Main Responsibilities of a Project Director at a Global Logistics Provider

My responsibilities as a project director are to oversee the project. I manage a team of 40 people who I support virtually, though I do travel to work with them. Next week, I am leaving the United States to work with them.

My role generally involves project management, specifically in procurement, logistics, and supply chain management. The project is a four-party logistics services project. We function as a project management team, managing the logistics and supply chain for malaria commodities funded by the Global Fund.

I have a team of senior managers who handle different aspects of the project. One is a senior manager for procurement, overseeing the procurement of third-party logistics services. We are a four-party logistics services provider, a concept that those in the field will understand.

This role involves coordinating third-party logistics service providers, who are private sector players in warehousing and distribution for malaria commodities across 13 states in Nigeria. I also have a senior manager responsible for procurement.

A significant part of the work requires end-to-end total quality management. We ensure that processes, standard operating procedures, and quality management align with best practices. This includes ensuring our own work and that of the third-party logistics providers, using key performance indicators, are in sync.

These elements support the core of the project: the supply chain operations. This involves managing about five warehouses where we store these commodities before distributing them to the last mile. The supply chain operations department directly manages the third-party logistic service providers we contract.

We work with these providers to get commodities to remote areas in about 30 states in Nigeria. Additionally, I oversee human resources and administration, with a dedicated senior manager for this function.

We also have a manager responsible for compliance and auditing our entire process. I also manage strategic partnerships. My role requires me to interface with the Nigerian government, our funders in Geneva, and strategic partners, including the U.S. government, through the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria.

Currently, there is a lot of discussion about the U.S. government's involvement, which is a political matter. However, in my work, I interface with USAID, which I consider an agency under the State Department. I communicate with U.S. government representatives in Nigeria to ensure the project's success.

This is a brief overview of my work as a project director managing a four-party logistics services project in Nigeria.