About

Surajdeen Afolabi has over 30 years of experience in the oil & gas industry, with expertise in both upstream and downstream sectors. He is known globally for his contracting and procurement strategy skills, commercial orientation, and supply chain management proficiency. In the Nigerian oil & gas industry, he is considered a pioneer and a leader in supply chain practice.

Previously, Afolabi was the Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC's science and technology research center, where he retired as Group General Manager Research & Development. He also served as the Group General Manager LNG Investment, overseeing Nigeria's investments in all LNG ventures. He has held senior roles in IT and transformation and retired from Shell Petroleum Development Company as Senior Adviser - Supply Chain.

Surajdeen Afolabi earned his undergraduate degree in Transportation Planning from the Centre for Business Studies in the UK, his Master of Science Degree in Marine Transportation from the State University of New York, Maritime College in the USA, and his Ph.D. in Regional Development & Environmental Science from the University of Port Harcourt.

He is a recognized expert in supply chain management and has led many successful change initiatives that have resulted in significant savings and process improvements. Afolabi is a member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS), where he served on the governing council and was later appointed as Vice President and Global President. He attended senior management development programs at institutions such as Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, and Cranfield.

Afolabi is a consultant and currently teaches MBA Strategic Supply Chain at the Malaysian University of Science & Technology, Lagos and Abuja Campuses, in addition to his consultancy roles in oil & gas, strategic supply chain management, commercial leadership, arbitration, business planning & development, investment advisory, forex AI intelligentsia, and capital market trading.

He is also a family man, a golfer, and an author with published academic works, and he received the Life-Time Achiever Award in Supply Chain Excellence and is a Paul Harris Fellow. Afolabi is a Fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Chartered Arbitrators and has been recognized with many awards for his subject matter expertise in supply chain management.