About

Arkadiusz Szyszka, known as Szyszek, is a Polish journalist, analyst, and former energy sector executive. Before he ever picked up a microphone, he spent decades in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East building companies, negotiating with governments, and running operations in places most journalists only read about.

His professional career spans senior leadership roles across Poland's energy and financial sectors, including positions at PKN ORLEN, the Port of Gdynia Authority, and Baltic Bulk Terminal, where he structured Poland's first-ever project finance transaction. As President of Apex Energy, he led oil and gas exploration concessions in Sudan, building the company from the ground up and operating at the highest levels of government. Through his consultancy ARAD, he has continued advising on energy and infrastructure projects while managing a wind farm in central Poland.

Those years in Africa, particularly Mali and Northern Sudan, shaped everything about how he reports. He knows African business culture, governance, and resource economies from the inside, not from briefing papers. The contacts he built across the continent, from ministers to miners, still inform his reporting today.

Today, Szyszek covers the geopolitics of Africa's resource economies, European political shifts, Middle Eastern conflicts, and the forces connecting them. He co-hosts livestreams on European geopolitics via Radio Debata and comments on breaking events via X/Twitter (@szysz4szyszek). He holds an MBA in Business Economics from the University of Gdańsk and is fluent in Polish, English, and Russian. For media inquiries or collaborations, visit the Contact page.