Patrick Awuah Jr. | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1965 |
| Nationality | Ghanaian |
| Citizenship | Ghana |
| Alma mater | Achimota School UC Berkeley, Swarthmore College |
| Known for | Ashesi University |
| Spouse | Rebecca Awuah |
| Awards | MacArthur fellowship |
Patrick Awuah Jr. (born 1965) is a Ghanaian engineer, educator, and entrepreneur. Awuah established Ashesi University in 2002. [1] Awuah has won many awards as an individual and as the founder of Ashesi University. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Awuah grew up in Accra, Ghana. He attended the Achimota School [7] [8] where he was a house prefect.[ citation needed ] He moved to the U.S. in 1985 to attend Swarthmore College with a full scholarship. He earned bachelor's degrees in Engineering and Economics, graduating in 1989. Following graduation, Awuah worked as a software engineer and program manager for Microsoft from 1989 to 1997. At Microsoft, he met his future wife, software testing engineer Rebecca Awuah. [9]
In 1997, Awuah left Microsoft with the goal of returning to Ghana to educate the next generation of African leaders. [10] [11] He enrolled at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, focusing his work on preparing a business plan for Ashesi. Awuah, Nina Marini, and other graduate students from Berkeley went to Ghana to do a feasibility study for opening a private university there. Awuah graduated with his MBA in 1999. That same year, he moved back to Ghana with his family to found Ashesi University. [1] [12] [13] [14] Awuah continues to serve as the president of Ashesi University. [15]
John Kufuor presented Awuah the Order of the Volta Award to recognise his contribution to tertiary education in Ghana in 2007. [2] In 2009, Awuah won the John P. McNulty Prize. [16] In 2010, Awuah was awarded 87th most creative business person by Fast Company. [17] 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. [18] In the same year he was named best social entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. [19] In 2015, Awuah was listed by Fortune as number 40 in world's 50 greatest leaders [4] and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. [5] In 2017, Awuah was awarded the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) prize, a major global education award. [6]
Achimota School, formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The school was founded in 1924 by Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg, Dr. James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey and the Rev. Alec Garden Fraser. It was formally opened in 1927 by Sir Frederick Guggisberg, then Governor of the British Gold Coast colony. Achimota, modelled on the British public school system, was the first mixed-gender school to be established on the Gold Coast.
Ashesi University is a private, non-profit university located in Accra, Ghana. The mission of Ashesi University is to educate ethical, entrepreneurial leaders in Africa; to cultivate within students the critical thinking skills, the concern for others, and the courage it will take to transform the continent.
Articles related to Ghana include:
Kwaku Addo Sakyi-Addo is a journalist from Ghana, who was the country correspondent for both Reuters and the BBC between 1993 and 2007. He currently hosts a political talk show on Asaase Radio in Accra.
The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) is an international initiative aimed at transforming education through innovation. WISE was established by Qatar Foundation in 2009 under the patronage of its chairperson, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser. With a biennial Summit held in Doha, and a range of year-round initiatives, WISE's mission revolves around promoting new approaches to education and investigating new ways to address pressing global education challenges.
Major Seth Kobla Anthony was a Ghanaian soldier and diplomat. He was the first black African-born soldier to be commissioned as an officer in the British Army.
The NAPE Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit which is actively supporting disadvantaged students in Ghana. NAPE is an acronym for Naa Amerley Palm Education. The foundation was started in 2006 by Peter Carlos Okantey, a citizen of Ghana. The foundation is a recognized non-profit in Ghana, West Africa and United States of America and supported by individuals, Churches and corporations around the world.
Robert Patrick Baffour,, was a Ghanaian engineer, politician and university administrator who served as the first Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He was also a pioneer in engineering education in Ghana.
Regina Honu, is a Ghanaian social Entrepreneur, software developer and founder of Soronko Solutions, a software development company in Ghana. She opened Soronko Academy, the first coding and Human-centered design school for children and young adults in West Africa. Honu has received multiple awards, including being named by CNN as one of the 12 inspirational women who rock STEM. She was also named as one of the six women making an impact in Tech in Africa and one of the ten female entrepreneurs to watch in emerging economies.
Yawa Hansen-Quao is a Ghanaian founder, social entrepreneur and a feminist. She sits on the board of Ashesi University College, serves on the advisory board, Women's Institute for Global Leadership, Benedictine University. She is the founder of the Leading Ladies Network (LLN), and a member of the African Leadership Network and the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Community. She is a force to reckon with in the education and well-being of the girl child.
Dr. Ken Kwaku is an international investment and corporate governance expert. In 2013 he was nominated together with the late President of Ghana, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills for the Africa Achievers Award. This recognition stemmed from his track record in the area of business development and the unearthing of leadership potentials across Africa. He is Ghana's Honorary Consular to Tanzania and a special adviser to the former president, H.E. Benjamin Mkapa.
Joseph Nana Kwame Awuah-Darko, also known as Okuntakinte, is a Ghanaian social entrepreneur, artist, and philanthropist. He started his music career professionally in late 2015 when he was signed with Meister Music Management which also manages artists like Mr. Eazi. He released his major hit Melanin Girls in January 2016, which was received with controversy as much as with appreciation.
Nana Araba Apt was a Ghanaian author, educator and social worker.
Kwame Awuah-Darko is a Ghanaian politician, entrepreneur and a banker. He is the 3rd son of the late Nana Awuah-Darko Ampem I, who reigned as the Nkosuohene of Asante Juaben traditional area in the Ashanti Region of Ghana from June 1985 till his demise on November 25, 2005.
Daniel Ahmling Chapman Nyaho was a Ghanaian statesman, diplomat and academic. He was the first African appointee at the United Nations. He served as the Secretary to the cabinet in the first Convention People's Party government which shared the colony's administration with the colonial government. He also served as Ghana's ambassador to the United States of America and Ghana's permanent representative to the United Nations. In 1958, he became the first Ghanaian headmaster of Achimota College.
Kwadwo Osseo-Asare is an Ghanaian materials scientist who is Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. He was awarded the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers Gold Medal in 1997. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2004 for contributions to the fundamental understanding of interfacial phenomena in leaching and solvent extraction.
Isaac Emmanuel Osei-Bonsu was a Ghanaian politician who was a member of the first parliament of the second republic of Ghana. He represented Mid-Volta constituency under the membership of the Progress Party (PP).
Joseph Kwame Kingsley-Nyinah was a Ghanaian judge who served as a justice of the Court of Appeal and also as the Electoral Commissioner for Ghana.
| External video | |
|---|---|
 Education Entrepreneur Patrick Awuah, 2015 MacArthur Fellow, 3:35, MacArthur Foundation [20] | |
| Patrick Awuah: How to educate leaders? Liberal arts, 17:26, TED Talks [14] |