African Leadership and Education

  Image by US Army Africa via Flickr

Part 2 of TED Radio Hour episode Africa: The Next Chapter. Watch Patrick Awuah’s full talk, On Educating Leaders, at TED.com.

Patrick Awuah left Ghana as a teenager to attend College in the United States. He stayed on and built a stellar career at Microsoft in Seattle. Then, upon returning to his home country, he made a solumn and profound commitment to educating young people in critical thinking and ethical service, values he believes are crucial for the nation-building that lies ahead.

Founded in 2002, his Ashesi University is already charting a new course in African education, with its high-tech facilities, innovative academic program and emphasis on leadership. It seems more than fitting that ashesi means “beginning” in Akan, one of Ghana’s native languages.

Awuah is an alumnus of the TED Fellows program, having attended TEDGlobal 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania, and TED2009 in Long Beach, Calif.

….Read the original article at NPR.org