Vice President, Education: Mr. Kofi Essuman

Kofi Essuman is a committed professional, very passionate about training and implementation of value chain strategies particularly in the fields of Packaging & Product Development, Quality Management, Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental Care.
He holds a certificate in packaging from the School of Packaging, Michigan State University, a Master of Science degree in Food Science, and a Bachelor of Science in Food Science & Nutrition from the University of Ghana, Legon.
With an outstanding 40 years’ experience in the food manufacturing industry and International Agencies, Kofi currently serves as Chairman of the Management Board of GS1 Ghana, a not for profit international standards organization best known for barcodes. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Royal Crown Packaging Limited, Ghana.
His industry experience includes supervisory and management roles at Cocoa Processing Company, Tema Food Complex Corporation and Unilever Ghana Ltd. He was Senior Adviser at the International Trade Centre (ITC), a UN Agency in Geneva with responsibility for Supply Chain Management and Packaging Training and later as ITC Programme Coordinator in Fiji. He also served as CEO of GS1 Ghana for six years.
Kofi has published and reviewed several articles in the fields of Fresh and Processed Fish, Packaging, Sustainable Development and Agriculture. He has authored one WPO Position Paper, and presented papers at many national and international workshops and conferences he has served on national technical committees on standards.
Some of his notable achievements include the founding of the Institute of Packaging Ghana, establishment of GS1 Ghana, and founding of the African Packaging Organization. Over the years. Kofi has been a consultant for a number local and international companies, the FAO and UNIDO providing technical and advisory support to a number of projects in Ghana and Africa.
He also has over 10 years of part time lecturing experience in Food Packaging at the Department of Food Process Engineering, University of Ghana, Legon, and recently Packaging Value Chain at the Department of Wood Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.