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Education is one of the major keys on the verge of unlocking Africa’s bloom. Looking at several educationists on the continent, these including the institutions and philanthropists, there is great hope for curbing heavy dependency on foreign expertise and exploiting the continent’s immense potential. The expectation here is, Africans should be able to efficiently manage their resources with exceptional leadership to propel Africa’s future economic development.
Roni Madhvani, Director Madhvani Group believes that science courses are the key ingredients for innovation, and the scientific and technical building blocks of any economy. “Education is one of the major determining factors of any nation’s economic growth and for Africa and Uganda in particular, it should be steered to innovation empowerment” he commented.
The Madhvani Foundation is a Ugandan Education philanthropist under the Madhvani Group, running for 12 years now, it has sponsored over 2000 Ugandan students to Ugandan universities to bridge the wanting labour market, with focus on science and technical expertise.
Egyptian Qalaa Holdings Co-Founder and Managing Director Hisham El-Khazindar stresses the role of the private sector in reforming education in Africa. “The Qalaa Holdings Scholarship Foundation is an extension of our belief that the private sector must help lead positive change in Africa and Egypt in particular. By investing in the graduate education of 138 of Egypt’s brightest young scholars over the past 9 years, including this year’s class of 17 scholars, we are investing in the future development of the country as these young men and women are required to return to Egypt upon the completion of their various Masters and PhD programs,” he emphasized.
Fred Swaniker, a Ghanian entrepreneur with a passion for solving social problems, believes that many of Africa’s predicaments boil down to a lack of adequate leadership. To help change that, during the last seven years he has focused his energy on the creation and development of an elite pan-African secondary school aimed at fostering the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs. The African Leadership Academy (ALA) opened in January 2008 in the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, and currently has over 300 students from over 35 countries, some of these include Algeria, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, in addition to S. Africa.
Investing in Education is definitely a shining torch which Africa should lift even higher to be able to tread the paths of great challenge of poverty, disease and illiteracy. Like the saying of a great fallen hero, Nelson Mandela “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
