Crown Agents' chief executive Terence Jagger visited key clients and projects on a two week-long tour of Africa in September to discuss existing and future business opportunities. On his first visit to Africa since joining the company in March this year, Terence travelled to Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. He also opened Crown Agents' first office in Juba, South Sudan.
"This was a fascinating experience that enabled me to explore Crown Agents' extensive and impactful past and present work across Africa. It is clear that our work is making a real difference to people's lives," he said.
The tour began in Kenya where Terence attended a meeting with one of Crown Agents' major African IT partners, Technobrain, winner of Microsoft's Country Partner of the Year Award 2011, in which he discussed current and future opportunities with CEO Manoj Shanker.
In another meeting with the Japanese ambassador, Mr Toshihisa Takata, Terence discussed future opportunities in international development that can build on Crown Agents' extensive work for the Japanese government across Africa. Crown Agents procures a wide range of health and environmental materials for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA) across the world.
Crown Agents also procures and distributes health commodities via our freight forwarding company Greenshields Cowie (GSC) on behalf of the Population Services International (PSI) Kenya project and Terence stopped in at one of the recipient health clinics, St Patricks, to see the project in action. 
He said it was "heartwarming" to hear positive feedback from staff and service users: "Through the ongoing, reliable provision of medicine and other medical materials, we help to improve the quality of maternal and post natal care services, available for the local community, 24/7."
In Uganda, Terence visited the Ministry of Health to learn more about Crown Agents' contribution to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and discussed how we can continue to help. Over the past year, Crown Agents has been involved in multiple projects, mainly funded by the Global Fund and DFID, that have helped to save thousands of lives through the procurement of more than 15 million bednets and delivery of up to 50 million mosquito nets across Africa and South East Asia.
To mark the opening of Crown Agents' office in Juba, South Sudan, Terence co-hosted a reception with the UK Ambassador Designate to South Sudan, Alistair McPhail, which was attended by representatives from NGOs/funders, government officials, international diplomats and the local media. He later discussed health sector reform with the Minister of Health, Dr. Luka Manoja and met Galdino Sakado, the director of Skills for Southern Sudan (SSS), an NGO supporting the development of human resource capabilities in South Sudanese civil society and public service.
In Zimbabwe, we have a strong track record of delivering supply chain management services and assistance on a number of health and food security programmes. Terence heard how the Open Agricultural Electronic Voucher Payment System (OAEVPS), as part of the multi-donor funded Protracted Relief Programme (PRP), is transforming people's lives. To date, Crown Agents has procured over 23,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser; 5,000 metric tonnes of seed for 200,000 households and home-based care kits worth over $1 million to support people living with HIV/AIDS. In Murewa, 60km east of Harare, Terence opened the first of many workshops, funded by the Crown Agents Foundation and aimed at training rural agro-dealers and retailers participating in the PRP.
Finally, in Zambia, Terence visited the Central Statistics Office (CSO) where Crown Agents provided procurement services funded by DFID to support the recent census. 
He also visited the government's Medical Stores Ltd (MSL), which we have reformed since 2004 to ensure the reliable delivery of vital medicines where they are most needed. Our reforms doubled medical stock availability at a central level; cut distribution costs by 32% and ensured that 95% of deliveries arrive on time.
Since joining Crown Agents six months ago, Terence has travelled extensively in Asia, South East Europe and the US to strengthen existing relationships with key clients and to seek out new and exciting opportunities in international development. He will also shortly visit our offices and partners in Japan and China, and will undertake an extensive trip to our West African projects in early 2012.