Fred Swaniker on Leadership and Education [INTERVIEW]

APRIL 12, 2012 BY AFRICANYOUTHJOURNALS LEAVE 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 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 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 most important. 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. 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 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.

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/ and http://interviewafrica.tumblr.com/.