A Glimpse into the 2 Day In-Person Summit!

Join industry leaders from around the world for the 1^st annual conference of Bio Supply chain Management Alliance Africa. In a world that has changed dramatically since 2020, let’s continue to build the future of the supply chain industry together by providing solutions and innovations that will save more lives. Come and exchange with your colleagues and partners during these days dedicated to supply chain excellence!

DATES:  Monday, October 31 – Tuesday, November 1, 2022

LOCATION: Kigali Marriott Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda

REGISTER:  BUY YOUR TICKET!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Summit Program 2022

10:30 am – 11:00 am NETWORK BREAK

11:00 am – 11:30 am SUPPLY CHAIN OF AFRICA:  BUILDING FOR PROSPERITY
A supply chain is essential for the manufacture, distribution, and consumption of goods and services for a healthy and prosperous economy. In the case of Life Sciences, life depends on its flawless execution in the supply chain where its tide raises all boats. A critical assessment will be made of the current maturity of the supply chain infrastructure to help achieve the objectives of the African Continent Free Trade Agreement. The critical links of manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, customer service, technology, and the overall network will be the focus.
Speaker: Dr. Abdul Samed Muntaka, Senior Lecturer and Former Head of the Department of Supply Chain and Information Systems, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology

11:30 am – 12:00 pm THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC MAKES REGIONAL BIO-PHARMA MANUFACTURING IMPERATIVE
Over 90% of all medicines and health products used in Africa are imported and the continent accounts for just 3% of global medicines production. The COVID-19 pandemic has made Africa’s vulnerabilities in accessing medicines, vaccines and health technologies very vivid. Boosting regional production of biopharma products will save lives, boost public health and strengthen African economies, including supporting local jobs. This presentation will provide a blueprint for strategically establishing manufacturing nodes where international initiatives of vaccine manufacturing, drug development, information infrastructure, digital health and healthcare education are addressed.
Speaker: Speaker: Dr. Prashant Yadav, Professor & Research Fellow. CGDEV, INSEAD and Harvard Med.  [Unfortunately, due to unavoidable circumstances, Dr. Yadav was unable to attend the conference.]

12:00 pm – 12:30 pm OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF EXECUTING THE PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURING PLAN (PMPA) FOR AFRICA: A CALL TO ACTION!
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed Africa’s inadequate capabilities and capacity to manufacture and supply essential drugs and personal protective equipment. Africa sources more than 75 percent of its pharmaceutical imports from the European Union, India, and China. The ratification of the AfCFTA in 2021 will integrate a market of 1.3 billion people where African manufacturers will enjoy economies of scale and scope. How will the proposed solutions of strengthening the regulatory systems; establishment of a one-stop-shop for information; fostering pooled procurement to incentivize local manufacturers; unconstrained purchasing contracts for healthcare products; and pooled procurement to encourage global generic pharmaceutical manufacturers to build plants in Africa and partner where strategic? The presentation will highlight the success of the south and triangular cooperation/collaboration and lessons learned from India and Bangladesh.
Speaker: Janet Byaruhanga, Senior Program Officer, Public Health, AUD-NEPAD

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm NETWORK LUNCH

AFRICAN BIOPHARMA MANUFACTURING SHOWCASE
Indigenous manufacture of biopharmaceuticals is severely limited in Africa which depends on imports for more than 80% of its requirements. The foreign companies, who have developed vaccines for COVID-19, are enabling the Africa Union to launch a platform for partnerships which augurs well for drug production in Africa. The manufacturing enterprises will discuss the impediments to establishment and growth and how they can be addressed strategically in the future.
  Emcee: Franck Toussaint, Managing Director, BSMA Europe

1:30 pm – 2:00 pm GROWING A SELF RELIANT MANUFACTURING CAPABILITY IN AFRICA TO SAVE HUMAN LIVES
Aspen Pharmacare has been leading the charge in Africa for two decades to help reduce the recent inequities exposed by the COVID pandemic which has clearly highlighted the need to strengthen Africa’s capacity to manufacture its own life-saving vaccines. Currently less than 1% of vaccines used on the continent contain any local manufacture, yet through GAVI, UNICEF, COVAX and the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine are supplied to African countries. The presentation will highlight how the global specialty and branded pharmaceutical company, has been improving the health of patients across Africa and the world through manufacturing of high quality and affordable medicines.
Speaker: Stavros Nicolaou, Group Senior Executive, Strategic Trade Development, Aspen Pharmacare Holdings

2:00 pm – 2:30 pm FLEXIBLE VACCINE MANUFACTURING IN AFRICA: COLLABORATIONS WITH LOCALIZED SOLUTIONS IS THE KEY! 
Africa, constrained by lack of infrastructure, regulatory support, and trained workforce necessary, can forge ahead with the partners with public and private companies and other organizations to help build biomanufacturing capabilities. The presentation will demonstrate how modular and offsite constructions are enabling a real paradigm shift in how biomanufacturing infrastructures are built for biologics — both vaccines and biosimilars. For vaccines, both the biomanufacturing engineering and construction engineering present opportunities to regionalize and democratize production because a company does not need to invest in large-scale facilities. In addition, compliance can be achieved with all good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards of international regulations, such as FDA, EMA, and WHO.
Hala Audi, CEO, Unizima
Yogeeta Mangiani, Head of Strategy Marketing & Products, Unizima

2:30 pm – 2:50 pm DIAGNOSTIC TESTING FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES – MADE IN AFRICA FOR AFRICA
Diagnostic testing has played a critical role in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The presentation will provide insights into diaTROPIX which was launched at the Institut Pasteur of Dakar in 2020 to produce high-performance rapid tests, made in Africa, for Africa. Supported by a competent team the center can meet the diagnostic needs at affordable prices for countries with limited resources for a wide range of infectious diseases that remain major public health challenges. This overcomes the historical constraint of testing capacity being highly centralized, particularly in Low and Low Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) where fragile health systems and exclusive reliance on global supply chains have limited access to testing. It has quickly produced high volumes of SARS-CoV-2 assays for the African market..
Speaker: Dr. Cheikh Tidiane Diagne, Head of Operations, diaTROPIX (Institut Pasteur de Dakar

2:50 pm – 3:15 pm RWANDA MEDICAL SUPPLIES: THE LIFELINE OF RWANDA’S HEALTHCARE
Rwanda Medical Supply Limited is a corporation created and owned by the Government of Rwanda. Presentation will demonstrate how RMS ensures availability of medicines, medical supplies and consumables in the right quantity, with the acceptable quality, to the right place and customers, at the right time and with optimum cost to the Rwandan population. It will highlight the services of 1. Health Commodities Procurement, 2. Inventory Management, 3. Warehouse and Distribution, 4. Quantification and Sock Monitoring, 5. Sales and Marketing, 5. Medical Production, and Systems. A preview of the future will be provided.
Speaker: Pie Harerimana, CEO, Rwanda Medical Supplies (RMS)

3:15 pm – 3:40 pm PROCUREMENT & SUPPLY MANAGEMENT (GHSC-PSM) PROJECT (The USAID GLOBAL HEALTH SUPPLY CHAIN PROGRAM)
Presentation of procurement and technical assistance provided to Rwanda to help ensure uninterrupted availability of high-quality health commodities, focusing on those to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS and malaria. Initiatives will include 1. Local capacity strengthening for strengthening health commodity supply chains, 2. a quality management improvement approach for supply chain operations at district pharmacies and health facilities, 3. District pharmacies, to manage the countrywide implementation of a three-month supply of antiretrovirals (ARVs) called the Differentiated Service Delivery Model (DSDM), 4. Monitoring and evaluating the DSDM for supply of health commodities at service delivery points.
Speaker: Inès Buki, Rwanda Country Director, Global Health Supply Chain Management Project, CHEMONICS

3:40 pm – 4:10 pm NETWORK BREAK

4:10 pm – 4:40 pm THE NECESSITY AND INSUFFICIENCY OF REGIONAL VACCINE SUPPLY FOR SUSTAINABLE HEALTH OUTCOMES
Regional Vaccine Supply, as a key learning from Covid-19, is a step forward to better pandemic preparedness and response. However, to reach the intended 60% local production of the 2040 goal, well-functioning end-to-end supply chains are a necessary but not a sufficient condition. Zooming out in order to grasp the entire vaccine supply and immunization system is the only sustainable way towards the ultimate systems’ goal: reaching the required immunization levels. This will be illustrated by examples from vaccines and antivirals (HIV) supply.
  Speaker: Dr. Nico Vandaele, Professor, Operations Research & Operations Management, KU Leuven (Belgium)

4:40 pm – 5:40 pm DIGITAL HEALTH FUTURE: MAKING THE QUANTUM LEAP OF PROGRESS!
In a region with inadequate infrastructure and investment for healthcare, digital technology provides solutions for overcoming the deficiencies. The presentation will cover development of digital health policies, strategies, and tactical plans to implement digital health technologies across the sector.
PANEL
  Mathieu Rwiyereka, CEO, RSwitch
Uday Ulhe, Consultant, Univercells
Dr. Janet Kamau, Marketing Director, Oracle Africa
Gordon Camila, Director General, Digital Transformation, MINCIT, Rwanda
Ayan Chakraborty, Senior Director & Head, Business Network – EMEA South, SAP
Moderator: Dr. Randy Bradley, Associate Professor, Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, Haslam College of Business, University of Tennessee

5:40 pm – 7:00 pm COCKTAIL RECEPTION

DAY TWO, NOVEMBER 1, 2022

9:00 AM – 9:45 AM HOW CAN AFRICA BECOME THE CLINICAL TRIALS POWERHOUSE?
Despite playing host to 17.5% of the global population, the continent is dramatically underrepresented in clinical trials – only 2.5% of clinical trials take place in Africa. The inherent drawbacks, both for the clinical trial sponsors and the African population, will be addressed. The opportunity to conduct comparatively cheap research with a diverse patient population is huge where genetics can be a causal factor for cancer. Furthermore, a lack of clinical research has stymied drug discovery. The success factors of patient enrollment, drug delivery, compliance, monitoring and returns will be presented with best practices in mind.
PANEL
Dr. Nadine Rujeni, Associate Professor of Parasitology, National University of Rwanda
Rob van den Bergh, Regional Director, sub-Saharan Africa, Oximio

  Dr. Charlene Ludick, Business Development Manager, Fisher Clinical Services RSA
  Dr. Fredrick Kateera, Chief Medical Officer, Partners in Health
  Dr. Leon Mutesa, Professor of Human Genetics, Director of Center for Human Genetics, College of Medicine & Healtha Sciences, University of Rwanda
 Moderator: Devendra Mishra, Executive Director & Co-Founder, BSMA

9:45 am – 10:30 am AFRICA UNION COLLABORATION TO COMBAT INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Since the emergence of the Ebola virus in 1976, periodic outbreaks have been a global health challenge, with COVID-19 as an ongoing one. The African regions bear an immense burden of infectious diseases, particularly that of HIV aids, tuberculosis and malaria, and they are an obstacle to human development. HIV aids, tuberculosis and malaria, kill more than 3 million people in the region every year. Medical scientists from various countries will address successful practices for advocacy for greater national health systems; collaboration in research through joint scientific groups for the continent; greater information sharing among CDCs; combined purchasing of lab equipment, reagents and supplies; deployment of digital technology; and governmental policy alignment for accelerated adoption of solutions across the region.
PANEL
Prof. Emmanuel Nakoune, Scientific Director, and Head of Hemorragic Fever Virus Lab, Institut Pasteur, Bangui, Central Africa Republic
Dr. Edgard Valery Adjogoua, Virologist, Department of Virus Epidemics, Institut Pasteur de Côte d’Ivoire
Dr Hervé Kadjo, Department of Epidemic Viruses, Respiratory Viruses Unit, National Influenza Centre, Pasteur Institute of Cote d’Ivoire
Dr. Nadine Rujeni, Associate Professor of Parasitology, National University of Rwanda
Moderator: Maurice Demanou, Consultant, Yellow Fever Regional Laboratory Coordinator for Africa, WHO

10:30 am – 11:00 am TRANSFORMING NIGERIA’S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM FROM BEING DONOR-DRIVEN TO A REVENUE-GENERATING BUSINESS ENTERPRISE
While the countries of Africa have historically depended on International Healthcare Organizations and NGOs for investment in drug and healthcare services for the masses, the Africa Resource Center for Excellence in Supply Chain Management (ARC_ESM) has enabled the Government of Nigeria to consider healthcare as a business. A revenue generation mindset and a committed to achieving equitable access to medicines and healthcare commodities across Nigeria, the hub for supply chain innovation has enabled the government to proactively engage the Corporate Private Sector in a coordinated manner to improve the public health supply chain system. The presentation will highlight how the unconventional approach has overcome the challenges of insufficient infrastructure and asset optimization, strategic planning and skills capacity so that long term results match Africa’s growth.
Speaker: Azuka Okeke, CEO, ARC_ESM, Nigeria

11:00 am – 11:30 am NETWORK BREAK

11:30 am – 11:15 am OVERCOMING THE ACHILEES HEEL: THE AIRPORTS OF AFRICA
Recognizing that 90% of the drugs, APIs, supplies and equipment are imported into the countries of Africa, the delivery modes of airlines will be addressed to improve capacity, capability and connectivity. The cumbersome processes of handling a shipment through Rwanda customs in terms of regulatory compliance, product quality assurance, temperature-control, storage, documentation management, documentation management and timeliness is a formidable challenge. Discussion will cover how systemic improvements can be made with best practices.
PANEL

Olivier Defawe, Director – Private Sector Engagement Lead, VillageReach
Samuel Speltdoorn, Cargo Business development Manager, Brussels Airport
Solange Nisingizwe, CEO, Africa World Cargo
Pieter Huyghens, Manager Handling Belgium, Lufthansa Cargo
Moderator: Frank Van Gelder, Secretary General, Pharma.Aero

12:15 pm – 1:00 pm COLD CHAIN LOGISTICS FOR PACKAGING, STORAGE & DRONE DELIVERY: MEETING THE ARDUOUS CHALLENGE
The distribution of GDP and GMP compliant temperature-sensitive products and services for the pharmaceutical, healthcare, biotech, exporters, clinical trial and logistics industries was an unprecedented challenge COVID-19 pandemic, exposing the vulnerability of the Cold Chain infrastructure in Africa. The reality of 50% of the food produced in African countries being wasted was relevant. The technology solutions of packaging, containerization (passive and active), storage, transportation, delivery in the last mile and temperature-monitoring will be presented along with innovations with Drone delivery.
PANEL
Dr. Donald Taylor, Public Sector Liason, Gobi Technologies
  Olivier Defawe, Director, Private Sector Engagement Lead, VillageReach
Fatsani Banda, Global Health Corps, and Procurement Coordinator, Partners In Health
Joe Khalani, Pharmacist, Regional Medical Stores, Ministry of Health, Malawi
Shami Benimana, General Manager, FlyZipline Rwanda
Moderator: Phil Maxson, CEO, Global Cold Chain Logistics Services

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm NETWORK LUNCH

2:00 pm – 2:30 pm DELIVERY OF HAZARDOUS MATERIAL TO THE REMOTE AREAS OF AFRICA

The presentation will demonstrate how cost-efficient logistics know-how is combined with dangerous goods expertise to operate in accordance with the highest quality standards to get the job done safely, effectively and hassle-free. With the background in handling of fertilization clinics around the world to move embryos and semen samples for patients, insights will be provided of the disease control division which has emerged as a preferred partner for governmental bodies, research institutes and NGOs, who are working in remote areas around the world to contain infectious diseases and prevent pandemics.
Speaker: Olivier Kadjata, Business Development, HAZGO

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION: PRODUCING HOLISTIC LEADERS FOR COUNTRIES OF AFRICA AND THE WORLD
The supply chain management program of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana has become a model for the Center for Applied Research and Innovation in Supply Chain-Africa (CARISCA), a global center of excellence for training, generating, and translating supply chain management research and innovations into positive development outcomes for Ghana and across Africa. The presentation will also focus on how leaders are educated to leverage a local and international network of governmental, civil society, and industry partners to connect African researchers, practitioners, and businesses to supply chain assets around the world.
Speaker: Dr. David Asamoah, Head of the Department of Supply Chain Management & Information Systems, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology

3:00 pm – 3:30 pm JOURNEY OF A UNIVERSITY RECOGNIZED AS GARTNER’S BEST GRADUATE PROGRAM FOR SCM IN THE USA FOR 2022
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville was recognized to have the number one program for graduate studies in Supply Chain Management for its thought leadership and talent development. The story will be told of how Haslam College of Business, the hub of the university, has earned a reputation for industry-relevant curriculum, ground-breaking research and top-ranked faculty. Faculty’s commitment to student development, industry partnerships, practical and relevant curricula and innovative research are helping companies around the globe design more resilient and responsive supply chains for the future. Finally, the program commitment to diversity, equity and inclusiveness and experiential learning will be articulated.
Speaker: Dr. Randy Bradley, Associate Professor, Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, Haslam College of Business, University of Tennessee

3:30 pm – 4:00 pm NETWORK BREAK

4:00 pm – 4:45 pm BUILDING A TRIPARTITE COLLABORATION OF UNIVERSITY, INDUSTRY & GOVERNMENT FOR THE ENTREPRENEURIAL GROWTH OF HEALTHCARE IN AFRICA
The three entities of healthcare, namely, government, university and industry, face the super ordinate challenges of saving human lives and improving healthcare through development and delivery of drugs, services and technology. Birth of the biotech and pharmaceutical industries has generally been in the laboratories of universities and research institutions across the world. The panel will focus on best practices of universities in Africa, Europe and the USA. The stakeholders will explore how the efficacy of drug development, commercialization of the intellectual property and delivery of patient care can be accelerated through collaboration. Unleashing the entrepreneurial energy in healthcare has to be a Made in Africa strategy.
PANEL
  Dr. Adegoke Oke, Professor, Supply Chain Management, W. P. Carey School of Business & Thunderbird School of Management, Arizona State University
  Dr. David Poohe, Associate Professor, Business Management, University of Johannesburg
Dr. Randy Bradley, Associate Professor, Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, Haslam College of Business, University of Tennessee
Dr. Nico Vandaele, Professor, Operations Research & Operations Management, KU LEUVEN
Dr. Abebe Bekele, Dean, School of Medicine, and Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity
  Moderator: Dr. David Asamoah, Head of the Department of Supply Chain Management & Information Systems, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology

4:45 pm – 4:55 pm WRAP UP

Devendra Mishra, Executive Director & Co-Founder, BSMA