Douglas Boateng wins 2026 IMM Institute Supply Chain Lifetime Achievement Award

Professor Douglas K. Boateng, Africa's first Professor Extraordinaire in Supply Chain Management, has been awarded the 2026 IMM Institute Supply Chain Lifetime Achievement Award, Africa's highest honor in the field. The award recognizes his extraordinary and enduring contributions to supply chain management in South Africa, particularly. This is the second time the award has been given since the IMM Institute was founded in 1948.

Prof. Boateng's career has been dedicated to the notion that supply chain management is not merely a back-office function, but the connective tissue of a nation's industrial future. Over the past thirty years, he has consistently advocated for this perspective, engaging with African business leaders, governments, and international organizations. His work has elevated the strategic importance of supply chain management in Africa and influenced policy, inspiring many practitioners across the continent.

At the African Continental Free Trade Area, Prof. Boateng emphasized that Africa cannot achieve sustainable industrialization, realize the full potential of the AfCFTA, or deliver the aspirations of Agenda 2063 without resilient, competitive, and increasingly integrated African supply chains. He stressed that Africa's next chapter cannot be written solely through trade; instead, it requires producing together.

His conviction that every sourcing, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, and investment decision carries industrial consequences has guided his three decades of work across various sectors.