Azuka Okeke
Chief Executive Officer at Africa Resource Centre (ARC_ESM)
Speaking at TFEST26: Monday, December 1 2026 at 12:55–13:25 on the Main Stage — “Procurement as the Reality Test: Why Human Judgment Matters in AI-Driven Supply Networks”.
About Azuka
Azuka Okeke is Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Resource Centre for Excellence in Supply Chain Management (ARC_ESM), where she oversees supply chain transformation projects in Nigeria and supports other African countries in strengthening their health systems. She is best known for her expertise in engaging governments and development partners, helping them prioritise and invest in health supply chain programmes across Africa — work that has increased financial investment by the Federal and State governments in Nigeria and unlocked co-investments worth over $8 million from the Gates Foundation, The Global Fund and Gavi.
A trusted thought partner and advisor to national Ministries of Health across the continent, Azuka has also facilitated public-private partnerships for innovative health financing through platforms including the World Economic Forum and ARC. She pioneered the set-up of a first-of-its-kind membership platform for the private sector in Nigeria, through which corporates and individual experts have contributed some $750,000 to public health programmes over the past four years.
Her ambition is to give governments and partners a pragmatic framework for sustainability and country ownership in supply chain delivery — most recently by advocating for human capital development in Africa and championing a collaboration between MIT Boston, Zaragoza Logistics Centre in Spain and six Nigerian universities to establish a Pan-African Centre of Excellence for Supply Chain Management.
Session Overview
Corporate ambitions for AI, end-to-end resilience, and net-zero sustainability sound flawless in the boardroom—until they hit the procurement desk. This session cuts through the hype to explore procurement as the ultimate proving ground where strategic mandates meet operational reality. Join us to unpack the execution gap between high-level targets and daily sourcing decisions. We will examine how procurement leaders are navigating complex trade-offs when algorithmic efficiency inevitably clashes with ESG goals or long-term supplier trust, proving that the future of the supply chain isn't just automated—it's human-governed.
About TFEST26
TFEST26 is Europe's most senior supply chain conference, taking place December 1–2 2026 at Colosseum Berlin. It brings together 400+ Director-level and above leaders — Chief Supply Chain Officers, VPs, and senior directors from Cisco, Henkel, Estée Lauder, Diageo, Schneider Electric, Novartis, Mars, and others — for two days of peer benchmarking, candid practitioner firesides, themed roundtables, and pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings.