Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it is done.” It seemed impossible to initiate and pilot collaboration among African tertiary institutions, but some intellectuals positively changed the narratives.
Some amiable women with their male counterparts brought to bear the Education Collaborative initiative geared towards making transformed progress in its 2030 goal to impact one million students to become ethical, entrepreneurial leaders who create jobs, transform industries, and lead economies.
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Rose Dodd:
Dodd is a director at Education Collaborative. She pioneered the development of the Education Collaborative’s 10-year strategy to impact over one million students directly.
She believes African tertiary institutions can and should lead the African Renaissance.
She leads the building of a foundation that allows university leaders and stakeholders to collaborate in teaching, management, and administration at the Education Collaborative.
Angela Owusu-Ansah:
Owusu-Ansah brings more than thirty years of experience in education in Africa and the United States; and is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi education honour society.
As the provost at Ashesi University, she sits on Ashesi’s executive committee and leads the academic affairs department under which the Education Collaborative was established.
She serves as an Education Collaborative consulting committee member, providing strategic oversight on the operations within the network.
Priya Iyer:
Iyer is the pro-vice-chancellor of Finance and Employability at Botho University, where she drives the employability and entrepreneurship agenda of the graduates at the university through various initiatives coordinated through the student and alumni affairs department.
At the Education Collaborative, she sits on the 2022 annual convening planning committee and is engaged in planning the employability track of the 2022 annual convening, sharing her perspective on the conversations the convening should drive to equip educators with the ideal approaches to improve their institution’s career development systems.
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Araba Botchway:
Botchway is a member of the executive committee, management team at Ashesi, and has over 20 years’ experience in scholarships and grant management, as well as recruitment of students across Africa, including high achieving students from low-income backgrounds.
As part of her work, she helps manage Ashesi’s partnerships, including the Master Card Foundation’s funding for the Education Collaborative to transform over one million students into ethical and entrepreneurial leaders who create jobs, transform industries, and lead economies in 2030.
Palesa Natasha Mothapo:
Mothapo is the head of Postdoctoral Research Support in Division for research and development at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
She serves as a member of the Education Collaborative employability community of practice, where she engages in conversations and projects designed to improve graduate employability in Africa.
She is passionate about young women in STEM and devotes much of her time to mentoring and encouraging young women, particularly in rural and underdeveloped areas, to take part in STEM careers.
Mothapo is a mentor for STEMIAfrica and Smart Tribe, with female mentees from six African countries.
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Rebecca Awuah:
Awuah is a mathematics lecturer at Ashesi University and the director of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) Africa Project through the Education Collaborative.
She spearheaded the introduction of the GVV curriculum at Ashesi in 2011 and, a decade later, she is leading the GVV Africa curriculum development tailored for industry professionals and higher education leaders across Africa.
Ivy Muthoni:
Muthoni is a primary mentor in the Education Collaborative’s System’ Change Programme (SCP) for employability.
The programme is supporting three institutions to develop and strengthen their career service systems through mentorship support.
She is the associate manager of career development services at Strathmore University, and has been working with the Rwanda Polytechnic team, the mentee institution and collaborating with the SCP team to contextualise Strathmore’s best career services practices to suit Rwanda Polytechnic’s needs.
Abigail Welbeck:
Welbeck is the director of career services at Ashesi University, and brings a wealth of experience in career service development to the Education Collaborative network.
She provides executive and strategic leadership for developing, implementing, and evaluating systems, programs, and events to connect employers with students, faculty, and alumni.
She spearheads the university’s effort to maintain a graduate placement record of 90 percent and above post-graduation.
Jennifer Udeh:
Udeh is the head of programmes and partnerships at Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA), working on the knowledge and research component of the Systems Change Programme for employability.
She holds a Master of Engineering (MEng) in Manufacturing Engineering and Management and an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in Innovation Management from the University of Warwick, where she is also a Module Leader and Lecturer in Project Management and Leadership.
Jennifer has previously worked with organisations in the United Kingdom and Africa, including The World Bank, Selfridges Retail Group, The Manufacturing Advisory Service, among others.
Jewel Thompson:
Thompson has worked with the Education Collaborative to develop an entrepreneurship curriculum and innovation lab at African Development University, an institution under the Education Collaborative mentorship programme.
She is currently focused on facilitating the early growth of African social impact startups that seek to expand their offerings globally through business training, strategy development, and access to financial tools.
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Sena Agbodjah Agyepong:
She is a senior lecturer and head of the department of Business Administration at Ashesi University.
Agyepong serves as a consulting committee member, providing oversight over the Education Collaborative’s operations, sits on the 2022 annual convening agenda planning committee, and has led speaker sessions.
Rose Akudugu:
Akudugu has 15years of experience as a financial expert and sits on the Education Collaborative’s consulting committee to offer insights and financial advice for decision making.
She holds a Bachelor of Accounting from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). She looks forward to establishing a grant reporting standard across projects at the Education Collaborative and mentoring emerging mentee institutions in budgeting and reporting to win funding opportunities through the Education Collaborative network.
