A singular philosophy has driven Ashesi’s community since our inception: Africa’s future progress, or the lack of it, is inextricably linked to what is happening in African universities. College-educated Africans significantly influence the economic and social engine of the continent. To safeguard Africa’s future, we must be intentional about how we educate the students on the continent who will inevitably become its leaders.

As we enter our third decade, in the wake of a global pandemic and economic upheaval, we are more aware of the lessons of leadership and innovation that we must teach Africa’s young people. We centered our strategic planning around the key opportunities that Africa’s young people could harness for future sustainable growth. Working with stakeholders across business, the public sector, and academia, we identified six defining opportunities to guide our goals and our work to achieve them.

We will introduce new majors and programs to deepen our teaching and research work at Ashesi; establish new centers, initiatives, and partnerships to achieve transformative scale in our work; and strengthen our resilience by making Ashesi a hub for strong student, teaching and program talent, while building financial capacity for long-term sustainability.