Fred Swaniker on Leadership and Education

7/31/2019 Fred Swaniker on Leadership and Education

1/5

Fred Swaniker on Leadership andEducation [INTERVIEW]APRIL 12, 2012 BYAFRICANYOUTHJOURNALSLEAVE A COMMENT

Fanele Chester, Swaziland

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 theseideas 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


2/5

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 African Leadership 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 mostimportant. Where the public school system is successful, it should be further strengthened

and we should learn from them. 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.


3/5

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 acontinental 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.


4/5

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 entrepreneurshiphistory, which produced entrepreneurs such as Henry Ford. Speaking from the context of

ALN, what are your thoughts on 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 Steve Jobs 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.


5/5

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/.

Documents

Fred Swaniker on Leadership and Education