Over the last 20 years, influential economists and business leaders have made the case that businesses and market-savvy non-governmental organizations should, as part of their missions, try to alleviate poverty, lower the threat and impacts of climate change, and address human rights, thereby effecting social change on a large scale.

In higher education, this perspective can be found in innovative economics and business courses that give students hands-on opportunities though service learning, community engagement, social entrepreneurship, and/or design thinking.

Starting this semester at Ashesi, Professor Jon Isham, Fulbright scholar from Middlebury College, Vermont, will teach Social Enterprise, a course he designed to help guide students through the ropes of creating social enterprises.

“I see this course triangulating between the Foundations of Design and Entrepreneurship (FDE) course and other entrepreneurship courses and opportunities that students take at Ashesi,” Professor Isham explained. “This new course is an opportunity to think about enterprises as that engine for social change, and since Ashesi is already at the forefront of this phenomenon, it makes sense to teach it now.”

To assist in running the course, local agribusiness-based tech firm, Farmerline, has partnered with the class to help introduce students to the concept of social entrepreneurship. The course will expose students to the world of social entrepreneurship; nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to solve complex problems.

As part of the class, students will have the chance to design a new social enterprise for addressing two urgent challenges in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa: improving the quality of learning among primary school students; and reducing corruption in day-to-day business and civic life.

On their part, Farmerline will guide the students through the processes of building a social enterprise, from ideation through to implementation. “It is exciting to be a part of the class, and we would definitely like to see a lot more companies like Farmerline created,” said Alloysius Attah, CEO and founder of Farmerline. “It will be great to see the next generation of business leaders who are conscious about creating impact not just for themselves, but for other people.”

The new elective will build on global trends of effecting social change on a large scale, while addressing how social enterprises help to unleash social change, what the determinants of success and failure of social enterprises, models of leading social enterprises in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa and mindsets and skills do people needed to successfully run a social enterprise.

 [A cross-section of the Farmerline team and some members of the Social Enterprise course]

“Designing this social enterprise will be a challenge,” said Professor Isham. “If we get this right, it will also be enormously rewarding. It will help students to learn how Africa’s business, non-profit, and policy leaders can support effective social enterprises.

Each semester, several students take advantage of Ashesi’s study abroad partnerships to explore new opportunities. Four students share their experiences studying in some of Ashesi’s partner institutions over the last academic year.

My Semester as a Gopher – Mercy Weguri Guriyire ‘17, University of Minnesota

After spending a semester at the University of Minnesota, it was bittersweet coming back home. I was glad leaving the constant ‘minus temperatures’ but nevertheless deeply saddened leaving friends behind. Friends who became family in a foreign land.

I went to the University of Minnesota with no expectations at all but to completely immerse myself in a culture completely different from mine. And it was nothing short of a remarkable experience. I was constantly in awe of the new things I had to learn. Simple things like learning the basic rules of the game of football, which was not the regular football or “soccer” (as it’s called there) I knew so well or trying to swallow a spoonful of butternut Squash soup for lunch or learning to longboard. Read more about Mercy's experience.

Jennifer Saarkwah ‘18, College of Wooster

I had an engaging and exciting semester abroad: one that will be hard to forget. I was both amazed and excited by the differences and similarities that Ashesi and the College of Wooster share. All in all, I had a great experience studying at the College of Wooster in the fall semester. I was not shy to be myself for once! Instead, I proudly represented myself, Ashesi, Ghana and Africa at the College of Wooster. This opportunity exposed me to a voluntary community service at Wooster, new friends, great professors and finally helped me to break some of the African stereotypes shared among some Westerners.

Out there, it was very exciting to meet new people and interact with professors who were always willing to help bring the best in their students. Throughout my stay abroad, I met different kinds of people who were excited to meet new people as well. I used this opportunity to make good friends that I intend to keep for life. I asked questions whenever I needed to listened carefully. One important lesson I learnt was in communication. There was the tendency to try to ‘sound American’ so people did not have to deal with my accent. However, it was difficult to keep up with conversations with forced accents. This taught me to stay true to myself even in the way I communicated with everyone. Read more about Jennifer's experience.

Daniel Bempa Quansah ’17, Macalester College

It didn’t hit me that I was going to spend the last 4 months of 2016 abroad until the American Airlines flight I was on started preparing for descent into Minneapolis. And this was happening after I had already spent over a week in America. I was in-between waking and sleeping, Kanye West playing in my earphones, when I heard the pilot’s voice come up on the intercom, announcing that we were about to descend. I looked out the window and after counting more than ten lakes at least, I wasn’t surprised the called Minnesota, “The state of 10,000 lakes”. It was then that I realized I was miles and miles away from home and everything I knew, and this wasn’t going to change for the next 120 days or so. I was excited, a little apprehensive, but more excited than anything.

If you are willing, there would be a number of new experiences you would come across. Without compromising your values there is always a gem hidden in every experience and allowing yourself to reasonably interact with everything is how you learn and grow. Also specifically, Macalester has very nice staff and faculty with a lot of programs that are all for you too. Do as much as you would like, and most importantly, don’t be scared to have mad fun! Read more about Daniel's experience.

The Evolution of My Consciousness, Beryl Nana Ama Akuffo-Kwapong ‘18, Wheaton College

My study abroad experience was an opportunity to find myself. Having been at Ashesi for two years, I felt my life was becoming mundane, routine and for some reason, I was finding comfort in it. I just focused on the overwhelming school work and rarely had the chance to have that “college experience” that is promoted. That realization took a toll on my mental health of which I knew a change of environment would help. Then, eventually, I was able to spend a semester outside the walls of Ashesi. It was a refreshing, invigorating and revolutionary for my thoughts.

When I left, I was able to immerse myself in US culture enough to understand what it meant for me to be a dark-skinned, cisgender-heterosexual, African woman in the US. The issue of race was grueling; I had never had to deal with being “black” and in the “minority” for a long period of time. The sudden realization of how privilege, power, oppression and prejudice play a crucial role in all of our social interactions -- was one hard journey on my rise to consciousness. I have, thereafter, fallen in love with learning about Africans in the Diaspora and getting informed about my continent and its people. Following and exploring my interest in social justice was crucial for me. Thus, after the election of the new US president, I attended a “Love Trumps Hate” rally to show solidarity with a diverse group of people POC (People of Color) here, I watched them embrace their identities and find love and solace during the dark times they were experiencing. Read more about Beryl's experience.

Learn more about Ashesi’s international programs and partnerships.

February 3, 2017 - The Foundations of Design and Entrepreneurship (FDE) class hosted a cross-section of entrepreneurs as part of a panel discussion to help expose students to real-word enterprises. The panelists who included Edem Akpan of Teleclass Ghana, Awurabena Agyeman and Angorkor Nai-Kwabe of Wear Ghana and TK Azaglo of Future of Africa, shared their stories with the students and engaged them on lessons learned in running new ventures.

“There’s always that gap between theory and practice,” said Dr. Gordon Admodza, lead faculty of the FDE course. “Because we’re doing business simulations, we saw the need to make it feel real so by bringing in some young entrepreneurs who are also ‘near peers’ of the students, they get to learn how they went about setting up their ventures. Hopefully the stories shared will resonate with the students and inspire them as well.”

As part of the year-long class for freshmen, students explore entrepreneurship through design thinking and problem solving. Through the span of the class, teams of students form and run startups aimed at tackling everyday problems, while building experience in the entrepreneurial space.

“Ashesi is such a beacon of hope when it comes to Ghanaian education and it was a great honour to share what we at Wear Ghana have learnt on our entrepreneurial journey with the  students,” said Awurabena Agyeman, co-founder of Wear Ghana. “We left as very proud Ghanaians and wish the FDE students all the best as they put their business ideas to the test.”

As a student at Ashesi, Francis Asante ‘11 was not only fascinated by computer programming, but he was also convinced he wanted to pursue a career in the industry.  So early on, he dedicated himself to learning how to code and seeking ways he could be impactful through programming.

“I always had in mind the kind of person I wanted to become,” said Francis. “I knew I wanted to do a bunch of programing and engineering because I love it, so I’ve been skewed towards making decisions that optimized for learning opportunities in those areas.”

Several years after leaving Ashesi and following stints with the local software industry, Francis joined Amazon Web Services in Cape Town, South Africa, where he is part of a team of software engineers helping to develop world-leading solutions for cloud computing.

Speaking to a mix of faculty and students, on a recent visit to Ashesi’s campus, Francis shared his journey, from Ashesi to Amazon. Following graduation, he turned down lucrative offers from several financial institutions seeking his skillset in their tech departments. Instead, he sought out opportunities where he would be at the forefront of programming. After his national service at Softtribe a leading software company in Ghana, he joined the Rancard team, yet another software company in Ghana. Both experiences helped him cut his teeth in the industry.

“At Rancard, I worked on a lot of interesting projects, from both backend to frontend systems and getting involved with anything available,” he recalled. “I was keen on becoming the go-to guy, so whether I knew a solution to something or did not know it, I was going to know it.”

Seeking new challenges, Francis transitioned from Rancard; dabbling in entrepreneurship space while exploring opportunities to program on a global scale. Eventually, following a recommendation from a classmate from Ashesi, the team at Amazon contacted him and following a series of tests and interviews, he joined them in Cape Town.  

For Francis, being in Ashesi opened possibilities. From making friends who would challenge him to become a better programmer and later impact his career, to making use of facilities like the Career Services office, he looks back on his Ashesi experience with appreciation.

“It’s critical that while you’re in school, you get some experience,” he said. “There’s obviously a different level between the competition in Ghana, in our context and that in the rest of the world, yet we still have to compete globally, so you want to test the waters as quickly as possible. Know where the gaps are, fill them, and clear the low barriers, so you can accelerate into more responsibilities; taking on bigger projects, and growing as a person, in character and in competence.”

Now at Amazon Web Services, for Francis, the journey has been one of pursuing passion and creating impact. “The opportunity to work with African engineers building the world’s leading cloud technologies just blew my mind,” he said. “There’s enough challenge in this environment to fill your plate for a lifetime. We’re at the peak of engineering and knowing that you are part of something big that’s not just building software, but also changing lives is a good feeling.”

Dr. Ayorkor Korsah, Head of Computer Science Department, joined a panel of experts on Newshour Extra, a radio program on the British Broadcasting Corporation World Service, to discuss the impact of automation on our livelihoods.

Sharing perspectives of automation in the developing world, Dr. Korsah touched on the need to evaluate the role of technology in the kind of societies we aspire to.

“It’s really important to think about the kind of society we want to live in,” she explained. “Because what we are going to see as humanity continues to develop is that you can’t stop technology. What’s going to be important is how we organize society such that benefits of technology benefit humanity as a whole. Given the increase in productivity that technology enables, it should be possible for people to do more interesting things that focus more on the strengths we as humans bring to the puzzle.” 

Click here listen to the full-length discussion.

Moderated by BBC’s Owen Bennet Jones, other panelists included Peter Frase -Author of "Four Futures" and editor at Jacobin magazine, Daniel Susskind - Fellow in Economics at Balliol College, Oxford - and the co-author with his father of 'The Future of the Professions', a Financial Times book of the year, Rory Cellan Jones, BBC Technology Correspondent, Angus Knowles-Cutler - London Senior Partner at the accountancy firm Deloitte  and Paul Josephson -  Professor of History at Colby College, in Maine

Towards the end of the 2016 school year, the Library Committee, set up to help improve library structure and performance, asked members of the community to review a minimum of five books over the summer break, as part of the maiden edition of the Library reading challenge. The institute-wide initiative is one of the ways the committee is working towards fostering a reading culture within the Ashesi community. 

“The idea was to try to get people to read beyond their textbooks,” said Nina Chachu, Head Librarian at Ashesi. “There have been several studies to show that the more you read the more there’s a positive impact on your vocabulary and your writing, so we'd like to encourage more people to read. The Library Committee is also supportive of widening people’s horizons and reading is one of those ways of doing it.”

Over the years, Ashesi has expanded its library, offering a diverse sampling of genres in its collection. In addition to its 27,000 volumes, Ashesi's Todd and Ruth Warren library also subscribes to a variety of international and local magazines, newspapers, and research publications. Recently, Ashesi became a member of AMICAL Consortium, to strengthen research efforts within the institution, and further expand to libraries in other institutions. 

For most students, however, reading anything beyond textbooks and assignments is a painful chore – a needless stretch beyond their academic work.

“I know reading is good; it improves my vocabulary, my sentence structure and all that, but I’d rather watch a movie especially to relax,” explained senior, Youssouf da Silva ‘17 “With a book, it’s impossible to know how long it will take compared to a movie which will takes a fixed amount of time. Even if it’s just for fun, regular books sometimes feel academic.”

In this blog post members of Ashesi’s staff discuss benefits of reading and share tips on how students can build good reading habits. Click here to read the post.

On Fridays, the Archer Cornfield Courtyard takes on the form of a mini-exhibition of cultural dances, indigenous cuisine and traditional wear from across Africa. At these exhibitions, known as Global Cafe, students set up stands to share information on their home countries and cultures to the rest of the community.

For the Office of Diversity and International Programs (ODIP) which helps run the cafes, the exhibitions are an opportunity to foster diversity and inform the community about different cultures on campus.

“At the Global Cafe, similarities and differences shared by various countries are brought to bare,” explained Benardine Holdbrook Ghanson of the ODIP. “We are working to make people aware of the diversity we have on campus, while drawing their attention to the opportunities to grow a more inclusive society.”

While the Global Cafe provides the opportunity to celebrate the over 21 countries represented on campus, it also bring to fore Ashesi’s growing diversity. In the years ahead, Ashesi is looking to grow its non-Ghanaian African population to between 30 – 50%, to reflect a truly pan-African university.

For the students, being exposed to different cultures and nationalities both informs and exposes them to the richness of various African nations.

“It’s an opportunity to experience a different country without having to travel there,” said final year student Esther Akoto ’17.  “I remember the Liberian Cafe sometime back, I had a great time sampling all their dishes, while appreciating the subtle differences we have between us. It’s enlightening learning about other people’s history, getting to see their clothing and trying out their food.”

Essentially, the global cafes help nurture a community that embraces and celebrates differing identities. While creating a thoroughly diverse campus continues to be a goal Ashesi aspires to, the Global Cafe help inform, educate and also provide members of the community with a good sense of the differences and similarities therein.

See more photos here.

Ashesi will host over sixty companies at the 2017 edition of the Ashesi Career Fair, on Wednesday 15th March 2017. Each year, the one-day event gives members of corporate entities and members of the Ashesi community an opportunity engage on various career developmental levels.

Sponsors for this year’s event include General Electric, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Tullow Ghana, Genkey,  VOTO Mobile, Databank Financial Services Limited , Teach for Ghana, Crystal Capital Ghana and Beige Academy

While the fair creates a platform for organizations to recruit Ashesi students and alumni, it helps the Ashesi community gain an understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist in the work environment. As part of the career fair, attendants will participate in sessions and competitions aimed at testing their technical and professional skills.

“We are excited about the high level of interest from employers in this years’ Career Fair,” said Sylvia Kunkyebe, Assistant Director of Career Services. “It is an indication that the corporate world appreciates and values the quality of Ashesi students. The diversity in this year’s fair is also remarkable: we will be hosting companies from a wide range of industries including Engineering, Arts, IT, Culinary, Insurance, Oil & Gas among others.”

February 21, 2017 – A team from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) visited Ashesi to hold a workshop on Pidgin English and also inform students about opportunities available at their organization. In starting up the BBC Pidgin service, the BBC team, in the past year, has worked with various groups across sub Saharan Africa, including college students, in designing content for the service.

“The workshops have allowed us to exchange ideas for the development of a pidgin service that will air content not just for Nigeria but for individuals that speak pidgin in neighbouring countries,” said Sarah Ansah, Nigerian Project Manager, BBC Africa

As part of the workshop at Ashesi, the BBC team intercated with students in a discussion on the appropriateness of pidgin within the Ghanaian community. In several communities in Ghana there is pushback against using pidgin English in professional and formal settings, a phenomenon that has spurred unending debates.

“English is essentially pidgin by definition,” explained Caira Lee Faculty Intern at Ashesi, in her defense of using Pidgin English. “It just happens to be the most widely spoken, so it’s important to deprogram people’s minds about English language’s superiority while allowing them to embrace Ghanaian pidgin as a language on its own.”

The BBC Pidgin service, mainly targeted at the youth, will serve as a medium for reaching larger audiences in a language that they are closely familiar with.

“Language is all about communication,” said Bilkisu Labaran, Editor at BBC World Service. “As long as the society that uses it finds it useful as a tool of communication, it’s a language. Most importantly, language is a living thing; it evolves and adapts to societal needs as it changes, and the very existence of pidgin, makes a statement about its importance.”

Seven Ashesi students participated in the 63rd edition of the Harvard National Model United Nations Conference from the 16th to 19th of February, 2017. The convening, the largest and oldest of its kind, brings over 3,000 students and faculty together from colleges and universities to share in the experience of international negotiation and diplomacy.

The team from Ashesi including Kwesi Korboe ‘19, David Bonuah ’19, Maame Afua Haizel ’19, Paa Kofi Antwi-Larbi ‘19, Edwin Adatsi ’19 and Kwamina Amoako ’19, are also members of the Ashesi chapter of the Model UN. As part of the trip, the Ashesi delegation got the opportunity to engage with several other students from across the globe while improving their skills in public speaking, negotiation and diplomacy.

“The art of diplomacy and international relations was something I was not used to,” shared Kwesi Kroboe, who headed the Ashesi delegation. “Despite my experience on the local level, the HMNUN was placed in a completely new environment and I had to quickly adapt to a highly intense and fast-paced conference. On the other hand, merely making friends wasn’t difficult, but making meaningful connections in this kind of environment was harder than I expected.”

HNMUN, while a simulation of the actual United Nations convening, serves as a forum in which students from colleges and universities around the world, can meet to discuss the greatest challenges facing the world today, in fields ranging from international peace and security to economic and social progress and human rights. Held in Boston and staffed by students from Harvard, the convening was also an opportunity for members of the delegation to experience the sights and sounds of the city.

“One of the highlights of the trip was visiting both campuses of Harvard and MIT,” said Kofi Antwi-Larbi ’19. “Getting to see the infrastructure in the city and the tourist sites in the school was amazing. Meeting different kinds of people from different countries, hearing stories about their nations and the opportunities to build lasting networks made the trip worthwhile.”  

February 27, 2017 - The recently formed Ashesi Chorale held its maiden concert, dubbed A Night of Traditional African Folk Music, on the Archer Cornfield Courtyard. The focus of the  concert, which featured nationally acclaimed Tema Youth Choir and the Berekuso Music Project, was to inform and remind the community of the value of traditional African folk music.  

The concert, organised with support from the Humanities and Social Science Department, treated the audience to a blend of traditional folk music from across Africa performed by the Ashesi Chorale group, the Tema Youth Choir and the Berekuso Music Project choir. Each piece performed came along with a summarized reading highlighting the author and history of the song.

“The value placed on music as an art, in Ashesi, is rather low, so we started the Ashesi Chorale to help fill this gap,” explained Sebastein Dakey ‘20, co-founder of the group. “On the other hand, our traditional folk music is slowly dying out, so we hoped to use the concert as a way to help people look back on our music, and also remind ourselves of our heritage. So, we hope by reminiscing on songs from the good old days, they would remind us of the life-lessons that they came with.”

A year ago, a group of students and alumni started the chorale group to provide a platform for music enthusiasts and chorale music lovers to explore their talents and interests outside the classroom.

“Forming the choral group has been a learning process,” said Joshua Atsu Aherdemla ‘16. “While most people joining the group had no experience with chorale music whatsoever, it was an opportunity for us, as founders, to learn to push ourselves and everyone else to a respectable level.”

Beyond the entertainment and education, the group hopes the choral group and its performances through such concerts will help create not only a new buzz on campus, but also help celebrate diversity in an exciting light.

“We should be able to understand where songs come from -  the stories behind them,” explained Derick Omari, co-founder of the choral group. “We hope this draws the community together more strongly and we can learn to appreciate each other and our diverse backgrounds.

On February 24, 2017, Aelaf Dafla taught his final class at Ashesi, rounding off over ten years of impact to the school’s Computer Science Department, and the recently-opened Engineering Program.

Since joining Ashesi in 2006, Dafla committed himself to helping grow the then fledgling institution. Like most of the students who had joined Ashesi early on, he had also taken a leap of faith with the new liberal arts institution in Ghana.

“One of the things that drew me to Ashesi was the people - people with open minds, people who were willing to experiment and people willing to do things differently,” shared Dafla who heads to the United States to pursue a PH.D. “That was what attracted me – a small private school doing things differently, and that has remained throughout.”

From the early days, Dafla took charge of the Very Large Scale Integration and Digital Circuit classes, while playing a huge role in helping to develop the Computer Science curriculum at Ashesi, including serving a term as Head of the department. In 2014, when Ashesi opened its Engineering program, Dafla was an integral part of the team that designed the curriculum for the program, providing direction to create a world class engineering program. Outside Ashesi, he worked with colleagues in the Computer Science Department to build and implement mobile-based solutions to improve access to quality healthcare for people in under-served communities.

“Aelaf has played a huge role at Ashesi,” said Founder and President, Dr. Patrick Awuah. “As one of the early members of the team, he was very instrumental in getting our Computer Science program off the ground, as well as developing curriculum for the Engineering program. He’s not only been of service to just Ashesi and our students, but also a great service to the country.”

While Ashesi’s Computer Science and Engineering programs have expanded over the years behind the collective efforts of several people, Aelaf Dafla’s contributions, will remain indelible to the institution.

Sixty years ago, on the 6th of March, Ghana became an independent country, rounding of years of colonization. Buoyed by the nation’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the young country was hailed as a beacon of hope for Africa, leading the way in infrastructural development, transatlantic partnerships and steady industrial growth.

Over the years however, Ghana’s growth has slowed, reeling from tough economic conditions, growing unemployment rates among the youth, weak institutions and nationwide corruption.

In this post, Dean of Engineering School, Dr. Fred McBagonluri shares his perspectives on Ghana’s growth over the last six decades, particularly in the area of STEM.

Post-colonization, Ghana took key steps that placed us trajectory towards prosperity; a number of good secondary schools sprang up, the Ghana Atomic Commission, Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana Standard Boards and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology were also among some of the institutions set up.

However, despite 60 years of independence, we still have not found our footing as to the kind of educational system that will work for our industries. To design an educational system and an industrial society, we need to figure out exactly where we want to go- and we haven’t done that.

We need to capitalize on our natural resources; not just exporting raw materials, but also developing the entire value chain so we can reap the bouquet of benefits from the resources. To do this, we have to step back to see what kind of educational system will support this system.

I think the Ashesi model is the way forward; an educational system where you have a broad-based diversified worldview reinforced with the liberal arts education, and finally with technical training layered on it. Just knowing engineering alone is not enough, however, understanding how that engineering works within the context of society is critical.

Additionally, women naturally must play a key role in the next developmental cycle. Women account for more than half the world's population, and will have good buying power. So if we design products neglecting input from women, those products are unlikely to sell. So it’s important to have diversification in education, with women as a natural part of the strength.

We also have to make a deliberate effort to establish centers of excellence, and have to make sure those centers of excellence are relevant to our developmental objectives. We need to be deliberate about our development needs, define them clearly and evaluate whether the engineering training we have is relevant to that, and finally, execute effectively.

If we do these things and do them well, the needle will move farther than it has in the last sixty years.

March 8, 2017 – Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, Ghana's Minister of Education spoke on sustainable education at the Convergence of Sustainability forum, held at Ashesi.

The forum, organised by UturnAfrica and supported by leading tertiary institutions including Johns Hopkins University and the University of Houston, explores models of building connections between sustainability, social and environmental impact, and economic empowerment. The forum also brings together experts, thought-leaders and professionals in industry to engage millennials in establishing sustainable leadership for the African continent.

“By engaging the current and next generation of leaders, we expect to develop individuals whose mindsets are hardwired to consider the implications of their actions on well-being of their ecosystem, which includes their own personal and economic well-being; and their community and environmental well-being,” shared Doyin Oluntona, co-founder of UturnAfrica.

Speaking as part of a panel discussion, the Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh shared the value of implementing a well-rounded basic education system.

“My focus as a minister is to reengineer the basic education curriculum to focus on the fundamentals that can be built upon as lifelong learning,” he shared. “Historically, the whole point about education is to be an apprentice; to follow somebody to obtain craftsmanship. So whether it was in metal works or in philosophy, it involved mentorship to gain hands-on knowledge. We need to revisit this hands-on nature, so besides the reading, arithmetic and writing, we need to encourage creativity.”

The minister also touched on streamlining technical education in Ghana to ensure sustainable leadership for the country.

“While our focus will be on putting in place teaching and learning materials so that even nursery school students will be taught to think; we will also expand the quality of technical and vocational education in this country,” he said.

As part of forum, participants will take part in workshops and social projects in Accra.

In 2015, former MIT Chancellor, Philip Clay, delivered a TED talk where he shared the increasing role higher education plays in national development, and the need to develop strong tertiary institutions that drive this development.

“Universities do not emerge out of whole cloth, they emerge because there’s a public commitment to them or they emerge because there’s a civil society that emerges to support institutions that are created to support specific causes,” shared Phillip Clay. “There needs to be a table around which we can sit, and collaborate so that we can create initiatives which will be transformative, and they will obviously have that potential.”

To help drive this goal, Ashesi is leading the creation of an education collaborative to bring together a network of institutions and individuals committed to addressing Africa’s biggest challenges through education. The collaborative at Ashesi will be a center of excellence in learning, to share strategies in running liberal arts, ethics and entrepreneurship- focused institutions in Africa. 

“We want to reach individuals that can influence the structure of the educational system from the inside out,” said Rose Dodd, Program Coordinator. “Participants will focus on the many things that make Ashesi and other institutions work and learn how to connect these thing, so that they can effect change in their home institutions." The summer session promises to be a fully engaged 6-days to mark the start of a strong network of African institutions and individuals on a mission to  building student-centered educational institutions

March 14, 2017 - Yvette Ansah, founder of upscale Ghanaian eatery Café Kwae, visited Ashesi’s Foundations of Design and Entrepreneurship (FDE) class to share the story behind the locally acclaimed startup.

“Everything we do is built on the theme that everything matters,” she explained. “So from the floor being cleaned, to the shoes we wear, to how we’re looking, to how we greet guests when they arrive, to how the food is plated - everything matters.”

Since its opening, the coffee shop has been featured in the Financial Times and has received reviews from several leading publications. In her talk with the class, Yvette shared insights into the operational ethos of the two-year old start-up, and her journey in building the Café Kwae brand.

“Café Kwae is that place, where I want people to feel as comfortable as they would be in their homes,” she said. “For us to do that, we have to make sure that the guests feel like they own they place. You make the customer feel that the business is invested in them. Everything we do, we’re doing with a superior guest or customer experience in mind.”

As part of its curriculum, the focus of the FDE class is to introduce freshmen to entrepreneurship and problem solving through design thinking while giving them hands-on experience in starting up and running a business. Throughout the yearlong journey, the class also hosts several entrepreneurs to help the students gain firsthand interaction with business owners.

Infinite Potentials Consulting (IPC) is partnering with Ashesi to host a programme in Ghana. 10 Academy is a fully funded, intensive post-graduate program, which will identify, train and launch high potential young African university graduates into careers where they have the opportunity to create impact. The programme will see each 10 Academy fellow placed in paid internships with leading African companies. 10 Academy is working with leading members of the scientific community including representatives of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, UNESCO and the University of Cape Town, among others.

“Ashesi has, over the past 15 years, demonstrated the essential value of providing international-class training and career development support to brilliant young people from across Africa,” shared Arun Sharma, founder of 10 Academy.  “The stories and impact that Ashesi's nearly 1000 graduates have had is remarkable, underpinned by their ethical, entrepreneurial characteristics. With 10 Academy, we seek to build on this success by identifying, training and launching the careers of fresh university graduates from across Africa, with careful emphasis on those who have the potential to have 10x impact in their work, using modern skills, leading and building projects of value to Africa.  We foresee this pilot project delivering success and lessons to us on our scale-up journey.”

The programme is divided in two parts, the first being an intensive, residential course, hosted at Ashesi’s campus in Ghana, and the second being a 6-month paid internship in the private sector.  During the course, participants will cover modern skills including design thinking, big data analysis, entrepreneurship and management, among others. This phase will give participants the opportunity to put the mix of your skills into practice, taking a major challenge in Africa and, in a small group, developing a potentially implementable solution within the 2 month period.

Participants will then take up a 6-month paid internship in the private sector, where hiring companies will look to recruits to deliver new, transformative projects that will challenge them.

“In many ways, 10 Academy and Ashesi have the same mission to transform Africa,” said Dr. Suzanne Buchele, Provost at Ashesi University.  “So we are excited to be hosting another pilot program that has as big and audacious a goal as Ashes, more importantly, to support a program that is seeking real change in a very innovative way.”

For or more information, to support 10 Academy or to apply, click here or contact info@10academy.org.

March 15, 2017- Ashesi held its biggest Career Fair yet; welcoming over 60 companies to this year’s edition of the event. The annual fair, organised by Ashesi’s Career Services Department, brings together representatives from firms across Africa to interact with members of the community on various career developmental levels.

Sponsors for this year’s event included General Electric, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Tullow Ghana, Genkey, United Pensions Trustees, VOTO Mobile, Databank Financial Services Limited , Teach for Ghana, Crystal Capital Ghana and Beige Academy.

While the annual event creates a platform for organisations to recruit Ashesi students and alumni, it is also helps members of the community to gain an appreciation of the opportunities and challenges that exist on the professional landscape. 

“Each time we have attended the fair, I‘ve been left with a sense of personal renewal because I see something different,” said Edward Appiah-Brafoh, Human Capital Manager at the Petroleum Commission, Ghana, which has attended the fair for the third year in a row. “One of the things that fascinates is the innovation that is attached to the student experience at Ashesi. Today, I met several innovative students whose engagement in research and other programs challenges the status quo. At the Petroleum Commission, one of our core values is innovation; where we constantly think of practical ways of doing things to make our work easier, reduce cost and improve efficiency, and that’s what I see at Ashesi. In the future, it would be exciting to see even more companies participating in the fair; I believe that will expose the community to several more industries.”

The fair also featured a mix of breakout sessions that included presentations from several companies, speed-interview sessions, and competitions. The competitions, the highlights of the fair tested students’ skills in public speaking, personal branding, business development and business etiquette.  

“For me, the focus for participating in this year's Personal Branding competition was to not only share my story with employers, but also to engage with fellow students as well,” said senior Benedicta Amo Bempah’17. “As students here, it’s important we take advantage of opportunities such as the Career Fair to create value and build stronger networks. I also look forward to seeing more employers creating more avenues for us to enable us grow, and create value in their organisations.”

“The career fair is always an exciting opportunity for our community to engage with the corporate world, learn from employers and expose our students to the what's out there,” said Sylvia Kunkyebe of the Career Services Department. “Not only did we host our largest number yet, but also, we were particularly excited about the level of participation from the several new firms. While the feedback we get from such engagements helps us better train our students, we are always excited about opportunities like this to display the quality here, and the difference our students can make out there.” 

March 14, 2017 -  With support from the French Embassay in Ghana and the Alliance Française in Accra, Ashesi hosted its first ever Francophone day. The annual week-long, celebration, organised by the Alliance Francaise and the Francophone embassies in Ghana, focuses on promoting cultural diversity in Ghana, through the celebration of the French language.

In its second year at Ashesi, not only has the addition of French program expanded the Humanities and Social Science curriculum, but also, it has created the opening for deepened engagement with other institutions in promoting the French language in Ghana. To mark the day, students from the University of Education, Winneba, and University of Ghana French department’s joined the Ashesi’s community in a unique exchange of ideas and activities.  

“It’s important for our community to be open to the sub-region, and to the rest of the world,” remarked Nathalie N’Guessan, French lecturer at Ashesi. “Ghana is surrounded by the Francophone countries, and it’s only necessary that we appreciate the diversity and place importance on the interaction we can have with them. So, in marking Francophone Day at Ashesi, we can take some of these significant steps.”

The focus of the day-long celebration, featuring a series of activities including food tasting, a painting workshop, lectures and a concert, was to educate the Ashesi community and guests about the history and wealth of the French culture within the sub-region. The lecture, by Dr. Alfred Cudjoe, head of French Department at University of Winneba, and painting workshop led by Togolese painter, Liebe Adodzo, were themed around Negritude, a literary movement born out of Paris’s intellectual communities by black writers in the early twentieth century.

To round off the day’s events, Ghanaian Francophone singer, Bibie Brew who gained international acclaim through her Francophone hits, entertained the community in a solo-concert. “I have followed Ashesi very privately for a while and it is great to see what you are doing with young minds,” she said. “The opportunity to be a part of the movement, especially in spreading the knowledge of Francophone culture is a pleasure.”