Mrs Esther Ntumy Lartey Kesse, wife of the Akosombo Combine District Minister of The Church of Pentecost, has been named the winner of the Outstanding PhD Dissertation Finalist Award 2025 in Africa, in the field of Supply Chain Management.
She received this prestigious academic excellence award from among four finalists selected across 53 African countries, during the 2025 Annual Supply Chain Research Summit held at the Lagos Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, Nigeria, from July 16-18. The event was organised by the Centre for Applied Research and Innovation in Supply Chain-Africa (CARISCA), a collaboration between Arizona State University (ASU) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Mrs Kesse, a PhD student at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), was the sole candidate to represent Ghana in the academic exercise, joining three other finalists from various regions across the continent.
The four PhD candidates competed through a rigorous dissertation presentation process, which was assessed based on several key criteria: identification of the research gap, originality of the study, robustness of the conceptual and theoretical frameworks, justification of the chosen research methodology, clarity of the research objectives and how they were addressed, as well as the practical and theoretical contributions of the research. The presentations were followed by a demanding question-and-answer session led by seasoned experts in the field of Supply Chain Management and members of the global academic community.
Presenting the award to the General Secretary of The Church of Pentecost at his office in Accra, Apostle Samuel Gyau Obuobi, on behalf of the Chairman and the entire membership of the Church, congratulated Mrs Esther Ntumy Kesse for her accomplishment, stating that her success reflects positively on the ‘Possessing the Nations’ agenda of The Church of Pentecost.
‘We bless the Lord for how He continues to strategically position The Church of Pentecost in global affairs,’ he said, adding, ‘To Him alone be the glory.’
The CARISCA Research Summit is one of the leading academic supply chain conferences on the African continent, which is an annual gathering of supply chain scholars, students, faculty in higher education institutions (HEIs), professionals, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, private sector partners, civil society organisations, and policymakers. The research summit aims to integrate Africa’s supply chain research into mainstream research and strengthen African supply chain capacity.
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