One strong impression I’ve gained during my trips to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is that the people are full of entrepreneurial energy. Even taxi drivers are constantly thinking about what kind of business to start. Colleagues who visit the continent regularly share this impression. Just watch Christian Staedler from Warwick University in a recent talk on […]
The strength of Nigeria is its people
I once heard a Nigerian saying proudly that the strength of Nigeria is its people. That statement stuck in my mind: in fact, its 170 million (or so) people makes Nigeria the most populous African country – but what did he mean exactly? A number of things come to mind: the most immediate and obvious, […]
Talent development and African values
Last week I attended a conference of business school administrators hosted by IESE Business School. The theme was “Quality in context: Management education for the developing world,” and the focus was on Africa. In one of the panels, a leader from one of the most prominent MNCs, which has operations in 13 African countries, highlighted […]
Africa 2.0: Developing African leaders
In an earlier post I talked about the role of business schools in educating African managers. Some of these schools aim not only to educate managers but also to develop leaders. Lagos Business School and Strathmore Business School, for instance, set out to develop African leaders. At IESE, we share this ambition – the slogan […]
Educating African Managers
Last week I attended the annual conference of the Association of African Business Schools (AABS). It was hosted by Strathmore Business School here in Nairobi. I had the opportunity to talk about IESE’s Africa Initiative. Some of the participants already knew about it, but others were not familiar with how IESE contributes educating African managers. The context […]