TEDGlobal 2007: Session 12: Patrick Awuah

Patrick Awuah left Microsoft to found Ashesi University. The question of transformation in Africa is a question of leadership. He gives a shocking example of two incidents at a hospital when they lost power. Learned about courage when stopped at age 16 and was taken by soldiers who wanted me to join some protesters. He found it helpful to think about girls, basically taking the anxiety of the moment away for him at the time. He won a scholarship to attend Swarthmore College. The ability to create is the most empowering thing that can help an individual. While he worked at Microsoft, the revenue of the company group grew larger than the GDP of Ghana.

Three major problems were identified when he came back to Ghana and interviewed many people to find out the root causes. What was identified is corruption, weak institutions and leadership. A sense of entitlement was found in graduates. He wishes there were a liberal arts university in every African country; they would make a huge difference. A month after launching, he received an email from a student, “I am thinking now.” Another student asked, “Can we create a perfect society?” after they were issued a challenge to come up with their honour codes. This has led to a vigorous debate among the students on campus. For the first time in the history of Ghana, a woman was elected to be president of the student body. This is real hope.

100% of the students have been placed after two graduations. Excellent feedback is pouring in from corporate Ghana and corporate West Africa.

This project reminds me of the impact of the CIDA City Campus university in South Africa. I think Teddy Blacher, founder of CIDA, should have been invited to speak or at least attend TEDGlobal.