“Ashesi taught me that entrepreneurship is fun and rewarding; however entrepreneurship without a cause or social incentive to better the lives of a group of people is nothing to be remembered for.”
Written by Charles: “I am a GE project development associate covering Sub-Saharan Africa, where I helped build the “Ghana 1000” project. In other words, I am the boots on the ground with a seat at the drawing table.
The Ghana 1000 project is an integrated liquefied natural gas-to-power solution aimed at adding ~1080MW of power to the Ghanaian grid, about 45% of Ghana’s installed generation capacity. This transformational project addresses some of the fundamental challenges in the Ghanaian power sector including fuel price and availability, power shortages, and power cost. The addition of 1000MW of power fills the power shortage in-country, which will stabilize power supply both to benefit local customers and to attract more foreign direct investment.
As a recent graduate working in a management role on a project of this scale, I have had to be on top of my work. I have had the opportunity to work with senior leadership and high ranking stakeholders including ministries, global developers, and The World Bank. Ashesi prepared me to analyze and reason through problems, prepare a solution, and then pitch the solution to different stakeholders.
It’s not an easy job, but with hard work and persistence, my team and I continue to overcome challenges and succeed. In 2013, I received the “Imagination and Courage” award and was recognized by top management and supervisors for my work to make the Ghana 1000 project a reality. It was an honor to receive this award and has been one of my proudest accomplishments.
Aside from working at GE, I have started my own entrepreneurial venture, J.C. Palcknor, a high quality, handcrafted shirt line aimed at producing not only a world-class Ghanaian product but a brand with global appeal. We are focused on building local human capacity by training artisans to precisely produce a range of products of the highest quality to compete internationally.
I have learned through my career and time at Ashesi that entrepreneurship is fun and rewarding; however, entrepreneurship without a cause, or social incentive to better the lives of a group of people (no matter how small) is nothing to be remembered for. Ashesi grads leverage our learning in our respective fields, and by providing competent and ethical leadership, work to benefit society.”
Pictured above: Ashesi graduates, including Charles Kojo Bucknor, (bottom center) who work at GE Ghana. Impressed by their work ethic and ability to lead, GE leadership continues to seek out, hire, and promote Ashesi graduates.