frican organizations must move local content from symbolic compliance to genuine indigenous industrial capacity, panelists said at the 8th Africa Procurement and Supply Chain Summit and Awards (APSCHA 2026).
The session, titled "Local Content in Practice: What African Organisations Are Actually Doing, and What They Are Only Saying, to Build Indigenous Supply Chains", was one of four panel sessions at the summit, held on 28 July 2026 at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The panel brought together Wale Emilola, Chief Procurement Officer, CapitalSage Holdings, Temitope Adedeji, General Manager, Supply Chain, Ekofin Nig Ltd, Monicah Wanjiku Mwangi, Head of Procurement, PPP Directorate, Kenya National Treasury, and Dr Marcus O. Ogunbiyi, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Nigeria.
The panelists scrutinized the gap between local content policy and practice, and demanded a shift towards building real capacity in African industry.
The discussion built on other sessions at the summit. Mwangi also delivered a presentation on cross-sector collaboration, showing how well-structured Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and inclusive local procurement policies can drive infrastructure deployment without overstretching public balance sheets.
Dr Ogunbiyi used his keynote to highlight agricultural logistics as the cornerstone of continental food security and rural wealth creation.
The stakes are high. Figures cited in Mr Akin Naphtal's keynote presentation put Africa's annual procurement spend at over US$500 billion, and he noted that substantial value continues to drain away through logistical bottlenecks and weak local integration.
All four panellists were honoured at the gala the following night. Emilola was named among the Africa Top 50 Procurement and Supply Chain Leaders, and CapitalSage Holdings won Agricultural Supply Chain Company of the Year.
Adedeji shared the Procurement and Sourcing Personality of the Year honour, Mwangi was named Emerging Procurement Leader of the Year and Dr Ogunbiyi won the Exceptional Leader in Public Procurement Award.
APSCHA 2026 brought together over 200 delegates under the theme "Unlocking Value Across Africa's Supply Ecosystem, Procurement, Logistics and Transportation in Action".
Looking ahead, the 9th edition of APSCHA will hold in July 2027, with the venue to be announced.
