodies of knowledge. The association’s education offerings are aimed at advancing industry's ability to succeed in a changing and increasingly competitive market place