The office lights had dimmed, and the hum of the city outside had softened to a low rhythm. Most of the team had already left, but Fabio Zonta was still there finishing the day the same way he had started it connecting the dots between strategy, innovation, and impact. To him, a day’s work isn’t about ticking off tasks; it is about making systems smarter, partnerships stronger, and processes more human.
He remembered his early days as a junior project analyst on a massive digital infrastructure rollout in West Africa a project where he learned that true leadership lies not in authority, but in collaboration. He spent long hours aligning with engineering, operations, legal, and compliance teams, ensuring every contract honoured local content laws and anti-corruption frameworks.
Years later, that same spirit of integration and foresight defined his work. Fabio led the creation of the Procurement Value Framework, a model that shifted the perception of procurement from a cost centre to a business accelerator quantifying its real impact across risk mitigation, innovation enablement, speed-to-market, and ESG compliance. When the program went live, it didn’t just succeed it set a new benchmark. The framework was adopted across other transformation initiatives, proving that the right blend of vision and precision could redefine how global organizations think about value.
Fabio knows that every negotiation refined, every framework built, and every partnership forged had inched his organization closer to a more agile, ethical, and innovative future. It was, by all measures, a day’s work well done.
From Problem Solver to Strategic Enabler
Looking back, Fabio identifies a defining moment early in his career that set him firmly on the path toward procurement and supply chain leadership. During his time as a junior project analyst on a large-scale digital infrastructure rollout for a multinational telecommunications provider, he witnessed firsthand how a single misalignment between procurement timelines and project milestones could jeopardize an entire program. Tasked with helping the procurement team resolve a critical delay, Fabio discovered that procurement was far more than a transactional process it was a strategic driver of business success.
He saw clearly how supplier relationships, contract frameworks, and negotiation strategies could influence not only operational efficiency but also customer satisfaction and long-term competitiveness. That realization became a turning point. Determined to master the discipline, Fabio pursued professional certifications in strategic sourcing and supply chain management and steadily advanced through roles from category manager to procurement lead, ultimately taking on global leadership positions overseeing complex supply ecosystems.
One of the most challenging yet transformative moments of Fabio’s career came during a global ERP transformation program for a leading digital services multinational. The initiative involved migrating from legacy systems to a cloud-based architecture, engaging over forty vendors across software, infrastructure, consulting, and integration services. The procurement team faced the daunting task of sourcing, contracting, and onboarding all partners within a six-month window while ensuring full compliance with evolving data privacy regulations and internal governance frameworks.
Turning Strategy into Scalable Growth at Raxio
As Group Head of Procurement at Raxio, a pioneering company shaping the digital infrastructure and data center landscape across emerging markets, Fabio plays a role that is both visionary and hands-on sitting squarely at the crossroads of growth, technology, and operational excellence. His leadership is defined by a clear mission: to transform procurement from a transactional process into a strategic engine powering Raxio’s expansion and innovation.
Fabio frames his work around four core dimensions that guide how procurement adds value across Raxio’s footprint:
1. Strategic Enabler of Growth: Raxio’s ambitious growth strategy spans multiple geographies, each with its own regulatory and logistical nuances. Fabio ensures procurement accelerates, rather than constrains, this expansion. He develops regional sourcing strategies and supplier ecosystems capable of supporting modular data center builds at scale. In one East African expansion, he negotiated a multi-country framework agreement for prefabricated modular components cutting lead times by 30% and achieving cost predictability across three markets.
2. Risk and Compliance Steward: Operating in the infrastructure sector means balancing high CAPEX investments with complex legal and regulatory frameworks. Fabio views procurement as a guardian of governance and integrity. During a major rollout in West Africa, he collaborated closely with legal and compliance teams to structure contracts aligned with local content laws and anti-corruption frameworks fortifying both the company’s compliance posture and its credibility with public authorities.
3. Innovation Partner: Fabio’s approach to procurement goes beyond savings it’s about driving value through innovation. He works alongside engineering, operations, and technology teams to source pioneering partners and negotiate co-development agreements that differentiate Raxio’s market offering. For instance, he structured a partnership with a cooling technology startup to pilot energy-efficient systems in a flagship data center. The agreement included performance incentives and IP-sharing provisions, aligning innovation with commercial success.
4. Operational Excellence Driver: With infrastructure projects, execution is everything. Fabio leads the development of digital procurement systems, supplier scorecards, and data-driven KPIs that ensure speed, transparency, and accountability. His introduction of a centralized procurement dashboard tracking spends, supplier performance, and project milestones has enhanced executive visibility and accelerated decision-making across regions.
Through these dimensions, Fabio has redefined procurement as a strategic bridge between vision and execution a function that safeguards compliance, fuels innovation, and sustains Raxio’s rapid growth across emerging markets. For him, procurement is not merely about acquiring resources; it’s about building partnerships, enabling progress, and delivering trust at every step of the company’s transformative journey.
Transforming Procurement from a Back-Office Function to a Strategic Engine of Change
The most defining challenge in Fabio’s professional journey came during a high-stakes phase of a global digital transformation program for a multinational technology firm one that would ultimately redefine how he viewed leadership, strategy, and the role of procurement itself.
Stepping into a senior procurement leadership position, Fabio was entrusted with overseeing a portfolio that spanned cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and enterprise software all essential components of the company’s digital reinvention. The pressure was immense: procurement had to deliver speed, savings, and innovation all at once.
Yet, the real challenge wasn’t technical it was cultural and structural. Procurement had long been perceived as a back-office function, a process rather than a partner. Many business units resisted centralized sourcing, supplier relationships were fragmented, and trust in procurement’s strategic value was minimal.
Recognizing that the old playbook wouldn’t work, Fabio pivoted his leadership approach from transactional execution to strategic integration. He began embedding procurement professionals directly within transformation teams, turning them into co-creators rather than enforcers of sourcing strategy. This shift-built alignment, transparency, and shared ownership across the organization.
To institutionalize this change, Fabio designed the Procurement Value Framework a pioneering model that measured procurement’s contribution not only in terms of cost savings but through broader business impact: risk mitigation, speed-to-market, innovation enablement, and ESG compliance. This framework quickly became a key reference for executive decision-making and transformed how procurement’s value was perceived across the enterprise.
One defining test came during the negotiation of a multi-year SaaS agreement with a global provider a vendor critical to the transformation’s success. The supplier’s pricing model was opaque, and contract terms were inflexible. Fabio led a multidisciplinary team including legal, IT security, and finance, introducing a performance-based pricing structure tied to adoption metrics and service levels. The outcome was a 22% cost reduction over three years and a partnership model that aligned incentives and accountability across both parties.
The experience became a turning point. Fabio learned that leadership in procurement isn’t about control it’s about influence, collaboration, and vision. It shaped him into a leader who listens deeply, builds bridges across silos, and drives transformation through trust and shared purpose. Most importantly, it reinforced his conviction that when procurement is strategically empowered, it can evolve from a support function into a catalyst for organizational change and long-term resilience.
Redefining Procurement in Emerging Markets
Fabio envisions the future of procurement in emerging markets as a dynamic intersection of technology, resilience, and inclusive growth. As he observes, regions like East Africa and Southeast Asia where Raxio operates are no longer merely catching up; they are leapfrogging traditional systems and redefining global best practices.
In these markets, mobile-first and cloud-native procurement platforms are transforming the way businesses engage with suppliers. AI-powered analytics and blockchain-based transparency tools are enabling real-time collaboration, predictive demand planning, and automated sourcing creating systems that are not only efficient but also adapted to local realities. For instance, e-sourcing platforms integrated with local fintech solutions are helping streamline payments and compliance even in regions with limited banking infrastructure.
At the same time, global supply chains are being rebalanced. The procurement landscape is shifting toward localization, with governments incentivizing domestic manufacturing and technology infrastructure. Fabio believes procurement leaders must align with these policy shifts not just to comply with regulations, but to secure their social license to operate. Building resilient local supplier ecosystems through training programs, joint ventures, and long-term partnerships will be key to sustaining growth in these environments.
He also emphasizes that ESG is no longer optional. In sectors like data centers, procurement will sit at the heart of corporate sustainability strategies driving energy efficiency, ethical labor practices, and circular economy models. Yet, the challenge in emerging markets lies in data reliability. Fabio sees this as an opportunity for procurement to pioneer robust audit, reporting, and verification mechanisms that build trust and accountability across the value chain.
Looking ahead, he foresees a decade defined by volatility climate disruptions, cyber threats, and geopolitical tensions. In this context, procurement must evolve from being cost-centric to resilience-centric. Scenario planning, multi-sourcing, and AI-driven risk scoring will be indispensable tools. For companies operating in frontier markets, securing backup logistics, alternative suppliers, and contingency plans will become a non-negotiable part of strategy.
Ultimately, Fabio believes that the next evolution of procurement will depend on people. The profession will demand a new generation of digitally fluent, strategically minded, and culturally agile leaders. For emerging markets, this means upskilling local teams and establishing cross-border procurement centers of excellence to drive innovation and collaboration.
In his view, procurement is poised to become a true strategic force not merely optimizing spend, but shaping economies, enabling digital transformation, and driving inclusive, sustainable growth. For companies like Raxio, operating at the frontier of digital infrastructure, this transformation is not a future ambition it’s already underway.
