At its recent Annual General Meeting (AGM), SAPICS (The Professional Body for Supply Chain Management) shared the successful outcomes of an organisational restructuring embarked on last year. The association also reaffirmed its commitment to elevating, educating and empowering supply chain professionals across Africa and announced the appointment of three new directors who bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the SAPICS supply chain community.

SAPICS president MJ Schoemaker reported back on the end-to-end transformation that SAPICS started in 2023. “The board took on a more operational role in the running of SAPICS. Each board member was allocated a different operational pillar to focus on, to enable SAPICS to best meet the needs of our community. The impact of what we started in 2023 is showing results in 2024. The focus was to work smarter, leaner and to concentrate on elements that brought value to the association, from a network point of view, as well as financially.” Schoemaker noted that the results are now evident in SAPICS’s balance sheet and in the increased engagement by members.

Three new directors were voted onto the SAPICS Board at the AGM. Linda Cham is an accomplished supply chain professional with 15 years of experience in the FMCG and logistics industries. He is currently the head of Logistics at Varun Beverages / BevCo. Selepe Phetla is the national transport manager for bpSA. He is a seasoned supply chain professional with 19 years of experience in various roles. Phetla was voted onto the Board as a director this year, having worked on the membership pillar. Sandipa Maharaj, chief financial officer at Inhance, is a CA by profession. Her career has spanned countries and industries and includes deep experience in supply chain and logistics.

The new directors join Thato Moloi, Jonathan Mphake, Karen Pretorius, Nikita Reddy, MJ Schoemaker and Jan Tukker. Schoemaker will continue to serve as SAPICS president for the next six months, after which a president-elect will be appointed.

At the AGM, SAPICS and Schoemaker, who chaired the meeting, thanked outgoing directors David Crewe-Brown, Solly Engelbrecht and Chanti Wilson for their service and dedication.

Schoemaker said that SAPICS was excited about the upcoming 46th annual SAPICS Conference, which takes place in Cape Town from 9 to 12 June 2024. “This year is set to be bigger and even better than past events. With the challenges facing the supply chain profession, where change has been the only constant for some years, it is more important than ever for our community to have this critical opportunity to get together to learn, share knowledge and network,” she said. SAPICS is hosting this year’s conference in association with the Southern African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF).