Africa Procurement and Enterprise Summit 21–23 Nov 2018

Africa Procurement and Enterprise Summit 21–23 Nov 2018

Representatives from ZIPS, Commerce Edge and Barclays Bank Zambia at the Press Conference

Last week the Zambia Institute of Purchasing and Supply (ZIPS) and itsinternational partners officially announced that Zambia will host the first regional Africa Procurement and Enterprise Development Summit, to be held this week 21–23 November at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka. His Excellency, The President of Zambia, Mr Edgar C. Lungu will be the guest of honor with Absa Group, locally trading as Barclays Bank Zambia Plc, as the anchor sponsor for the summit.

This event will begin on 21 November with a two-day conference. The two-day SMME Enterprise Development expo commences on 22 November. And one-day workshop sessions take place on 23 November.

The summit theme is ‘Harnessing procurement for social economic development in Africa’. And H.E. President Lungu is expected to address the summit on how the Zambian Government is prioritising local procurement as a strategy for creating sustainable socio-economic development.

As Africa embraces newer models of managing the growth of its economy, economies and big industry players need to place more emphasis on small business sourcing strategies to enable a more regional integrated solution, thus allowing SMME mobility in Africa. The summit aims to influence and inform key procurement players in line with this strategy.

Andre Coetzee, COO for the summit, makes his presentation

The summit is the first of its kind in the region. It is being held in partnership with the Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM), the Malawi Institute for Procurement and Supply (MIPS), the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ), and Smart Procurement and Commerce Edge of South Africa.