Meet Patrick Awuah, Trailblazer in International Education Brewed in an African Pot

Last Friday, I spent some time with friend, mentor and fellow African Leadership Initiative/Aspen Global Leadership Network Fellow, Patrick Awuah Jr. It was a joy to see and hear afresh his commitment to the cause of leadership development on the continent of Africa. And this personal pledge is to the extent that he will be excusing himself from a crucial Ashesi University board meeting to address the leaders virtually gathered at Live2Lead and then dive right back into the governance matters of this leading African establishment.

Patrick Awuah is a Ghanaian engineer, educator, and entrepreneur. Patrick founded Ashesi University in 2002. Dr. Awuah, with three honorary doctorates (Swarthmore College 2004, Babson College 2013, University of Waterloo 2018) to his name, has won numerous other awards as an individual and as the founder of Ashesi University. He was presented with the Order of the Volta Award to recognize his contribution to tertiary education in Ghana in 2007. In 2009, Awuah won the John P. McNulty Prize. In 2010, Awuah was awarded 87th most creative businessperson by Fast Company. In 2014, he received The Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award, which honours UC Berkeley alumni with distinguished records of service to their native country. In the same year, he was named best social entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. In 2015, Awuah was listed by Fortune as number 40 in world’s 50 greatest leaders and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. In 2017, Awuah was awarded the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) prize, a major global education award.

INTEGRITY IN LEADERSHIP FOR THE COMMON GOOD

”INTEGRITY” is an often-used but little understood (and even less practiced) word in Ghana today. Patrick will be the keynote speaker on the theme for this year’s Live2Lead, “Leading with Integrity for the Common Good.” Ashesi has a fascinating story about an honour code and how its implementation nearly jeopardized Ashesi’s accreditation process. This tale has everything to do with instilling integrity, and for those of you who are not privy to the terrific tale, we shall be impressing upon Patrick to share “from the horse’s own mouth.”

Patrick will address what integrity actually means and share practical examples where he’s led with integrity and times his integrity has been challenged. Dr. Awuah will practically tip all and sundry on how integrity is taken off the wall and printed in hearts and minds on four levels: (1) personally (2) as teams (3) organisation-wide and (4) nationally.

You don’t want to miss Patrick Awuah’s fireside chat session at Live2Lead Ghana 2022. Grab your seat right here right now.

About The Author

Dr. Yaw Perbi

Dr. Yaw Perbi is a Ghanaian-Canadian medical doctor and serial entrepreneur with three decades of executive leadership experience spanning medical, military, missional, media, ministerial, multinational and multilateral organizations. For eight years Yaw was President & CEO of a Canadian non-profit in the international education space. Dr. Perbi has served in over 50 countries in-person, on all continents, and has been the toast of media groups worldwide ranging from the BBC and CBC through CNN to the National Press Club (Washington DC). Yaw is the Founder and Principal at PELÉ. As an Executive Coach, few things thrill his heart than seeing C-level executives grow in authenticity, succeeding in life and leadership, and attaining lasting significance in society.