The Education Collaborative Virtual Convening of Higher Education Leaders in Africa – June 16, 2020

Hon. Dr. Osei Yaw Adutwum

 Deputy Minister of Education

Hon. Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum is the current Deputy Education Minister in charge of Basic & Secondary Education. He is also the Founder and former Chief Executive Officer of New Designs Charter Schools. The two schools have a combined enrollment of about 1200 students in grades 6-12 in Los Angeles. Prior to founding the first New Designs Charter School, he worked as Mathematics and Information Technology teacher at Manual Arts High School for ten years. At Manual Arts High School, he founded the International Studies Academy, which served as a small learning community where many students thrived socially and academically. In addition he served as a Lead Math Teacher in the USC/Manual Arts Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI).

Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum grew up in Ghana and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Land Economy (Business Administration with a major in Real Estate) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology prior to immigrating to the US. In addition he has a Masters degree in Education Management from University of La Verne and a PhD in Educational Policy, Planning and Administration from the University of Southern California (USC).

Professor Jane Naana
Opoku-Agyemang

Chancellor, African Women University

Currently the chancellor of the African Women University in Zimbabwe, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang is an educationist with extensive experience in government and in university institutions. She is a former Education Minister in Ghana and was appointed the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast in 2008, as the first female Vice-Chancellor of a public University in Ghana. Before taking up the role of vice chancellor at the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang served as the head of the Department of English, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dean of the Board of Graduate Studies, and Founding Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research. She was also the Academic Director of the African Diaspora Studies program at the School for International Training Study Abroad.

Dr Nii Moi Thompson

Former Director General, National Development Planning Commission

Dr. Nii Moi Thompson Is an experienced economist and a former Director General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC). He worked as senior economist at the New York State Bureau of Fiscal and Economic Analysis in New York City. He also worked with a number of local and international organisations, including the United Nations Development Programme, for which he served as senior economic advisor in South Africa. He co-authored a research paper in 2008 on the Financing and Outcomes of Education in Ghana, and recently authored an article, Dead Knowledge in Our Schools. Dr. Nii Moi Thompson is an ardent lover of reggae music. 

Kwesi Sam

Research and Academic Planning Directorate – AAU

Mr. Kwasi Acquah Sam is a Project Officer and Coordinator of the Students and Youth Desk with the Research and Academic Planning Directorate of the Association of African Universities. He develops and runs students and youth focused programmes as well as capacity building training for student leaders, high level intellectuals and academics on leadership, management and resource mobilisation. He is also the host of AAU Talks on the AAU Television; a continental higher education television network that seeks to promote higher education in Africa. He is an inspirational speaker and activist for child protection.

He was the officer in charge of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)’s Working Group on Higher Education (WGHE) and the lead person in hosting the AAU Webinars (Online Seminars) which bring together experts in Higher Education in Africa to deliberate on key issues pertaining to improving Higher Education in Africa.

Prior to joining the AAU, he has practiced and taught Psychology, Counselling and Education courses at the College of Distance Education, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Mr. Kwesi A. Sam is a researcher and holds both Bachelors and Master’s Degree in Psychology, Counselling and Education respectively from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Prof. Baylie Damtie Yeshita

Vice Chancellor, Kepler International University

 Prof Baylie Damtie Yeshita is the Vice Chancellor of Kepler in Rwanda. Before joining Kepler, he was the President of Bahir Dar University, one of the largest universities in Ethiopia, for seven years (2011-2018). He also served on boards of several federal and regional governmental and non-governmental institutions in Ethiopia. His educational background includes PhD in Space Physics from the University of Oulu (Finland), MSc in Space Physics from Tromso University (Norway) and BSc in Physics from Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia).

Yasmin Bucknor Keteku

Chief Operating Officer, Ashesi University

Yasmin Bucknor Keteku is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Ashesi University. As COO, Yasmin oversees the administration departments of the university which comprises Human Resources, Finance, Information Technology, Logistics and Facilities, and Academic Registry. Prior to joining Ashesi, Yasmin was the Chief Operations Officer at IkamvaYouth, a South African non-profit focused on empowering disadvantaged youth through education.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Relations from Cornell University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. She began her career in New York as an investment banker at Société-Generale, and after receiving her MBA, went on to work as a director in corporate finance at American Express.

Kader Kaneye

Founder and President, African Development University (A.D.U.)

An experienced social entrepreneur and change leader, Kader Kaneye is passionate about empowering youth and women and fostering community development through community involvement, entrepreneurship and startup ventures.

Kader has 15 years of experience in consulting for international development organizations, governments (at the highest, executive level), in banking, in and professional services in more than fifteen countries in Francophone Africa and in promoting corporate ethics through auditing.

Kader founded the African Development University in his home country of Niger. ADU is the first non-profit liberal arts University in the Sahel Region welcoming visiting faculty from Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Tsinghua and similar world class institutions. It seeks to identify the most talented young people of Africa, provide them with world class liberal arts education blended with African moral values, and prepare them to lead the development of their nations and become the change makers of today.

Kader holds an MPA from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He is fluent in English and French.

Prof. Charles Barnor

Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Professional Studies

Charles Barnor is a Professor of Finance. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Accounting and Finance until December 2016. He began his appointment as the Pro Vice-Chancellor in January, 2017 and founded the University’s Banking and Finance Department.

Prof. Barnor has about sixteen years of executive level experience as he has held positions in Risk Management in Australia and served in Ghana’s public sector. His 14 years experience in Academia have been spent with University of Canberra, in Australia, as an Adjunct Tutor and with the University of Professional Studies, Accra, where he has worked since 2006.

Prof. Barnor holds a PhD Degree in Finance from Walden University in the USA. He also holds a double Masters degree; MBA with an emphasis on Finance (University of Canberra, Australia), a Masters degree in Professional Accountancy (University of Canberra, Australia). He is also a member of the Chartered Practicing Accountants in Australia (CPA). Prof. holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with emphasis on Banking and Finance from the University of Ghana, an Associate Member to the Chartered Practicing Accountants (CPA) in Australia (ASCPA), and also holds a Fellowship with the Institute of Professional Financial Managers (IPFM).

Araba Botchway

Director, Admissions and Financial Aid, Ashesi University

A member of the Executive Committee (Management Team) at Ashesi, Araba has 18 years of experience in scholarships and grant management within the Higher Education Sector in West Africa, as well as recruitment of students across Africa. Araba joined Ashesi in 2013 as the Director for Development and later moved into her current role. She leads the recruitment of brilliant and talented students with leadership potential from across the African continent to come study at Ashesi. She also serves as the Project Lead for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Ashesi and has oversight of implementation and reporting to the Mastercard Foundation. As a member of Ashesi’s Communication Committee, Araba helps develop innovative strategies to give visibility to the university and partners such as the Mastercard Foundation. Prior to Ashesi, Araba worked as the Program Manager for the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (Ford IFP), West Africa. Araba is a member of the High Achieving Low Income (HALI) Access Network.

She has a Bachelor’s Degree in French with Spanish from the University of Ghana, a certificate in Communications and Marketing from the Ghana Institute of Journalism, a Post-graduate diploma in Marketing of Services from the Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands, and an Executive MBA from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) among others.

Professor Hayden Noel

Clinical Associate Professor, Illinois Gies College of Business

Professor Hayden Noel is a clinical associate professor at Illinois Gies College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has published articles in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Consumer Psychology. In addition, he has taught in MBA programmes in the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan” He has a rich experience as a teacher, lecturer, facilitator, professor. He’s an amazing, and very engaging teacher who continually won the best teacher rating constantly in the MBA program at University of Illinois when it was a face-to-face program. When the program was transitioned online, he “made many changes”, learned and began to win student ratings as the best professor for online learning as well.

Andrew Allen

Director of the Magelli Office of Experiential Learning, Illinois Gies College of Business

Andrew Allen is passionate about transforming higher education. He believes in making education more real, more relevant and more hands-on in order to help students succeed. Andrew has spent more than 10 years working in the higher education innovation space. In 2009, he launched an edtech startup – an online platform to connect businesses and real-world projects to students at universities such as UC Berkeley, Duke and the University of Illinois. For the past 8 years, Andrew has contributed to making the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois one of the most innovative business schools in the US. Andrew’s field of expertise is in experiential learning. At the University of Illinois, Andrew has helped build one of the largest experiential learning programs in the US and is a thought leader in designing and implementing the learning-by-doing model into the university structure. Prior to working in higher education, Andrew worked at KPMG and Opportunity Fund in the Silicon Valley in California. Andrew has a BS degree in international studies from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He lived in Europe for five years (Switzerland and Spain) and has worked and traveled around the globe. He speaks Spanish, French and some Portuguese and loves to travel and meet people from other countries. Andrew is married to an incredible woman and is blessed with four wonderful children. His happiest moments are with them.

Angela Affran

Consultant, Perkins International

Angela Affran serves as a consultant for Perkins International in the African Region, coordinating and managing projects, training teachers to serve learners with multiple disabilities and sensory loss, advocating for the rights of children with visual impairment and additional disabilities, and supporting parents to advocate for their children. Angela also serves as an Inclusive Education consultant with Inclusive Development Partners (IDP) working with UNICEF in Ghana to conduct a formative research and provide technical guidance on identification and support to children with disabilities in the early grades and in Tanzania on Vision and Hearing screening . Angela was previously the coordinator for Braille Literacy, Math and Science at the Special Education Division of the Ghana Education Service. She has a Master’s Degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Education, Ghana and a Diploma in Statistics from the University of Ghana. Angela has been a recipient of the Ford Foundation Scholarship, Wolfensohn Family Foundation Scholarship and was adjudged the best teacher in Math and Science category at the Akuapem North District in 2005. Angela also works with various countries to develop policies and programs to support children and young adults in inclusive education. Angela has successfully implemented various projects with USAID, UNICEF, RTI, SIB and Brien Holden Vision Institute (BHVI) in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Lesotho, South Africa and Nigeria. 

Derrick Omari

Founder, Tech Era

Derick Omari is a social entrepreneur and a consultant with expertise in disability, education technology, and entrepreneurship. He is the Founder of Tech Era, an award-winning social enterprise, that is accelerating Africa’s transition into an inclusive and sustainable continent by bridging education and development gaps especially for persons with disabilities. Derick is an Alum of Ashesi University whose work has received an honorary award from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, London in 2018; the Ghana Federation of Disability for Excellence in Technology and Innovation award among others.

Alex Williams

Coordinator, Assistive Technology Unit, University of Ghana

Mr. Alexander Bankole Williams is an Educationist with a first degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Cape Coast and a Second Degree which focuses on Students with Disability in higher Education, from the department of Cultural Foundations of Education from Syracuse University in New York, USA.
He has worked as an Assistive Technologist from 2006 till date, ensuring that Visually Impaired Persons and other Persons with Disability are able to utilize technology as an enabling tool to function more efficiently in mainstream society. He has also worked in the past on ensuring a successful participation of Persons with Disabilities in employment, elections and Sports.

Dr. Millicent Adjei

Adjunct Lecturer & Director of Diversity and International Programs, Ashesi University

Dr. Millicent Adjei is a seasoned higher education scholar practitioner with over 13 years of academic and varied professional expertise in campus internationalization, diversity, equity and inclusion management, high impact access, and support interventions for first-generation students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and sexual misconduct prevention policy interventions and training. As Director of Diversity and International Programs at Ashesi University, Dr. Adjei plays multiple roles to provide strategic leadership to the university in the areas of international programming which includes new university partnership development and collaborations, study abroad, international students management, driving diversity, equity, and inclusion as a core institutional practice, and oversees the development and implementation of policies and programs to ensure a zero-tolerance sexual misconduct campus. Dr. Adjei is an Adjunct lecturer at the Humanities and Social Sciences department, where she teaches a course in Leadership as Service. She holds a BSc. in Business Administration from the University of Ghana Business School, an MA in Educational Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in Comparative and International Development in Education from the University of Minnesota. She is a Ford Foundation IFP Fellow and a board member of the Melton Foundation.

Dr. Esi Ansah

Educator, Founding Partner and CEO of Axis Human Capital Ltd.

Dr. Esi Ansah is the founding partner and CEO of Axis Human Capital Ltd. She serves as the key Corporate Trainer for Axis clients, and uses Axis as a platform to provide mentoring, career and life coaching to students and working professionals as well as retirees. Esi is a licensed Insights Discovery practitioner who uses the Insights Discovery (personality profile) system in performance, and leadership coaching.
Esi believes that life is all about self-discovery and scalable transformation, and she facilitates this journey for people both in, and outside the classroom. She teaches courses including Leadership and Human Resource Management at Ashesi University, and is highly engaged in various initiatives in her academic community leading to several awards from students, including The Most Outstanding Faculty Member and the Most Inspiring Faculty Member.
Esi is active in her community, and founded the Association of Ghana’s Elders (AGE), to address the needs of senior citizens in Ghana – a topic she is deeply committed to, to the point of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in July 2015 as part of her awareness creation and fundraising campaign.
Esi serves on a number of boards including the Association for Research on Civil Society in Africa (AROCSA), Emerging Public Leaders (EPL), and the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). She is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Africa Leadership Initiative – West Africa (ALIWA) and sits on the West Africa Board. As an actively engaged citizen, Esi is part of the CitizenGhana Movement, and serves actively her church as well (Legon Interdenominational Church (LIC)). She is a Vital Voices 2015/2016 Fellow and a public speaker on multiple platforms.
Dr. Ansah’s academic and professional/career interests include Leadership Development, Service Quality and Delivery Systems, Social Entrepreneurship and Public Sector Reform. She earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology, International Affairs and French from the Florida State University, graduating with three Bachelor’s degrees in three years cum laude (with honors). She also holds a Master of Arts degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a Master of Science degree in Public Service Management from DePaul University in Chicago. She holds a PhD in Public Administration from Rutgers University in New Jersey.