Supply Chain & Operations Strategy
Value chain analysis, network design, resilience and performance improvement for manufacturing, agri-food, retail and healthcare operations.
Ashesi University · Berekuso, Ghana
Disraeli
Asante‑Darko.
I am a
Supply Chain Strategist
Associate Professor, Head of the Business Administration Department and Director of the MBA Programme at Ashesi University. I help organisations across Africa build sustainable, resilient operations, grounded in research and proven in practice.
PhD · MPOMS · CIPS
Operations & Supply Chain Management
About
From mathematics in Kumasi to leading Ashesi's MBA.
I began in pure numbers, with a BSc in Mathematics and an MPhil in Applied Mathematics at KNUST, before discovering that the most interesting equations sit inside organisations: how goods move, how firms grow responsibly, and how Africa's supply chains can compete globally without costing the planet.
A PhD in Operations and Supply Chain Management at the University of the Witwatersrand sharpened that focus. Today I lead the Business Administration Department and the MBA Programme at Ashesi University, publish in leading Q1 journals on circular economy and sustainable operations, and advise governments, embassies, and enterprises on strategy, value chains, and evaluation.
My conviction is simple: rigorous research should leave the library. Every consulting engagement I take is grounded in evidence; every paper I write is aimed at real-world impact across Africa.
- 2025
Head of Department & MBA Director · Ashesi
Strategic leadership of the Business Administration Department & MBA Programme.
- 2024
Associate Professor · Ashesi University
Q1 research pipeline; new Supply Chain Management curriculum (+20% enrolment).
- 2023
Senior Lecturer & Head of Programmes · GIMPA
Postgraduate teaching, executive training & satellite campus coordination.
- 2022
PhD · University of the Witwatersrand
Operations & Supply Chain Management, funded by the Bradlow Foundation Scholarship.
- 2018
Head, Centre for Management Development · GIMPA
Executive training portfolio; +30% enrolment across five online programmes.
- 2016
Manager, Kumasi Campus · GIMPA
Campus operations, accreditation & international collaborations.
- 2015
Lecturer · GIMPA
Operations, service operations & supply chain management.
- 2013
Graduate Assistant · KNUST
Taught optimisation, engineering mathematics & mathematical methods.
Consultancy
Evidence-driven advisory, measurable outcomes.
I work with governments, development partners, universities and enterprises on operations, sustainability and evaluation challenges, bringing the same analytical rigour that earns Q1 journal publications to every engagement.
0Funded advisory engagements
0Health facilities reached
0Sectors advised
0Stakeholders engaged
Sustainability & Circular Economy Advisory
Circular economy roadmaps, NetZero transition support, triple-bottom-line decision frameworks and corporate sustainability performance.
Monitoring & Evaluation
Theory-of-change design, indicator frameworks, robustness testing and impact evaluation for programmes and multi-million-dollar initiatives.
Data Analytics & Research Design
Advanced quantitative methods (PLS-SEM, fsQCA, DEMATEL, MCDM), plus survey design, data collection at scale and policy-grade analysis.
Executive Training & Curriculum Development
Design and delivery of executive education, accreditation support and curriculum development for universities and corporate academies.
Have a challenge in mind?
Tell me about your organisation and what you're trying to achieve.
Book a consultation
Methods & tools
Selected engagements
$2.0M programme
Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant
Ashesi E-Learning Initiative · Ghana
Evaluated the effectiveness of Ashesi University's e-learning programmes using advanced analytical techniques, informing institutional digital-learning strategy.
$400K initiative
Technical Report & Research Consultant
Education Collaborative · Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project
Led data analysis and authored 4+ technical reports, transforming complex findings into actionable insights and guiding two manuscript developments.
300+ facilities
Data Collection & Analysis Lead
FSPI-R Project · French Embassy & Ashesi University
Directed data collection across 300+ healthcare facilities on French-language adoption in Ghana's health sector; analysis shaped five policy developments.
€50K engagement
Value Chain Consultant
EU West Africa Competitiveness Programme · GIMPA
Advised on cassava, processed fruits, cosmetics and personal-care value chains: strategic interventions that improved production efficiency and market access.
$15K study
Robustness Test Consultant
Ashesi Berekuso Impact Study · Ghana
Applied advanced statistical robustness testing to guarantee the reliability and validity of a flagship community-impact study.
50+ stakeholders
Executive Training Direction
Academy of Leadership & Executive Training · GIMPA
Directed executive programmes engaging 50+ stakeholders; developed five online offerings that lifted enrolment by 30%.
Engagements typically begin with a scoping conversation, with no obligation.
Start a conversation →Research & Publications
Published where it counts.
Research on sustainable supply chains, circular economy and operations, in journals including Business Strategy and the Environment (IF 13.3), Resources Policy (IF 12.4) and Benchmarking (IF 5.6).
- 2026IF 8.2Q1Wiley
- 2026IF 5.6Q1Emerald
- 2025IF 5.6Q1Emerald
- 2024ScopusSpringer
- 2024ScopusEmerald
- 2024IF 13.3Q1Wiley
- 2024ScopusSpringer
- 2023ScopusEmerald
- 2023IF 2.9Q1PLOS
- 2023IF 12.4Q1Elsevier
- 2022Scopus
- 2021Scopus
- 2021IF 12.4Q1Elsevier
- 2020ScopusEmerald
- 2020ScopusEmerald
- 2018ScopusEmerald
- 2018ScopusEmerald
- 2018ScopusEmerald
- 2018ScopusEmerald
- 2018ScopusEmerald
- 2018IF 5.6Q1Emerald
- 2017
- 2016
- 2016
Direct major causes of maternal mortality and indirect factors: a canonical correlation analysis
- 2023Palgrave
- Forth.
Overview of decentralised autonomous organisations
Springer Nature - 2023
A framework for defining, describing, and diagnosing (D3) entrepreneurship ecosystems within Sub-Saharan African higher educational institutions
- 2024
- 2023
Sustainable supply chain management practices and firm performance: The mediating effect of supply chain integration
No publications match your search.
Plus 7 teaching cases under review on African business strategy, supply chains and entrepreneurship.
Speaking & Workshops
In the room, on the stage.
From POMS conferences in the US to executive workshops in Accra: engaging leaders, practitioners and policymakers on operations, data and sustainable business.
- 2025 35th POMS Conference · Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- 2024 Panellist, data-driven HR decision-making · 6th Biennial HR Conference, Ghana Chamber of Mines
- 2024 34th POMS Conference · Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- 2018 29th POMS Conference · Houston, Texas, USA
- 2017 28th POMS Conference · Seattle, Washington, USA
- 2016 Waste Management Conference · Wessex Institute of Technology, Valencia, Spain
Teaching & Mentorship
Building the next generation.
Teaching portfolio
- Operations & Supply Chain: Operations Management, SCM, Supply Chain Analytics, Strategic Operations
- Sustainability & Business: Sustainable Business, Green Entrepreneurship, Global Business & Ethics
- Quantitative & Analytics: Business Analytics, Statistics, Optimisation, Quantitative Methods
Supervision & examination
- 3 PhD candidates supervised: circular economy, supply chain resilience & risk
- 12+ MBA candidates supervised and examined at GIMPA
- 20+ undergraduate projects supervised annually at peak
Awards & grants
- Best Paper Award, Africa Academy of Management 2023 (Sustainability & Green Management Track)
- Emerald Literati Outstanding Paper Award, 2019
- Bradlow Foundation PhD Scholarship, 2021
- EU Research Grant, West Africa Competitiveness Programme, 2020
Testimonials
What collaborators say.
"Disraeli combines academic depth with a consultant's instinct for what actually moves the needle. His evaluation of our programme gave us evidence we could act on immediately."
"His value chain analysis was the most rigorous piece of work our programme commissioned, and the most readable. Boards understood it, and field teams could execute it."
"As a supervisor and teacher, Dr. Asante-Darko holds you to Q1-journal standards while making you believe you can reach them. He changed the trajectory of my career."
"He explains supply chains the way practitioners live them, then examines you like a journal editor. The most demanding and most rewarding course of my MBA."
"We brought him in for the analytics, but the real value was how he translated the numbers into decisions our operations team could act on the following week."
"On our panel he made data-driven HR feel practical instead of theoretical. Delegates were still quoting his framework two days later."
Contact
Let's build something sustainable.
For consultancy engagements, speaking invitations, research collaboration or media enquiries.
- Emaildasante-darko@ashesi.edu.gh
- Phone+233 24 800 3341
- OfficeAshesi University, 1 University Avenue, Berekuso, Eastern Region, Ghana
- ProfilesLinkedIn · Google Scholar