Pan-African Supplier Network
Building and managing a qualified supplier network across 12 African countries for upstream oil and gas operations.
What the client needed
The client operated across multiple African jurisdictions but relied heavily on European suppliers for equipment, spares, and services. Lead times were long, costs were high, and local content regulations increasingly required African sourcing as a condition of operating licenses.
They needed a qualified supplier network inside Africa that could meet technical specifications, handle the commercial and logistics complexity, and support operations without the delays that came with importing everything from Europe. Existing attempts had struggled because most supplier databases were out of date or full of brokers rather than manufacturers.
How we tackled it
We started with category analysis. What did the client actually buy, and which categories had viable African supply options. Some items (specialist downhole equipment) needed to stay imported. Others (general industrial supplies, consumables, services) were immediately replaceable with local sourcing at lower cost.
Then supplier identification. We combined our existing African network with country-by-country research, trade association data, and on-the-ground verification. Every candidate supplier was qualified against the client technical and commercial standards, with site visits where needed.
Then ongoing management. We set up a tiered supplier framework, negotiated framework agreements where volume justified it, and provided monthly reporting on performance. Local content compliance tracking was built into the reporting from day one.
Delivered
- Qualified supplier network covering 12 African countries across 15 procurement categories
- Tiered framework with approved, conditional, and restricted supplier classifications
- Framework agreements with 40+ suppliers covering recurring categories
- Monthly performance reporting including OTIF (on time in full), quality, and local content metrics
- Supplier qualification process covering technical, commercial, HSE, and compliance criteria
- On-the-ground supplier visits across multiple countries for critical suppliers
- Local content compliance documentation supporting operating license requirements
- Dedicated procurement support team for day-to-day purchase order execution
The measurable impact
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