Supply chain researchers, practitioners and policymakers from around the globe will be gathering in Accra, Ghana, June 4-6 to share the latest research in their field. The occasion is the fourth annual Supply Chain Research Summit organized by the Center for Applied Research and Innovation in Supply Chain – Africa (CARISCA) (https://CARISCA.Knust.edu.gh/).

More than 950 people from 48 countries have registered to attend the hybrid summit, roughly half of them in person and half virtually. The theme of this year’s conference is “Africa’s Supply Chain Resilience for Economic Transformation.”

The summit is central to CARISCA’s goal to integrate Africa’s supply chain research into mainstream research and strengthen African supply chain capacity. It is the largest academic supply chain conference on the continent.

“Africa’s economic transformation is likely to be dependent on its capacity to build resilience in its supply chains to absorb and recover from global and local disruptions,” says Nathaniel Boso, director of CARISCA at KNUST. “That is why we set resilience as the theme of this year’s conference.”

A record number of over 140 research papers will be delivered at the summit this year. In addition to these presentations, the conference will feature three keynote speakers, a journal editors panel, a women in supply chain panel, a session on the Ghana and Kenya Logistics Managers Indexes, a PhD Dissertation Awards competition, and much more.

Keynote speakers for the conference are:

Lydiah Kiburu, group director for business transformation, brand & culture for Equity Group Holdings Plc based in Kenya, who will speak on “Leveraging Technology and Innovation to Build Resilient Supply Chains in Africa”

Glenn Richey, Harbert Eminent Scholar in Supply Chain Management at Auburn University in the U.S., who will talk about “Responsiveness, Organizational Learning and AI: The Future of Supply Chain Strategy”

Faith Mashele, faculty member at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science, whose presentation is titled “Harmonise Policies, Leverage Heritage: How Can Africa Drive Resilient Supply Chains?”

At the conference dinner on June 5, Atoapem Frimpong Barimah, senior manager of supply chain operations for Newmont Africa, will address the question, “Has Transformation Ever Been Achieved Without Supply Chain?” Barimah was recently named one of the top three most influential procurement leaders in Africa by the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.

“The Supply Chain Research Summit is a can’t-miss event for supply chain management scholars from Africa and around the world,” says Dale Rogers, CARISCA’s executive director and ON Semiconductor Professor of Business at Arizona State University. “In only a few years, it has become the place where new research ideas relevant to Africa are developed and presented.”

The in-person conference venue is the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City. In-person registration is full, but virtual registration will be open through the end of the summit. Learn more and register at https://apo-opa.co/4aFFpsi