fred swaniker on leadership and education [interview] – africanyouthjournals

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Fred Swaniker on Leadership andEducation [INTERVIEW]

April 12, 2012 By AfricanYouthJournals Leave a Comment

Fanele Chester, Swaziland

Fred Swaniker on Leadership and Education [INTERVIEW] A... http://africanyouthjournals.com/2012/04/12/fred-swaniker-o

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Fred Swaniker, Co-Founder and CEO

of the African Leadership Academy

and African Leadership Network

PHOTO: STANFORD.EDU

Successful entrepreneurship comprises of three key elements: great people, a great idea

and capital. In Africa, there are plenty of ideas and opportunities, ones too that would

have very little or no competition in the market place. The capital needed to transform

these ideas into successful enterprises is there. What we do not have is people.

[African Leadership Academy]

1. Based on its success and recognition since opening its doors four years ago, is the African

Leadership Academy (ALA) considering starting charter schools around the continent? Is ALA

considering mentoring sister schools, or sharing some of the lessons and strategies that have worked

so well, in order to broaden its reach to more African students around the continent?

We get this question a lot, however our focus is actually not to expand. So much work still needs to be

done, and a good leader is one that focuses on one thing and doing it very well. The AfricanLeadership Academy is still not sustainable, for example 85% of our students are on scholarship.

Therefore we need to work on perfecting our model.

However, one way we could expand is opening regional campus, for example a campus in West

Africa, and East Africa. These would be ideally started by graduates of the academy, since they would

have an understanding of how we do things.

From a short-term perspective, one thing we could do is train teachers from other schools based on

our model. In addition, we could share our curriculum. Soon, we are planning to launch our own

curriculum called the African Baccalaureate (AB). This is a curriculum for Africans, by Africans,

with a strong focus on leadership and entrepreneurship.

Finally, its important to note that what makes the African Leadership Academy successful is not our

facilities, but our philosophy and methodology. Opening a new campus with the same facilities is

expensive, and requires at least $30 $50 million upfront. On the other hand, philosophy is free.

2. Private schools for the Poor is the title of an article that appeared in the Stanford Social

Innovation Review in January. It talks about the success of affordable private education in developing

countries around the world. Having been involved in education since your teenage days, especially as

a school principal for a year before going to college, and now with the successful African Leadership

Academy, what are your observations or thoughts on the increase in affordable private schools? Do

you think we are ready to let the private sector take care of our schools, or should it be more of a

private-public-partnership?

First, the public school model is doing well and successful in some African countries. For example,

some of our strongest students come from Kenya and Zimbabwe, where public schools are good

schools. Its not an either or approach, that is, public or private, that is most important. Where the

public school system is successful, it should be further strengthened and we should learn from them.FollowFollow


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Where it isnt, the private sector can then leverage private education. In addition, a partnership

between the two would be great since the private sector may offer new ideas and innovation that the

public may lack.

3. Khanyi Dhlomo, founder Ndalo Media, publisher of the successful Destiny and Destiny Magazine,

commented that over the past four years, herself and her team realised that they had to stop seeing

ourselves as a media company, but rather as a producer of quality business and lifestyle content

which we can deliver in various forms across a number of platforms and industries. Over the past

four years, has ALAs core competency evolved? How has your vision behind the academy changed

from when you co-founded it to today?

At first, we started as a high school, but we have realized that we are not educating students but

leaders that will transform Africa. As a result, we now see our self as an African leadership

institution. Further, its important to note that one cannot become a leader over two years; its a

life-long development process. This is why we work with teenagers during the two-years in ALA,

with their college applications, as well as fostering a network that they can use in college and beyond.

We are fostering a life-long network of leaders.

[African Leadership Network]

4. Lets talk about the African Leadership Network (ALN), and Africas new generation of leaders.

Who are Africas new generation of leaders? What are the challenges they are tackling, and the

opportunities they are pursuing? What is the value of a network such as ALN, especially in Africa?

Each generation of African leaders has their own legacy. The first generations legacy is

independence, and is comprised of the likes of Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba. The second is

coups, warfare, corruption, as evident in countries like Nigeria and Zaire. The third, from ten to fifteen

years ago, left a legacy of peace and stability, where war is an exception and not the norm. This

legacy can be seen clearly in Liberia. The fourth generations legacy is that of economic independence

(compared to political independence), a crucial legacy that we needed to create our own wealth, so we

were able to provide basic needs such as education and food.

The new generation of African leaders legacy is building prosperity for the African continent. Its

about bringing wealth into the continent. This generation is below 45 years of age, a dynamic and

entrepreneurial group of people that have the energy to bring prosperity on a continental scale. The

African Leadership Network is essentially a pan-African network of these leaders, who are working

together as a continent and not as individual African countries. Its a network of pan-African

relationships that works to foster an integrated African economy, for example where a finance

Minister in Uganda can work with a private company in Nigeria on a power plant that serves a

multitude of countries.

5. The Tony Elumelu Foundation, which celebrated their first year anniversary in December, has a

particularly innovative philanthropy in its premise to help organic African companies grow from a

national to an international level. Its a scale of entrepreneurship that has not fully caught on in the

African continent, except for a few outliers such as Strive Masiyiwa and Aliko Dangote. It is

reminiscent of the age of consolidators in Americas entrepreneurship history, which produced

entrepreneurs such as Henry Ford. Speaking from the context of ALN, what are your thoughts on

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entrepreneurship in Africa? How can we shift from the under-capitalized model of entrepreneurship

we see on the streets of every city, big and small, to pan-African enterprises of scale?

Well, the first point is a need to deepen financial markets in Africa, and to provide the needed finance

to scale businesses.

The second and most important point is concerned with the caliber of entrepreneurs in Africa.

Traditionally, African entrepreneurs are uneducated, which is related to the problem of scalability.Well educated Africans normally seek employment and work for someone else.

Successful entrepreneurship comprises of three key elements: great people, a great idea and capital. In

Africa, there are plenty of ideas and opportunities, ones too that would have very little or no

competition in the market place. The capital needed to transform these ideas into successful

enterprises is there. What we do not have is people.

[Personal]

5. Who is your role model?

Thats a surprisingly difficult question! I draw inspiration from a number of people, for example SteveJobs for innovation, Nelson Mandela for sacrifice, Kwame Nkrumah for vision. I do not believe that

there is one leader that has all the characteristics of a perfect role model. What I do is to take different

qualities from different people, and incorporate these into my life.

Thank you.

About

Fred Swaniker is 35 years old and co-founder of the African Leadership Academy, and the

African Leadership Network. Named one of the World Economic Forums Young Global

Leaders in 2011, he is a McKinsey, Stanford Graduate Business School and Macalester College

alumni, and one of the most dynamic new leaders in Africa.

Fanele Chester is a Swaziland citizen and a University of Chicago Student. An art lover and and

entrepreneur, she has done an amazing job promoting African art and model African leaders with her

popular blogs: http://fanelelove.blogspot.com/andhttp://interviewafrica.tumblr.com/.

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Filed Under: African Heroes, AfricanYouthJournals , Economic Development Tagged With: African

leaders, African Leadership Academy, African Leadership Network, ALA, Education,

Entrepreneurship, Fanele Chester, Fred Swaniker, leadership, leadership academy, leadership network,

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