Head of Supply Chain - Africa

Job Purpose and Scope:

The Head of Supply Chain Africa provides strategic and operational leadership for the region’s end-to-end supply chain, covering demand management, market and factory supply planning, customer service, inventory, logistics, warehousing, import/export, and distribution. The role defines and delivers the Africa supply chain strategy in support of the region’s growth ambitions, ensuring product availability and service excellence while maintaining strong control of inventory, cash, costs, and operational risks.

As a key member of the Africa Leadership Team, the Supply Chain Head serves as a strategic business partner to the General Manager and cluster leaders. The role establishes clear regional governance, strengthens supply chain capabilities across the clusters, develops a high-performing and engaged organization, and ensures close alignment between Africa’s business priorities and BIC global manufacturing & supply chain functions.

Scope and complexity:

• Five clusters: North Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, South Africa and East Africa, with different business models, customer channels, regulations and infrastructure maturity.
• Four manufacturing sites: Tunisia, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, alongside imported finished goods and materials from global sources.
• A mix of subsidiaries, distributors, third-party logistics providers, warehouses, co-packing operations and cross-border flows.
• Regional accountability for service, inventory, supply risk, logistics cost, and the supply-chain contribution to profitable growth.

Principle Accountabilities:

1. Strategy and business partnership

• Define the Africa supply-chain strategy and multi-year roadmap, aligned with the regional business plan and global supply-chain direction.
• Translate growth priorities into supply, capacity, inventory, distribution and investment plans; challenge assumptions and present choices to the Africa Leadership Team.
• Act as the senior supply-chain business partner to the Africa General Manager, cluster general managers, Finance, Commercial, Marketing, Manufacturing and other functions.
• Set the regional operating model, governance and ways of working across clusters, factories and central teams.

2. S&OP / IBP and integrated planning

• Own the regional S&OP/IBP governance, including demand, supply and executive reviews, with clear decisions, actions and escalation routes.
• Ensure market and factory planning are connected across short-, medium- and long-term horizons, including capacity, materials, production, deployment and inventory.
• Provide consolidated supply-chain inputs to the annual operating plan and forecast cycles, covering outlook, opportunities, risks, costs, inventory, capacity and capital needs.
• Improve forecast discipline and scenario planning with Commercial and Finance, with particular focus on launches, promotions, seasonality and supply constraints.
• Maintain an Africa-wide view of supply gaps, capacity constraints, logistics disruptions, regulatory risks and single-source exposure.
• Resolve major cross-cluster or cross-site constraints and escalate decisions that require regional or global intervention.

3. Service, inventory and operational performance

• Set regional targets and govern performance for service, order fulfilment, inventory, slow-moving and obsolete stock, forecast accuracy, logistics cost and project delivery.
• Maintain a single regional dashboard with consistent KPI’s definitions and reliable reporting; turn performance gaps into owned recovery plans.
• Ensure effective customer service and order-management processes, with service policies matched to customer and channel needs.
• Balance product availability, working capital and cost through appropriate inventory policies, safety stocks and replenishment rules.

4. Supply Planning

• Provide functional leadership for supply planning across the four Africa factories and ensure alignment between manufacturing plans and market requirements.
• Act as the senior interface between Africa markets, manufacturing sites, global sources and other regional supply-chain teams.
• Sponsor apacity, productivity, localization and network-change programs, supported by clear business cases and implementation governance.

5. Logistics, distribution and cost management

• Set the Africa logistics and distribution agenda across inbound freight, intercompany movements, warehousing, outbound transport and distributor flows.
• Govern freight and distribution costs against budget and net sales, and sponsor cost-reduction programs without compromising service, quality or compliance.
• Regularly review the logistics network and service model, including 3PL and distributor performance, route choices, warehouse capacity and customer lead times.
• Ensure suitable contracts, service-level agreements and performance reviews are in place with factories, 3PLs, distributors and other key partners; lead major negotiations within the function's scope.
• Ensure warehousing, distribution, co-packing and transport activities comply with company standards and applicable health, safety, quality and environmental requirements.

6. Process, systems and improvement

• Set common regional processes, data standards, KPI calculations and controls while allowing justified local requirements.
• Document key processes, cross-functional responsibilities and service agreements, and ensure adoption across clusters and factories.
• Sponsor supply-chain systems and data improvements across the tools used in BIC (ERP, Planning tools…)
• Build a disciplined improvement and project-management culture; govern the regional project portfolio, milestones, benefits, risks and reporting.

7. Organization, talent and culture

• Lead, coach and hold accountable the Africa supply chain team; build a connected Africa supply-chain leadership team.
• Define the regional organization, roles, succession plans and capability roadmap in line with future business needs.
• Develop functional skills in planning, customer service, logistics, analytics, project management, commercial understanding and people leadership.
• Share practices across clusters and factories, promote ownership and collaboration, and maintain strong engagement through change.

Candidate Profile

Experience

• 15+ years of progressive Supply Chain experience, preferably in FMCG / Consumer Goods.
• Significant experience in regional / multi-country Supply Chain leadership, ideally across Africa or similarly complex emerging markets.
• Proven track record in end-to-end planning, S&OP, Demand Planning, Supply Planning and Inventory Management.
• Experience designing or transforming Supply Chain operating models and governance.
• Proven experience leading complex, multi-country transformation programs.
• Experience operating at senior leadership level and influencing business strategy through Supply Chain expertise.
• Languages: Fluent in English and French.

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BIC World is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We strongly commit to hiring people with different backgrounds and experiences to help us build better products, make better decisions, and better serve our customers. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, disability status, or similar characteristics. All employment is decided based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

BIC World is not seeking assistance or accepting unsolicited resumes from search firms for this employment opportunity. Regardless of past practice, all resumes submitted by search firms to any team member at BIC via email, or directly to a BIC team member in any form without a valid written search agreement in place for that position will be deemed the sole property of BIC, and no fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by BIC as a result of the referral or through other means.