AB InBev promotes Siandele Matantilo as Procurement Manager of the African Zone

ZAMBIA – AB InBev, the parent company of Zambian Breweries (ZB) has promoted Siandele Matantilo, as the Procurement Manager for its maize, cassava, sugar, ethanol and hops supplies throughout the African Zone.

Prior to his appointment he was Zambian Breweries Country Procurement Manager

According to Zambian Breweries official press release, Matantilo will take up his new role at the “Continental Office at the Africa Zone” in South Africa – the Africa regional office of  AB InBev.

Excited about the promotion he stated, “I felt I had done my part in the country and contributed positively in the business unit to deserve an opportunity to showcase my skills in the zone.”

Matantilo enrolled at Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (ZCAS) where he pursued an Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification.

He started his career at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) as a Project Accountant for Konkola Deep Mining Project (KDMP).

He later on joined Zambian Breweries as an Assistant Financial Accountant in January 2014.

After four years, the chartered accountant was appointed to the Management Committee (Mancom), to represent the procurement department at regional level, focusing on Zambia and Botswana.

“I never thought I would find myself in the procurement space. I got into this space because I wanted to be involved at the front end of the supply chain and contribute positively in ensuring we get best value as a business, using my strength (numbers) to achieve this,” the accountant-turned-procurement manager explains.

While at ZB he scored notable success with one of them being increasing local sourcing of raw materials, which saw the birth of the company’s famous cassava project, buying the root from small-scale farmers in Luapula

“Developing a cassava end-to-end process over the years is one of the projects that I’m most proud of. This is due to the positive impact it has on various communities in Luapula and Northern provinces,” he says.

The cassava project was established in 2016, through which the brewer is ensuring economic diversification, job creation and setting new grounds for agriculture sustainability for the nation.

Since inception of the project, the brewer has bought more than 15,000 tonnes of dry cassava, giving a total income of over K21 million (US$1.5m) to the small-scale farmers.

This year the brewer is targeting to buy the crop from 5,000 farmers.