CARISCA’s second annual Supply Chain Research Summit, “How Africa Matters to the Global Supply Chain,” held June 28–30, provided myriad opportunities for attendees to learn from and network with leading supply chain scholars, practitioners and students.

The Summit is central to CARISCA’s goal to put Africa’s supply chain research on the map. The aim of the event was to strengthen African supply chain capacity by bringing together academic and non-academic researchers and public, private and civil society organizations to create an ongoing dialogue to address complex supply chain challenges in Africa.

This year’s event was presented in a hybrid format, with participants attending in person—in Kumasi, Ghana—and virtually via Zoom. 

“Conferences like our research summit are powerful because they germinate ideas, plant seeds and give researchers and practitioners opportunities to meet people they otherwise never would,” said Dale Rogers, executive director of CARISCA. “I think the summit is a great investment of people’s time.”

Nearly 800 people from 41 countries registered for the event.

The 2022 Summit featured three keynotes, more than 50 paper presentations, invited sessions and a dissertation competition. Papers were presented during three parallel tracks: general supply chains, sectoral supply chains and emerging issues in global supply chains. 

The 2023 Summit, “Africa’s Supply Chains and the Future of Work,” is planned for June 20–22 in Ghana’s capital, Accra.

2022 keynote speakers

June 28

Helena Barnard

Supply Chain Innovation in Africa

Helena Barnard is a professor of international business and the academic head of doctoral programmes for the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Her research interests are in how knowledge moves between more and less developed countries, particularly in Africa.

She is founding chairperson for the emerging markets special interest group of the Academy for International Business, and she proposed and helped organize the Academy of Management’s Africa Conference in 2013. Prior to her academic career, Barnard was a logistics analyst for Home Depot.

June 29

Onyekachi Izukanne

The Future of Commerce in Africa

Onyekachi Izukanne is co-founder and CEO of TradeDepot, a business that enables factory-to-retail distribution for consumer goods companies. With ‌extensive‌ ‌experience‌ ‌in‌ ‌business‌ ‌growth,‌ ‌the‌ ‌retail‌ ‌industry‌ ‌and‌ ‌financial‌ ‌technology,‌ Izukanne ‌leads‌ ‌strategy‌ ‌and‌ ‌growth‌ ‌at‌ ‌the‌ ‌company.‌ 

He works with some of the world’s biggest brands, including Arla, Indomie, Kellog’s, Nestle and Unilever. 

A ‌serial‌ ‌entrepreneur‌, Izukanne has ‌two‌ ‌decades‌ ‌of‌ ‌experience‌ ‌innovating‌ ‌solutions‌ ‌to‌ ‌address‌ ‌real-world‌ ‌business‌ ‌problems.‌ He ‌has‌ ‌a‌ ‌deep‌ ‌understanding‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ complexities‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌African‌ ‌business‌ ‌environment,‌ ‌the‌ ‌key‌ ‌challenges‌ ‌small and medium enterprises (SMEs)‌ ‌face‌ ‌and‌ ‌the‌ ‌role‌ ‌the‌ ‌digital‌ ‌economy‌ ‌plays.‌ 

June 30

Lisa Ellram

Environmental Sustainability Research and Practice: Mind the Gaps

Lisa Ellram is University Distinguished Professor and James Evans Rees Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at Miami University of Ohio, United States. She has been ranked as the No. 9 most influential/impactful supply chain management scholar globally and is the only woman to rank in the top 25. 

Her publications have been cited over 30,000 times in Google Scholar, and she has presented her work on five continents and in more than 30 countries. Ellram has co-authored six textbooks and received numerous research grants. She is currently senior associate editor for the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management.