Supply chain students from Ghana soar to success

he team of Samuel Atta Gyan, Lois Andoh, Samuel Togodui, and Asie Wadee (MS-GL ’20) was one of the top two winners of this year’s Rutgers TEN Plus Supply Chain Innovation Challenge. The foursome shared a $5,000 cash prize.

All four members of the team hail from Ghana and arrived at ASU through the Mastercard Foundation Scholars program, which strives to support young scholars from Africa. These students embody leadership and seek to foster a positive impact on their communities.

Although this year’s competition — an extension of the Rutgers TEN Plus Supply Chain Case Challenge, hosted by the Rutgers Business School supply chain management department — was just as competitive, it was slightly different from previous years because of COVID-19.

This year, the Rutgers leadership team decided to award the winners based on their performance during the virtual first round. This event highlighted adaptability within higher education during an unprecedented time in history. Teams presented ideas to add value for electronic manufacturer BetaWare’s customers.

“Being at the top in this case competition is another confirmation of the successes that I can attain in the supply chain field,” Andoh says. “This is just the tip of the iceberg, and I can’t wait to embrace what is out there.”

The W. P. Carey School of Business foursome are proud to be alumni. They believe the specialized master’s program prepared them to confidently tackle and address the issues successfully within the competition. Through courses such as Decision Modeling and Operations Management, they were able to develop strategies to target the case’s core requirement.

From left are graduating students from the W. P. Carey School’s Master of Science in Global Logistics (MS-GL) program Samuel Atta Gyan, Asie Wadee, Samuel Togodui, and Lois Andoh.

“This case competition was broad and wide open to innovative solutions,” says Patricia Swafford, a clinical associate professor of supply chain management. “Winning is a testament to both the team’s forward-thinking and ASU’s commitment to promoting ‘out of the box’ thinking and innovation.”

Recently, the Master of Science in Global Logistics program was designated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security as a STEM-eligible degree program. The designation gives greater opportunities for international students to find employment in the U.S. for up to
36 months beyond graduation.

Togodui plans to take advantage of the benefit. “In pursuing this, I not only look forward to developing new skills and gaining experiential knowledge in supply chain but also seeing it as a prolonged opportunity to give back to the U.S. community, a perspective I bring from a different culture.”