How Africa Can Be Transformed Through Leadership – Fred Swaniker

HOW

CAN BE TRANSFORMED THROUGH LEADERSHIP

FRED SWANIKER

As leadership development cannot be I worked, I realised that the lack of leadership was 10
common,” Mr Swaniker said.
underestimated in any venture, it is important We see leadership as the pathway to that
for every thriving business with a clear focus on In all this, one thing that became clear to him was transformation, hence our mission. We believe
specific demography, to make leadership that the continent was confronted with many leaders are problem solvers. We want to develop a
become a major enabler in stimulating growth problems that had its root causes in leadership. critical mass of leaders who can solve the
and sustainability. Mr Fred Swaniker, Founder continent’s problems,”
and President of the African Leadership Group, The other aspect of his background, he credited to
is one person who is thriving by using his his family, whom he said, had been involved in So much has been done to treat the symptoms of bad leadership but not enough to
organisation to develop a new crop of African starting educational institutions for a couple of create better leaders for Africa in the first place, he said, adding that, the problem he
Leaders with a mission to transform the generations. “My grandfather and grandmother saw was really the lack of good leadership and human capital development and
continent. started schools, and my mother started a school realised that, if that was not tackled head-on, the continent would remain the poor,
in Botswana. So, one can say, human capital third world, dark and all the derogatory names others use to describe Africa.
Mr Swaniker describes himself as “A Child of development, in a way, is in my blood and
Africa”, who is passionate about the continent something I saw as a potential,” Mr Swaniker It was the desire to bring about the change in Africa’s human capital that set him off
and believes the key to “our future lies in added. on his journey. Then the group was born with a mission “to transform Africa by
developing our human capital and our developing its future leaders”.
leadership. So, I have decided to dedicate my He describes himself as an entrepreneur and
life’s work to that cause and to unlocking the notes that “most great entrepreneurs are driven “We see leadership as the pathway to that transformation, hence our mission. We
potential of our human capital so we can solve not so much by a desire to make money, but by a believe leaders are problem solvers. We want to develop a critical mass of leaders who
our own problems and not be dependent on the desire to solve problems, and in some cases that can solve the continent’s problems,” Mr Swaniker said, adding that, “Africa is projected
rest of the world.” lead to building a business which can make them to reach 40% of the world’s population by the end of the century. This will either be a
wealthy. But that is not the core driver of massive crisis for the world or a great opportunity, depending on leadership .” He said
Providing an insight into his journey to what he entrepreneurship the problem the African Leadership Group is trying to solve requires synergy among
has become today, he said, “my family left the different initiatives to select exceptional people with leadership potential, develop
Ghana when I was only four years old, and we For him, the money is only a by-product, and connect them to each other and to opportunities for impact”.
lived in The Gambia, Botswana and South Africa, explaining that, what drives entrepreneurship is
so that gave me a very pan-African perspective.” frustration with what one sees as pain-points in Noting, that is the model – Select, Develop and Connect - with the African Leadership
society Academy, which is a high school that selects high potential young people across Africa
“With that pan-African identity, I started from age 7 for development.
thinking about the issues that were different “In my case, the frustration I saw was our inability
but also similar among all the people with to achieve our potential as Africans. We have so “We also have the African Leadership University which is doing a similar concept but
whom l interacted in different countries. I many natural resources, a large population, and at the tertiary level and which houses the business school as well,”.
worked with McKinsey & Company initially in every reason to be one of the wealthiest
South Africa but also in Nigeria and Tanzania. continents in the world; and not the backward Pointing out that, there is a third part of the group, which is the African Leadership
Everywhere I went, and everywhere people disrespected by the rest of the world Network which brings senior government, business and social sector executives
today,” Mr Swaniker said. together to collaborate to solve pan-African problems.

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The fourth and final leg is ALX which is a lifelong Yet universities continue to offer a menu of Twenty percent comes from developmental relationships with mentors, peers and
learning institution that works with young mid- academic disciplines for students to choose; coaches, and 70% of learning comes from doing projects, and work experience..
career professionals, to bring ‘just-in-time’ who most likely end up in careers that have Unfortunately, most education places focus on only that ten percent; which means
learning that allows continuous leadership nothing to do with what they studied and might unlocking just 10% of the human potential.
development. It’s an innovative talent change their mind or interest,” he said.
development model that is being explored, with Mr Swaniker said the 70-20-10 learning models could help address the seven grand
the collective ambition to develop 3 million Mr Swaniker said “we give students a menu of challenges and the seven great opportunities, explaining that “every challenge is an
leaders for Africa by 2035. challenges called the seven grand challenges of opportunity and every opportunity is a challenge. But we differentiate the seven
Africa and the seven great opportunities. challenges from the seven opportunities by looking at the challenges as problems in which
Such a dream does come with challenges, he Instead of our students declaring an academic Africa is not necessarily starting in a very good place.”
said, listing one of his challenges as finding major, we say declare a mission. Pick one of
people who understand the standards they those challenges that you want to solve and He said, these are problems that have kept the continent very far behind and are going to
aspire to and are willing to put in the effort, be curate your own learning experience around be very difficult to solve, mentioning “challenges like urbanisation, where we must
innovative and unconventional in the same way that problem,” which he said, “is completely contend with about 800 million people moving into African cities in the next 40 years, and
that the group is trying to be. unconventional and so getting parents and others like healthcare, education, governance, youth unemployment, infrastructure;
regulators to understand this way of learning these are big problems.”
He said funding has also been a challenge, has been difficult.”
explaining that, he had in the last 15 years raised Mr Swanker said, “We value not just the classroom learning, but the project-based
about 700 million dollars, out of which only 3% He said, because they are doing things that learning and the network that our training provides are not understood by Regulators.
has come from Africa with all the wealthy people have never been done, they need people who
that live on the continent. are willing to dare boldly into unchartered
areas which means ensuring that, they have
Another challenge has been the difficulty in the right leadership team.
working with regulators on the continent,
Swaniker said, stating that, the institutions they “Sadly, many people don’t necessarily have the
are trying to build are quite unconventional. courage, resilience and imagination to do the
These are very different from academic things that we are trying to do,” Mr Swaniker
institutions that are built around professor- said, adding that, “making sure that I grow
driven, major-centred learning. The institutions myself as a leader but also surrounding myself
that they are trying to build are ones where with very capable people who are better than I
learning is student-driven and mission-centred. am in different ways and building the culture of
the organisation has been my preoccupation.”
“Research shows that about eighty to ninety He said the group also believes that only 10%
percent of the jobs of tomorrow have not been of effective skill development happens in the
created yet, and many end up with careers that classroom.
have nothing to do with what the students
studied in college.

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So, it’s been a challenge getting to be understood Following this, is the need for strong , and that gives them a sense of the skills We used the time and the collective
and moving away from the status quo because governance which means having a board, against the job seekers just saying what intelligence of all 90 ALX staff to think,
people just like the safe pathway - the traditional and systems in place with people who they can do. reflect, listen and to try to imagine the
method. But we will not achieve our full potential understand the long-term vision of the world post-COVID-19,” Mr Swaniker
in Africa by doing things the traditional way.” institution and can carry on, ensuring that The whole journey so far at the African said. He said, “We came up with a new
the management team is living up to the Leadership Group, Mr Swaniker said, has strategy to thrive, not just survive post-
He said, Africa is very good at starting projects, but ideals of the founder. been one of trial and error using the 70- COVID-19. We understood the
not creating institutions, explaining that, projects 20-10 rule, pointing out that, no textbook importance of looking beyond the crisis
are short-lived and very dependent on individuals. There must also be a robust financial engine, could have prepared them. “We learn by and thinking about the opportunities
“They either die or fizzle out with the loss of which is the economic model that supports doing, we try things, we fail, and we keep arising to reposition ourselves to
interest or passing of the individual who started it” the business for the long haul. “Over the last growing. We did not have a clear emerge even stronger. What normally
15 years, we’ve been focused on these roadmap or blueprint; we’ve been takes companies a year or six months
For Mr Swaniker, institutions, are independent things, and that’s also where we have had figuring things out along the way. I tell my to do, we did in eight weeks.”
and can last for decades, even centuries if they are most of our challenges,” Mr Swaniker said. staff the only thing I can guarantee them
built well, stating that, there are very few is change, that’s the only constant,” he According to Mr Swaniker, the strategy
institutions in Africa, whether as countries or On recruitments, Mr Swaniker said, they use said. was based on three main pillars, with
companies. “Africa is littered with so many a combination of mindsets, skills and values the first being going digital with their
projects that have failed or have crumbled. What in the recruitment of students or staff. “I On dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, work so that, they can remain a remote
we need are institutions, and that’s what I am have found that sometimes, you find he said, as an entrepreneur, there was company globally cancelling the leases
passionately trying to do with the African someone who has the skills to do the job, but the need to be constantly challenged on their spaces, as well as delivering
Leadership Group; create institutions that will live they don’t have the same beliefs, aspirations explaining that, the pandemic is just one learning, but not from physical spaces.
long beyond me as the founder,” he added. and values as you do,” adding that, “there is of many challenges they have had to face Also, they intend to push a lot more
often conflict because we want to be bold, over the last 15 years. into training software engineers, User
He explained that there are four things that one disruptive and unconventional, but most Experience and User Interface
needs to build an institution and the first of these candidates want to be safe and traditional.” “We have learned to be agile and not to Designers (UXUI designers),
is the codification of the values, vision, purpose give up. What makes successful
and all the things that push the founder as the “We look for people who will fit into the entrepreneurs are simply the fact that cybersecurity, digital marketing, and
head. These must be properly documented to be culture, and such people don’t, and have also they don’t give up; it’s the resilience, those skills that will become necessary
understood by others and serve as the blueprint found that interviews are terrible ways to perseverance and the courage to keep in the future. They will also focus on
for what is being built as well as enable others to hire people, explaining that, some people going. This moment is yet another entrepreneurship, because of the
continue beyond the founder. will tell you what you want to hear, get the opportunity to be resilient, and those realisation that with the global
job and they don’t succeed. who make it through this time are the economic recession, there is likely to be
In addition, Mr Swaniker said there is the need for ones to succeed. In our case, when fewer jobs in Africa.
strong leadership in various aspects of an Therefore, the group leverages a lot on COVID-19 happened, I stopped the entire
organisation independent of the founder with a project work as part of their selection ALX organisation for eight weeks.
team that can be coached to form the next process
generation of leaders

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Mr Swaniker said, one trend emerging from mean continuing to educate people and But that requires visionary leadership . Then there are some things that are
COVID-19 is that companies are going to be sharing perspective, admitting however from governments to make those different, so the culture in one country
more open to remote talent which is that, it might not be right, “but we believe investments in broadband and other might be different from another, so we
different from what they used to do before that the world will become more digital, so infrastructure for that purpose,” he said. need some contextualisation. Good
the pandemic, where they placed their you need the ability to learn leadership in leadership is good leadership -
talents, whether entrepreneurs or software the digital age and learn to build digitally- In the area of infrastructure, Mr Swanker leadership with integrity,” he said.
engineers, only in African companies. enabled businesses.” said, the continent needs more public-
private partnership investments in the For someone who has been successful in
“Now, we can think of placing them with “We could afford to operate as a business sector. In addition, the public sector what he has been doing so far, he
global companies but without the brain before COVID-19 without being digitally must create the policies and the expressed some regrets and said, “I
drain. Because you can have an engineer fluent but post COVID-19, that’s a recipe framework to deregulate itself, and then probably wasn’t more ruthless in cutting
sitting in Kenya working for Siemens in for disaster. Leading in a digital age will be invite the private partners to build ties with talents that were not
Germany or you can now have a designer crucial and require a lot of change facilities, saying, “many of these performing to standards I needed. Of
from Ghana or Nigeria working for Zara in management. decisions don’t cost money. They just course, you need to invest in mentoring
Spain and a software engineer in South require critical thinking and action.” and coaching to get them to scratch, but
Africa working for Google and Facebook. I Governments will need to digitise their “There are some things that are at some point, you realise the need to let
think it's a unique opportunity to export services. Countries could leapfrog to common across the continent. We all go, especially for those who don’t have
African talents without the brain-drain,” he develop world-class healthcare and lack good infrastructure, good the right values and mindset. You can
said. For Africa, Mr Swaniker said, this will education systems by plugging into global healthcare and education - common coach and develop someone’s skills but
digital training systems. problems that require common it’s very hard to change their attitudes.”
solutions