Bensolomon Baraka is a PhD candidate under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Sandra Transchel and Prof. Dr. Maria Besiou.  Baraka started his studies at Kühne Logistics University in September 2022 with his research focussing on improving the participation of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa agricultural supply chains. Prior to joining KLU, Baraka graduated from the University of Nairobi with a Master of Science in Agriculture and Applied Economics. His master’s thesis focussed on understanding the effects of transaction costs to smallholder farmers' participation in vegetable supply chains in Kenya. Baraka has presented about his work on improving food and nutrition security through supply chain optimization in various conferences and similarly gained practical experience working for the international humanitarian agency, UNICEF and the agricultural research organisations, CGIAR. Baraka currently works in the East and Southern Africa region to improve supply chain optimization practices in agricultural development projects as a staff member of HELP Logistics.