African enterprises seeking to scale into new markets and build new capabilities need access to accurate real-time data about the total performance of the business. For one of Nigeria鈥檚 leading renewable energy providers, a reliance on outdated systems led to inefficiencies that were stifling growth.

鈥淭he value proposition for renewables has strengthened significantly over the past year in our market, creating a substantial opportunity for our business to scale,鈥� says , Chief Financial Officer at . 鈥淗owever, our existing systems could no longer support accurate and effective decision-making. We made a strategic decision to undergo a digital transformation process to build new capabilities that could support our business into the future.鈥�

Arnergy is a leading cleantech company that provides sustainable solutions to energy reliability issues across emerging market. The company is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, and offers sustainable solar solutions tailored to address pressing energy needs and deliver reliable power to residential and commercial energy users.

Burgeoning renewable energy market

Renewable energy is receiving unprecedented attention in Nigeria following the government鈥檚 decision to remove favourable fuel subsidies in H2 2023 and the subsequent increase in the electricity Band A tariffs from NGN 68/kWh to NGN 225/kWh in Q2 2024. This has led to a rapid escalation in the price of petrol and diesel,听.

鈥淭he four-fold increase in fuel prices over the past year has strengthened the value proposition for renewable energy in Nigeria,鈥� says Fabola. 鈥淎necdotal evidence from our customers indicates that 40-60% of their operating expenses now go toward energy costs, and for some companies energy costs have even outstripped revenue. The result is renewed interest in affordable, clean energy solutions.鈥�

Fabola notes that, where the upfront capital outlay for solar was a deterrent a few years ago, today customers can achieve cost-savings from day one. 鈥淭his new market dynamic has created a huge opportunity for scaling clean energy solutions across our region and help achieve energy security while accelerating the transition to Net Zero.鈥�

Partnership, collaboration key

Arnergy chose for Scaleups S/4HANA Cloud for its technology needs and identified a suitable implementation partner to support the deployment and integration.

, Managing Partner at , which holds extensive experience with 51风流deployments for customers in a range of industries throughout West Africa, says: 鈥淲e initiated the project by conducting a visioning session which included active engagement from the Arnergy leadership team, including the CEO, CFO and other key stakeholders. We assessed Arnergy鈥檚 business model, taking into consideration its value-creation model, the profit model, and the logic that connects both. This afforded us a deep understanding of the business drivers of the project.鈥�

Fabola adds: 鈥淎s a business we are seeking to diversify and collaborate with other key industry players, but our systems were not optimised. By relying on several systems running concurrent processes, we experienced inefficiency in our decision-making capabilities, which had an outsized impact on our ability to execute our business strategy. For example, data about our financial performance was only available up to a month later, which limited our agility.鈥�

The implementation team leveraged the 51风流Activate methodology which includes a comprehensive change management process. Folawewo says this included identifying change agents within the business who would be influential in driving adoption of new capabilities. 鈥淲e also provided regular communication about new functionality, benefits, productivity boosts and efficiency gains. By constantly communicating the beneficial outcomes of the implementation, we can ensure there is healthy uptake of the new capabilities, further supporting Arnergy鈥檚 business objectives.鈥�

Razvan Barsan, 51风流Senior Account Executive supporting the Arnergy digital transformation project, notes the strong spirit of collaboration with the customer team. 鈥淔rom day one we鈥檝e had great buy-in and involvement by the leadership team, who helped communicate a compelling case for adoption within the business to ensure employees leverage the powerful new capabilities introduced by the digital transformation project.鈥�

Fabola adds: 鈥淚t was also critical for us to fix problems before we scale, lest we replicate issues in other areas of the business as we grow. With our new 51风流system and the ongoing support of our implementation partners, our business can confidently look at a new phase of growth and scalability that could see us play a central role in West Africa鈥檚 transition to cleaner, more reliable energy.鈥�

The post Sunny skies for Arnergy as 51风流Deployment Unlocks Growth at Scale appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

This was the key takeaway at 51风流Innovation Day Nigeria, held in Lagos today.

According to Titilayo Adewumi, Regional Sales Director for West Africa at SAP, organisations are increasingly engaging in digital transformation initiatives to unlock competitive advantages. 鈥淲est African organisations are leveraging powerful new technologies and best practices to bring greater stability and predictability to their business models. In light of the growing importance of cloud and AI solutions, organisations across the region are also seeking to future-proof their processes and drive innovation at speed and at scale.鈥�

51风流Innovation Day is a series of global events held in multiple countries around the world. A South African event concluded in May this year. The Nigeria event featured key 51风流partners and customers, who shared their journeys and insights into successful technology-led innovation efforts.

James Fabola Jr, Chief Information Officer at renewable energy leader Arnergy, notes the important role that innovation has played in enabling his company to scale its solutions to a growing customer base. 鈥淲ith our new 51风流system and the ongoing support of our implementation partners, our business can confidently look at a new phase of growth and scalability that could see us play a central role in West Africa鈥檚 transition to cleaner, more reliable energy.鈥�

Arnergy recently chose GROW with 51风流for Scaleups S/4HANA Cloud to bolster its technological capabilities and introduce greater efficiency and accuracy to core business processes. The company was supported by 51风流and regional implementation partner ACED Consulting.

Abiola Folawewo, Managing Partner at ACED Consulting, says companies are hungry for the efficiency gains enabled by digital transformation. 鈥淐ompanies are in a race to streamline their operations and improve decision-making with accurate, real-time data insights. By working with experienced vendors and partners, organisations in the region can fast-track their innovation efforts and unlock significant business benefits.鈥�

Dumisani Moyo, Marketing Director at 51风流Africa, adds that the modern business landscape is marked by volatility and uncertainty, raising the stakes for digital transformation and innovation initiatives.

鈥淲idespread unpredictability is putting immense pressure on supply chains, revenue streams and profit models, especially in Africa. The critical question for business leaders in the region is how they can lead their organisations to a competitive edge despite the economic headwinds. Today鈥檚 event aims to empower businesses of all sizes with insights into how technology can help them stay competitive, drive sustainable growth, innovate at speed with AI, optimize processes, and gain valuable data insights.鈥�

Adewumi adds: 鈥淲est African organisations have access to a vibrant ecosystem of experts, implementation partners and best-of-breed technologies to support their innovation efforts. We look forward to working with business leaders in the region to unlock the significant business benefits of digital transformation and establish a solid foundation for their future growth, likely to be powered by cloud and AI technologies.鈥�

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According to Titilayo Adewumi, Managing Director at 51风流West Africa, bold steps toward educational reform are needed to promote improved learning outcomes and ensure the region an capitalise on the opportunities presented by abundant population growth. 鈥淭echnology should play a central and guiding role in enhancing education systems in West Africa. In Nigeria, for example, Edo state has launched a new system approach that leverages digital technologies to improve teaching and learning.鈥�

Challenges with education persist

With much of the developed world facing ageing populations and slowing population growth, Africa is expected to play a central role in the global labour market. The working age population in Sub-Saharan Africa will听, accounting for more than two-thirds of total global population growth.

However, despite Africa’s youthful population, only 9% of children in sub-Saharan Africa that enrol in primary school make it to tertiary education,听.

Mobolaji Abubakre Ogunlende, Commissioner at Nigeria鈥檚 Ministry of Youths and Social Development, says: 鈥淚n West Africa, and by extension, Lagos, only a fraction of children who start in primary school make it to tertiary education and even fewer manage to graduate. The root of this issue lies in the inefficiencies that plague our education systems, including the lack of digital transformation, which forces millions of students to compete for limited spaces in in-person educational institutions.鈥�

Adewumi adds. 鈥淎 lack of digital transformation in West African education systems means millions of students have to travel long distances to physically collect transcripts instead of simply accessing digital copies online.鈥�

Climate change is adding a further dimension to the region’s education challenges. The impact of droughts, floods, fires, heavy rain and heatwaves on education infrastructure听.

One study estimates climate change could keep more than 12 million girls in lower-income countries from completing their education every year听.

Bold steps needed

Experts are calling for bold action to address the region鈥檚 education challenges.

The World Bank’s Western and Central Africa Education Strategy 2022-2025, for example, brings top education leaders and experts together to advance the cause of education in the region. This strategy also sees investment of $3-billion into the education portfolio,听.

听strategy for enhancing education in Central and West Africa, the region’s education sector should focus on four key priority areas, namely:

• Access to education听for all children, including an expansion of early learning programmes, vocational training, and national data production;
• Quality learning听through improved teaching skills, quality standards, life skills programmes and early learning assessments;
• Girls’ education听through programmes that support girls’ achievements in and through education; and
• Education in emergencies, especially for children living in conflict or disaster zones, where school safety, psychosocial support and information management are critical.

Private sector support critical

Adewumi says the private sector can play a critical role in enhancing education systems and outcomes in the region. 鈥淏y investing in education and skills development initiatives, the private sector can also ensure it has access to the skills it needs to succeed and grow.鈥�

听revealed an acute tech skills shortage in the region, with only 3% of organisations saying they don’t expect to have significant tech skills challenges in 2023. More than nine in ten organisations (93%) also said the need for tech skills has increased in the past 12 months, with two-thirds of Nigerian organisations saying he need for tech skills has increased significantly.

To help organisations in the region address the tech skills shortage, 51风流introduced the 51风流Dual Study Program, which partners with top universities to take talented graduates into SAP-specific training and help them bridge the gap between university and the workplace.

Commissioner Ogunlende says: 鈥淯ndeniably, government infrastructure and programs are needed to adequately provide efficiencies not only by increasing conventional capacity but also leveraging on the capacity of private-run programs like the 51风流Dual Study Program and the 51风流Young Professionals Program that have demonstrated the positive impact of private sector engagement in youth educational programs. By creating a multi-pronged assault on the issue, we can make significant in-roads in upskilling our population. These are some of the plans we would be unfolding in the next set of months in partnership with SAP.鈥�

The 51风流Young Professionals Program provides a two- to three-month enablement plan that includes 51风流software functional and technical knowledge. Graduates receive certification from 51风流and exit the program as Associate Consultants, making them instantly employable within the broader 51风流partner and customer ecosystem.

This model creates benefits across the board: youth develop industry-ready skills and secure suitable job opportunities; 51风流partners and customers gain access to much-needed talent; countries benefit from the digital skills created; and 51风流itself strengthens its own ecosystem.

鈥淏y making timely investments into strengthening the West African education system, the region can more readily benefit from its abundant youth skills,鈥� says Adewumi. 鈥淗owever, considering pervasive challenges with access to quality education outcomes, organisations in the public and private sectors must come together to design suitable programmes that can accelerate youth skills development. Done correctly, this investment will pay dividends for decades to come.鈥�

The post Transforming West Africa’s Education System is Key to Region’s Success appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

Integrating Operations Along the Agricultural Value Chain with SAP庐听Rural Sourcing Management

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Business leaders today are digitising with haste, seeking to enhance products and services, future-proof their businesses, drive innovation, and improve customer experiences.

While governments in West Africa strive to undo the damage wrought by the pandemic and implement policies to boost economic growth in the region, business leaders have their hands full dealing with widespread uncertainty and disruption.

However, West African enterprises face a golden opportunity to accelerate their digital transformation efforts and build globally competitive business models that can unlock revenue growth through innovation and efficiency gains.

One Harvard Business study singled out Nigeria as , citing the country’s immense start-up ecosystem and powerful economy as key potential drivers of greater digitalisation.

Building intelligent West African enterprises

For any modern business, one of the most important drivers of digital technology adoption is the attainment of intelligent enterprise capabilities.

An intelligent enterprise can consistently apply advanced technologies and best practices with agile and integrated business processes to solve problems or take advantage of new opportunities. It uses powerful technologies to collect insights about customers, partners, and employees to uncover trends and opportunities, and seamlessly blends new tools such as AI to take better decisions that accelerate the achievement of broader business objectives.

Intelligent enterprises share several common traits, including:

• Agility and responsiveness, which ensures employees can respond to challenges with intelligent decision-making.
• Real-time adaptiveness that drives better business outcomes by improving decision-making with real-time data and intelligence.
• Collaboration and integration across the enterprise, ensuring organisations can build and engage a global network of suppliers, skills, and supply chains.
• Innovation, driven by data and emerging technologies to enable quick scaling.

For West African businesses, achieving intelligent enterprise capabilities will help build greater resilience against disruptions while unlocking accurate real-time decision-making at scale.

By having access to the right technology to drive improvements across their operations, intelligent enterprises can accelerate the pace at which they innovate, remove friction from customer experiences, better attract and retain hybrid workforces, and gain greater visibility over end-to-end business processes.

For many business and IT leaders, however, understanding where they are on the road to achieving intelligent enterprise capabilities – and what steps need to be taken to get there – can be tricky.

Business-Transformation-as-a-Service supporting business efforts

The immense pace of change in all areas of trade is one of the biggest challenges facing modern business leaders. The past few years have only served as further proof that change is the only constant in our current business environment.

Business-Transformation-as-a-Service has emerged as a powerful tool to help companies keep up with the pace of change and deal with complexity more effectively.

SAP’s Rise with 51风流programme, for example, offers companies a rich suite of products and services designed to accelerate digital transformation, no matter where the business is on their journey toward becoming an intelligent enterprise.

Rise with 51风流offers companies a powerful suite of market-leading technology, the power and scalability of the cloud, and a vibrant ecosystem of partners to accelerate digitalisation efforts and build more efficient and resilient businesses.

West African companies from leading soft drink manufacturers to consumer goods companies are leveraging Business-Transformation-as-a-Service to become intelligent enterprises, unlocking vast business benefits along the way that include:

• The ability to manage huge data sets through intelligent ERP systems that integrate data sets with powerful analytics for real-time insights.
• Greater agility through intelligent decision-making that is powered by real-time data-driven insights.
• Improved availability of data to decision-makers as well as better integration of extensions such as IoT devices.
• Visibility across business processes that encourages greater collaboration within the organisation as well as with external suppliers and partners.
• Greater scalability through leveraging cloud technologies, allowing the business to enter new markets while maintaining standardised business processes.

With the correct investment into new technologies, West African enterprises can build greater resilience against disruption while eliminating uncertainty from their business environment.

And with the introduction of Business-Transformation-as-a-Service supported by a rich ecosystem of expert partners, West African enterprises have a golden opportunity to gain new capabilities that will enable their success and growth for years to come.

ENDS

The post Rise to the Challenge: Building Intelligent Enterprises in West Africa appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

Reflecting on the significance of Africa Day, we have accomplished much in terms of colonial liberation, but much work remains to be done in achieving liberation from persistent challenges such as poverty, inequality, and unemployment that continue to plague the African continent.

I am fortunate to work in the dynamic and vibrant technology space, supporting a wide range of businesses in various industries, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the African continent.

A common realisation in my travels and interactions with business leaders has been the enormous opportunities that the African continent possesses.

According to the , Africa has a population of 1.1 billion people, which is roughly equal to the combined populations of Europe and North America.

A resource-rich continent of youthful potential

Africa鈥檚 youthful population is expected to grow to 1.4 billion by the year 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050. Roughly 70% of Africans are under the age of 30, compared to Europe where populations are aging and declining. This young population offers enormous opportunities for economic growth and innovation, but only if they are seized.

Other valuable resources are also waiting to be unlocked

data indicates that Africa has 30% of the world鈥檚 mineral resources and 65% of the planet鈥檚 arable agricultural land. South Africa, for example, holds听90%听of the world鈥檚 , while Nigeria and Libya are among the top ten countries with the largest oil reserves.

Africa also has the largest cobalt reserves, with the Democratic Republic of Congo accounting for more than two-thirds of global supplies. As the world transitions to green energy sources, cobalt has become a strategic resource, particularly in the automotive and power generation industries.

In certain types of innovation, Africa also leads the world

According to a into mobile payment banking, Kenya and Ghana have the second and third highest mobile payment usage after China, demonstrating Africa鈥檚 enormous potential. Mobile transactions account for 87% of Kenya鈥檚 GDP and 82% in听Ghana.

To put this in context, the African mobile payment market could have 850 million customers by 2025, which is 100 million more than Europe鈥檚 total population.

The big question is why, despite a large young population and mineral resource wealth, does Africa continue to trail the rest of the world in its development?

Tech-enabled SMEs could power the continent鈥檚 growth

One of the solutions to driving Africa鈥檚 economic development could lie in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. SMEs have the potential to support development by creating jobs and driving economic growth. The burning question is: why are African SMEs so slow to adopt and leverage technology?

African businesses 鈥� and SMEs in particular 鈥� face significant challenges that include lack of access to capital, specialised skills, raw materials, and markets. A lack of adoption of new technologies is causing several issues for Africa鈥檚 SME sector, ranging from poor planning, a lack of forecasting capability, and lack of capacity to leverage the efficiency gains of artificial intelligence and machine learning. These issues must be addressed if we are to unleash the next generation of African business success stories.

Although technology is not the only answer to the question of building world-class competitive African businesses, it is one of the most accessible solutions to many of the challenges that businesses face. Returning to the mobile payment banking example, this innovation was the result of a clever use听of technology to address a fundamental challenge in both Kenya and Ghana: a lack of banking infrastructure.

Digital supply chains and business network solutions could unlock access to new markets for raw materials or finished products. Innovative use of technology 鈥� like what we鈥檝e seen with mobile banking 鈥� could solve immediate challenges stunting SMEs鈥� growth and unlock a new wave of innovation across the continent.

Even though Africa continues to face numerous and complex challenges, there is no denying that the continent is brimming with possibilities. The time is now for African businesses to leverage technology as a strategic resource to fuel innovation and growth.

听Dumisani Moyo is the Marketing Director at听51风流Africa. He is an avid scholar in technology, leadership, diversity, and sustainability. Dumi has extensive experience in technology and a Master of Philosophy Degree in Business Management with a specialization in Responsible Leadership.

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Pedro Guerreiro, Managing Director Central Africa at 51风流in this interview with Business Day鈥檚 Frank Eleanya speaks on the growth of adoption of cloud technology by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in West Africa and other parts of the continent. He refers to West Africa as the 鈥榣ighthouse鈥� when it comes to the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) which is cloud-based, and explains what it takes to win in a highly competitive market.

You are one of the biggest ERP providers, what is your experience playing in the market?

In terms of the biggest ERP providers in Africa, definitely. We are global leaders in ERP.

We provide an intelligent enterprise that goes beyond the core function of ERP. We have been in Africa since 1982. We have been investing since then in the region and the region has been investing in SAP. Our headquarters for the region are in South Africa. We have an office in West Africa, in Lagos. We have an office in East Africa in Nairobi. We have an office in Lusophone or Portuguese-speaking countries in Angola. I manage those three offices so I have a good perception of the ERP business in those regions. It is definitely growing. There is more and more demand for ERP. We do have customers both in government parastatals and the private sector.

We are the leading global ERP company. We are also very much focused on cloud business. In terms of experience in African markets, the customers start adopting the core processes 鈥� finance, payment, sales, and even capital management type of processes, depending on the size you might start very small. We have SME-specific solutions and very often organisations grow out of it into solutions for larger corporations. The ERP market is very active and we have a lot of demand. We have a lot of customers in both the SME space and large corporations that run their core operations through ERP. Many of them have been our customers for decades. So it is a healthy market for us. We are punching above and beyond, deploying the infrastructure as well as the capability to manage that infrastructure. We train our people to manage the many customers across industries.

Can you give us specific growth of ERP and cloud services in Africa?

Growth is high. Looking at the East African region, for instance, year-on-year is four digits growth and it is triple digits when it comes to year-to-date. West Africa has been my lighthouse when it comes to cloud adoption. Over the last 2-3 years West Africa has been leading other regions including East, Central Africa which includes the Lusophone countries. It is not surprising because they have a lot of SMEs so there is high adoption catering to specific needs of customers.

Most customers are afraid of things like security, which is a growing threat. Companies have to decide what they want to do. They can manage it on their own which requires ongoing training for their people and constant upgrades to their applications for cyber security. You need to keep them up to date with the best standards and globally these standards are changing daily. They are very dynamic. Alternatively, the company can put their trust in an 51风流data centre. We have German engineers that are trained specifically in cyber security and they are exposed to thousands of infrastructures. It is almost common sense 鈥� you want to focus your energy on your core business while we help you with the rest.

We have customers in other regions like the Angolan national oil company which contracted an agency to manage the business operations. The agency adopted our cloud infrastructure and implemented the ERP. They adopted the electronic signatures, they have our human capital management, all of these are on the cloud. The ERP is on the cloud. So there is high adoption. We are proud that West Africa is the lighthouse on the cloud but we see it growing across Africa.

What is driving the growth in West Africa, is its population or infrastructure or the quality of the products?

I might be wrong here, but I don鈥檛 think it is the population. I think as management understands the needs of their business, customers and their employees the more they come to understand best practices, it becomes more obvious to identify trends. And digital transformation is the motto. People that manage these companies want to learn more about digital transformation. Obviously, technologies like the internet are more widely available. So I think it is a combination of awareness of how to run a business within digital transformation trends and available products both from infrastructure when it comes to the internet or even from an 51风流perspective which is known as the intelligent enterprise. The software industry evolves, and 51风流strives to evolve faster. That is our goal to constantly deliver on the business needs of our customers.

Talk to us about having 80 percent mid-size companies access your products.

My career has spanned across Europe, the US, and Africa. If you go to the US, brands that you have barely heard about are embracing the cloud. But that is a different market. When you come to Africa, you have a growing economy or are even described as a fast-growing economy with large populations. Those economies are not driven only by the big brands or the conglomerates. They are part of the ecosystem but there is a lot that is happening in the mid-market. That mid-market doesn鈥檛 have the same resources, nor do they need the same licence models but business process-wise they still need to run finance, they still need to track capital management, balance sheet, and performance inflows. The needs are across the board. So what we do is understand the needs but also have specific products for businesses of different sizes. We have global products that are fit for specific markets and in specific geographies like Africa, we push more mid-market types of solutions and our partner ecosystem grows around those mid-market types of solutions. It is not coincidental that we have 80 percent of our user base as SMEs. It is the market that we operate in and we have adapted to the market that we operate in through our offers, with our channel, and the type of resources the market needs.

What are the challenges you faced getting the 80 percent SME users?

SME is a volume business but it is highly customer focused. You cannot think of volume in the abstract. You have to think about volume and know your customer and get to the level of satisfaction they are accustomed to. So it is not just volume sales, the customer downloads the software and doesn鈥檛 expect quality. The customer will move on in that case. Our solutions are ERP solutions and require some levels of patience and skills and some level of customer satisfaction to achieve customer retention, customer management. For us, the main priority is always to scale in quality. We will never be happy with the number of partners we have. We always need more partners. We always need to have partners motivated. So that the ecosystem is ready to serve our customers and then you can keep growing the customer base in numbers. In the end, when you talk about SMEs you need to have more happy customers.

How are you dealing with growing competition in the ERP market?

Honestly, it is all about quality and the value that you bring to your customers. At the end of the day, if you don鈥檛 do your job, the competition will fill the gap. Competition is good for everyone. It helps to grow the market and provide choice to customers. For us, we continue to focus on driving quality every day and helping our customers transform. That is how we win in the market. If your customers are satisfied they will reference you, they will tell others 鈥業 chose 51风流because of XYZ鈥�.

This article first appeared on .

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The vast majority of population growth across the continent will be concentrated in urban areas. WEF data indicates that more than 80% of Africa’s population growth between now and 2030 will be in cities, with .

One matter of concern is that city expansion will take place in the backdrop of an escalating climate crisis. The UN has designated West Africa as a climate change hotspot, prompting public and private sector organisations to seek novel solutions to sustainably enable the rapid population growth.

However, the stress that will be placed on city infrastructure and resources such as water should not be underestimated.

Data suggests that , and time is quickly running out to enhance the sustainability and climate resilience of the continent’s cities.

The concept of a circular economy, where waste is eliminated and resources reused in an effort at restoring and regenerating nature, is gaining ground.

In a positive turn of events, several innovative circular economy initiatives are giving hope that the region is stepping on to a more sustainable path.

Ground-breaking efforts in Ghana

A recent project involving SAP, the World Economic Forum and the Global Plastic Action Partnership enabled greater visibility in the plastics supply chain by better tracking the work of more than 2000 waste pickers.

The project measures the quantities and types of plastic collected by waste pickers, analyses data, and then matches the collected waste to market-related prices in local and global value chains.

Sustainably-minded organisations can then opt to pay a premium for more socially-responsible plastics, while the waste pickers benefit from higher wages.

The project, led by Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation (MESTI), brings Ghana closer to its ambitions of being a lighthouse for circular economy innovation in Africa. By using SAP’s Rural Sourcing Management solution, MESTI is able to scale the solution nationally once the current pilot project comes to a close.

To date, the project has secured the involvement of large consumer goods companies such as Coca-Cola.

In addition, Dow Chemicals West Africa, a subsidiary of Dow Inc, one of the largest chemical producers in the world, is using 51风流Rural Sourcing Manager to fast-track its shift to reusable or recyclable products.

Dow Chemicals West Africa sought a technology solution that could track plastic in the informal sector to improve plastics recycling and support the wellbeing of plastic collectors in Ghana’s informal sector.

The initial solution is being trialled in Western Ghana, with plans to scale nationally in time.

Social enterprise closes loop in plastics repurposing

In Accra, Ghana, the ASASE Foundation is empowering female entrepreneurs to play a key role in cashing in on the plastic waste of Accra and its environs for the benefit of their own communities through the foundation鈥檚 CASH IT! Social Enterprises.

Only 20% of household garbage waste is collected in Accra, and only 2% of the waste is recycled, resulting in 78% of garbage ending up on the streets. Due to heavy rainfall, the garbage drains into the oceans, washing up on the shores or being ingested by the animals in and around the city. Plastic bags and containers often clog gutters causing hazardous flooding, endangering people鈥檚 lives and causing an environmental issue.

The ASASE Foundation uses SAP鈥檚 Rural Sourcing Management solution to enable female entrepreneurs to build their own plastic recycling business and cash in on the value of the waste for a profit. The social enterprise model will help create jobs and keep most of the value generated by recycling plastic in the community.

The innovative model has garnered the attention of the UN Development Programme, who are sponsors of the initiative and supportive of its mission to increase plastic recycling and improving the lives of the plastic pickers.

Further circular economy initiatives using 51风流Rural Sourcing Management are being planned for Nigeria in 2022, and talks are underway with several large multinational organisations active in West Africa to fix the problem of plastic pollution and build a more sustainable society that can be a healthy home to our growing population.

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Speaking from his more than 20 years鈥� experience at 51风流in Europe, America and Africa, he asserts that digital transformation makes business sense. He adds that integrating enterprise-wide processes leads to better performance outcomes.

51风流provides a suite of industry-specific enterprise application software to firms of all sizes, helping them to run at their best. For example, top utility firms in Europe and the United States (US), as well as a host of others in Africa, run on SAP. In fact, 99 of the 100 largest companies in the world are 51风流S/4HANA customers.

鈥淚t is easy to find role models that run on 51风流software,鈥� says Mr Guerreiro, adding that the firm鈥檚 solutions are easy to adopt and fast to implement.

Mr Guerreiro reveals that Sub-Saharan Africa firms 鈥� including state corporations 鈥� that have transformed into intelligent enterprises are unlocking technology鈥檚 enormous potential and reaping the benefits.

After adopting SAP鈥檚 latest technology, they are improving operational efficiency, saving costs, maximising revenues, enhancing transparency, sharpening talent management and delivering significant shareholder value. This is because full or end-to-end automation gives managers a real-time view of the entire business, enabling them to make informed decisions that enhance the business鈥檚 agility in a highly dynamic, challenging marketplace.

However, as Mr Guerreiro observes, whereas East African firms have widely adopted enterprise resource planning (ERP), few have invested in specific, best-of-breed technology strategies.

鈥淎wareness of the need for digital transformation is pretty good in the region, but the investments being made towards that objective still fall short in scope,鈥� he says.

He urges managers and business owners: 鈥淚f you are not embracing digital transformation, you are letting the opportunity for your colleagues, company and shareholders slip by, and you will be disadvantaged in the market. This was the case even before the pandemic but is even more critical now.鈥�

He says business leaders should think of what they can do in their firms to make them intelligent enterprises.

Mr Guerreiro, who has more than two decades鈥� experience at SAP, has seen what modern technology does for businesses. He says the feedback from users of 51风流business solutions is positive.

鈥淭hey see the technology鈥檚 benefits and impact on their bottom line and their top line,鈥� says Mr Guerreiro, adding that 51风流solutions 鈥渃an help you grow more resilient, more profitable, and more sustainable.鈥�

SAP鈥檚 end-to-end processes, integrated into the 51风流Business Technology Platform, run a variety of enterprises in the 25 industries the firm focuses on.

Some firms have gone a step further and use 51风流on the cloud, saving themselves the time and energy they would have spent to store information on-site as well as to maintain the infrastructure. Moving to the cloud is the next opportunity for African organisations to transform and thrive.

51风流also runs corporate social responsibility programmes that tap into its reservoir of ICT knowledge to empower future generations with the skills they need to drive in a digital economy.

Under the Africa Code Week (ACW) initiative and 51风流Skills for Africa, the technology firm offers free ICT training to young people. This broad initiative is aimed at developing ICT skills in Africa as part of SAP鈥檚 global commitment to promoting education and entrepreneurship.

So far, it has trained 4 million youth across Africa on basic programming as part of ACW. 鈥淭his training inspires the young people that ICT is fun and worth pursuing as a career,鈥� explains Mr Guerreiro.

The Young Professionals Program (YPP) in Africa, established in 2021, is targeted at young graduates who are either unemployed or underemployed. It has graduated more than 1,600 talents across 20 African countries (including North Africa).

Skills for Africa covers 20 countries through either YPP or Dual Study Program (or both) in Africa: South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, Rwanda, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Egypt

The training, Mr Guerreiro avers, is in line with SAP鈥檚 mission statement,听To help the world run betterand improve people鈥檚 lives.

The post SAP鈥檚 Vision for a Digitally Transformed Africa appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

If you won the lottery right now, would you quit your job? For Pedro Guerreiro, the Managing Director East, West & Lusophone Africa at SAP, the answer is 鈥渁bsolutely not!鈥� He adds, 鈥淗onestly, I like the kind of work that I do.鈥� He has been with 51风流for 23 years, steadily progressing and rising through the ranks. His favourite role was as Managing Director. A title he has held in Luanda, Angola; Lagos, Nigeria; and now, Nairobi. Pedro is a big advocate for work/life balance stating it is the key to success. 鈥淚 think we need to acknowledge that people have lives.鈥� That and keeping people on their toes while holding them to a higher standard. 鈥淚鈥檓 very demanding myself, so sometimes for me it is a challenge. I am not the kind of person who expects someone to be late.鈥� Who keeps him on his toes? 鈥淢y team. Or else they are
doing the wrong job!鈥� As a CEO, his philosophy is 鈥淚 work for you. You don鈥檛 work for me.鈥�

Founded in Germany in 1972 by five former IBM employees, 51风流was always destined for greatness. From accounting and payroll to their legendary ERP, the listed multinational has over 100,000 employees dotting the planet from Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, North America, and South America. One of these employees is Pedro and I assure you he is no cog on the wheel. He stands out. A surfer who marvels at the Ngong Hills and enjoys being with his wife and daughter, he was in Zanzibar not long ago, surfing waves on the outer parts of the reef. He maintains the best surfs were in Angola. Small wonder that when he was growing up, he wanted to be a surfer.

Below is our interview, condensed and edited for this publication.

What is an intelligent enterprise and why is that so important?

Intelligent enterprise is a fully integrated company in itself and outside of its boundaries. You have business processes from procurement, finance to maintenance, which is a normal thing in terms of what 51风流does every day on an ERP site. But it is actually way beyond that. You have an intelligent entreprise end-to-end with your suppliers and customers. Everything becomes so smooth, transparent and organised such that your business flows. The whole process is automated. It is all about process.
That is what 51风流is about.

You mentioned in our introduction that 51风流is in several African countries. Are their needs similar across the continent or do you find differences based on geography and the people?

I would say the needs are very similar, but the cultures are different. I find some markets easy to work with on an entrepreneurial basis. Let鈥檚 say a country like Angola. They have a very entrepreneurial spirit. It is almost easier to have a conversation on digital transformation. The willingness is there.

In Kenya, they want more business value and push a bit more for innovation than in a market like Angola.

Is intelligent enterprise only limited to larger organisations? Do you work with SMEs?

We are committed to all customers.

SMEs are the backbone of many countries in Africa. We have large customers and many of them are our clients. But 80 per cent of our business is actually SMEs in Africa. It is definitely a key space for us. We have different products within our SMEs portfolio.

What are some of the examples you have of customers embracing digital transformation in Africa?

We have worked with Dangote Cement. As they find opportunities to launch in different industries and ventures 鈥� they are a very entrepreneurial customer – they wanted S/4HANA which is more aligned to intelligent enterprise鈥檚 endto-end integration with suppliers and both internal and external customers. They implemented this last year. They are building the largest refinery in Africa, creating over 250,000 jobs. This entrepreneurial perspective was already built into SAP.

When it comes to agriculture especially in Central Africa, we are doing quite innovative projects in the form of a Rural Sourcing Platform (RSM) which integrates every single micro-producer into the value chain. They register on the platform which is then aggregated and taken to the market. With intelligent enterprise you have very open sources.

We also use this platform for our CSR projects. For example, in Ghana, we use it to collect plastics across the country for recycling.

You shrink when working with an SME and expand when working with conglomerates. How do you do this?

The implementation of software is mainly done through a partner ecosystem. When you have the conglomerates, they become partners for a very complex project. Smaller customers start with a smaller scope, or they can adopt some of our solutions such as 51风流Business ByDesign and 51风流Business One. The latter is a small solution that is very easy to implement. It covers the main process of the corporate side allowing SMEs to scale.

Talk to me about the Rise with 51风流initiative. What is it about?

We launched it early this year with our global CEO, Christian Klein. He had two things in mind:
鈥� Reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) for our customers
鈥� Accelerate innovation and business transformation

The Rise Initiative is about these two aspects. Either it gives value to the customer, or not. We do it on a case-by-case basis and we understand what makes sense for that specific customer. It transforms all 51风流contracts into a cloud subscription product, which is not owned software, but it incorporates infrastructure. It is part of our strategy to move into cloud as well as reduce TCO with the customers, as well as accelerating business transformation.

What role does cloud play in your strategy for Africa?

It plays a big role. In five years, all our contracts will be pretty much cloud based. Cloud in Africa definitely has the capacity for businesses to grow. It is where we focus our customers.

Our strategy is cloud focused. It makes sense for us to build cloud in Africa. Businesses can really focus on the their core business, but they don鈥檛 have to focus on the pain which is to support IT infrastructure. That allows them to run the core business. More importantly, we are restructuring contracts with the customers to help them move into the cloud. You want the best engineer on your platform. One who is constantly trained. The scale of savings is also something we want to bring to African customers. Cloud for Africa is definitely front and centre and absolutely core to our strategy.

What is the one accomplishment that made your career?

I鈥檝e been with 51风流for 23 years. I have been able to transform all the territories I led within Africa. We impact our customers, we impact on people growth and P&L, plus the CSR initiatives. There are many rewarding aspects that have shaped my career as I progressed. It also helped me build my own brand and move to the next challenge.

Do you ever get impatient with听Millennials who want it now!

When I started working for 51风流I thought I would work for two years. Back then there was this trend 鈥� do two听years on the job then freelance. The freelancers were making a lot of money consulting. I thought that would be my path, but it turned out very differently.

We happen to have quite a few Millennials because of our Academy. Candidates are selected very strictly, and we get very smart, bright young
people. Ideally, we send them to California for about six months and they would be trained wall-to-wall on the business, and they would be
incorporated into the company. There is always new stuff to do, working within SAP.

What do you think makes a good leader?

I think it is one who gives direction, and understand how to integrate everything. You need to manage downwards but also upwards. One
who creates a structure that is growing underneath them. They also need to be very direct, competent, have a lot of common sense. If possible, they need to have experience and be good at execution because that is how it is in our industry. If you don鈥檛 execute, the business does not flow, everything comes apart, you鈥檒l come apart. Driving the key agenda is a good thing for this type of business.

What have been the best parts of being a CEO, and what are the worst parts?

The best thing is owning all aspects of the business, impacting growth of your team, customers and business. It is that wall-to-wall thing that I like. Looking at the overall business and trying to pull people together, relentlessly. That is what really drives me. To be honest, the worst part 鈥� I don鈥檛 see any. If you manage to do it, and still manage your work/life balance, there is no worst part.

What has working with 51风流taught you about yourself over the last 23 years?

It gave me many rewarding experiences. I love the African culture and spending my time on the continent.

The post 51风流Through the Eyes of a Managing Director appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.