The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Thursday launched the West African Institute for Supply Chain Management (WAISCL), the first of its kind in the west African sub region. WAISCL is collaboration between the KNUST school of Business, PanAvest Foundation and Dr. Douglas Boateng.
The launch was part of the inaugural public lecture on logistics & supply Chain Management in Ghana under the theme “Can Ghanaian and West African Business Executives and Policy Makers Continue to Underrate the Strategic Importance of Supply Chain Management In Today’s World?”.
Delivering the lecture, Dr. Douglas Boateng,Founder and CEO of PanAvest International stated that African countries are suffering largely due to a lack of application of the principles of supply chain management to their activities.
According to the logistics & supply Chain Management expert, South Africa is seeing much development because she has embraced supply chain management and hoped that Ghana would follow the example.
He stated that Ghana’s “gateway to Africa” mantra can see reality if the government and policy makers adopt and focus on supply Chain Management, adding that the importation of biscuits and fruit juice from other countries would be a thing of the past.
He mentioned HIV, too much focus on procurement, lack of appropriate technologies, industries that are too small and a mindset problem as some of the challenges militating against logistics & supply Chain Management in Ghana, stressing the need for a change in mindset of policy makers and the citizenry.
He praised the KNUST business school for the speed with which they put together the programme.

For his part, Professor W.O Ellis, Pro-Vice Chancellor and chairman for the occasion stated KNUST’s preparedness to host the KNUST Chapter of the West African Institute for Supply Chain Management, stating that the infrastructure in available. He observed that logistics & supply Chain Management has become a competitive tool for many businesses, hoping that the launch of WAISCL will be a starting point for the revolution that is about to occur in the field within the sub region.

-Bernard Buachi,
KNUST,Kumasi.