Center Director’s Message

I warmly welcome you to the Center of Applied Research Innovation in Supply Chain-Africa (CARISCA), where great minds take on significant development challenges in supply chains. CARISCA is an interdisciplinary center of excellence established at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in partnership with Arizona State University (ASU) as part of the premier BRIDGE-TRAIN Program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The center is envisioned as a globally recognized, locally owned hub for generating and translating innovative research into positive development outcomes for Ghanaian and pan-African supply chains, driving country self-reliance, and increasing the impact of USAID investments in sub-Saharan Africa. 

The Center is harnessing innovative research in supply chain management, drawing on the social sciences, industrial and systems engineering, computer science, mathematics, economics, marketing, finance, and management, to take on significant development challenges and address barriers to development caused by inefficient and ineffective supply chains. The center’s focus on supply chain management and innovation reflects a large body of research showing that efficient local supply chains are crucial to local, regional, and national economic development.

The CARISCA Center is positioned to be Africa’s preeminent source of supply chain management expertise. It is a resource for researchers across Africa to drive innovative research, research translation (applying research findings to policy, practice, or additional research), and training to improve African supply chains, sustained by revenue-generating activities and a robust partner network. The Center focuses on significantly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of health care and agricultural value chains with a strong commitment to increasing inclusion and impact for women and disadvantaged supply chain stakeholders across sub-Saharan Africa.

We are partnering with international, regional and national research institutions to lead cutting-edge research in supply chains that publishes in some of the most prestigious international scholarly journals, and that provides insights for supply chain practitioners and policymakers. We are also collaborating with networks of industry leaders, policymakers and trade associations to connect African researchers, practitioners, and businesses to global supply chain assets. We have the most diverse and internationally recognized academic programs in the supply chain, procurement, logistics, and transportation management in the West African sub-region. We are the only center of excellence in West Africa to hold the twin global professional accreditation for the Chartered Institution of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) and Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT), making us one of the very few accredited study centers to train supply chain professionals in the sub-region.

CARISCA is your globally connected partner for supply chain research, training, and policy. We provide a one-stop-shop for research capacity development, internationally accredited academic programs, and C-suite executive and professional training programs in supply chain management. 

We are committed to collaborating with you to advance your supply chain research, executive training, and policy development needs.

Welcome aboard!

Nathaniel Boso, PhD