The African Leadership Academy was founded in 2004 by Executive Chairman Fred Swaniker of Ghana, CEO Chris Bradford of the United States. Sawniker and Bradford met at the Stanford Graduate School for Business. It was at Stanford, that they created the plan to build a school that would empower and educate the next generation of leaders in Africa and reduce the “brain drain” experienced among potential African leaders that ended up building lives and successful careers on other continents.
The Academy is a pan-African institution located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The School offers a curriculum that focuses on African studies, leadership, and entrepreneurship (Fast Company). The school’s model uses this focus to not only show the needs in Africa, but also the great opportunities available to the students upon completion of their education. The cofounder Fred Swaniker, who has lived in 10 African countries stated, “We need to match that passion and sense of giving back to Africa with raw opportunity so that they see it’s in their best interest in every way to come back to Africa” (Berg).
The founders are aware that pure altruism will not bring students back to Africa after going abroad to higher education at institutions like Stanford, Harvard, Oxford, and MIT, so with a combination of a loan incentive and curriculum focused on entrepreneurship, and leadership paired with the Africa focused curriculum and a loan based incentive to return, they hope that their alumni will understand the opportunity that Africa can provide them to build and develop as leaders in their fields. The loan incentive in place allows the school to provide significant aid in the form of forgivable loans for the annual $25,000 in fees and tuition. The catch to these forgivable loans is that students must return to Africa after the age of 25 and work for at least 10 years on the continent (Berg).
With a high tuition, the Academy understands the need for loans in order to afford such an education. The United Nations reported in 2012, that thirty-three of the 48 United Nations’ least developed countries are found in Africa (PSU WC, 2017 L.14). Many students could not afford this academic program without financial support. The incentive provided by forgivable loans allows innovative and bright students to attend what would otherwise be a financially inaccessible education. Africa make up almost 70% of the world’s poorest countries (PSU WC, 2017 L.14), the access to thishighly regarded education provides students with an opportunity to excel, but the hope is also to inspire them to want to return to Africa and build businesses and innovate within Africa’s borders. The prospect of some of the next generation having the opportunity at great educational opportunities and a focus on leadership and how to continuously hone their leadership could make an important contribution to the overall future of pan-Africa.
The school founders understand that not every student will come back, as some might take jobs making significant amounts of money in other countries and pay off their debt fairly quickly, should they choose that path. Still, the model for the school is to educate the students on the vast opportunity that returning and investing in Africa’s future can provide them, and in doing so, reducing the long-experienced brain drain of highly educated African’s living and working in other countries.
The focus on ethical and entrepreneurial is a cornerstone for the academy. Chris Bradford, the CEO said “You can’t teach leadership in a two-year program, but what you can do is create an environment in which leadership can be learned and in which students are prepared to continue to learn leadership throughout their lives” (Berg).
“Modern leadership theories such as servant and authentic leadership take their main ideas from the notion that a leader is there to be a real human being and help followers succeed so that the group itself can succeed” (PSU WC, 2017 L.14). Alumni who return to Africa have the skills, training, and understanding to develop this leadership and innovate their communities. The school has already successfully sent students off to highly regarded ivy league schools and students have developed many innovative projects. The school will be able to witness their success in the future success and innovation that occurs in Africa at the hands of the Academy alumni.
References
Berg, N. (2012, July 30). How the African Leadership Academy Is Fighting the Continent’s Education Exodus. Fast Company. Retrieved December 02, 2017, from https://www.fastcompany.com/1702244/how-african-leadership-academy-fighting-continents-education-exodus
Penn State World Campus (2017). Lesson 14: Africa. Retrieved from lecture notes online https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1867265/modules/items/22824802
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