1 Africa Leadership Initiative/West Africa the Great Values Seminar

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Africa Leadership Initiative/West Africa The Great Values Seminar Abuja, Nigeria November 29-December 3, 2006

Executive Summary :

The Africa Leadership Initiative/West Africa was launched in 2006 as a joint venture of the Aspen Institute, LEAP Africa (Nigeria), Databank Foundation (Ghana), and TechnoServe and was made possible with support from the Ford Foundation (Nigeria), an anonymous U.S. donor, the UniCredit Foundation (Italy), the Databank Foundation (Ghana) and TechnoServe/Ghana. It is also a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network which seeks to develop the next generation of values-based leaders around the world.

Inspired by the Henry Crown Fellowship Program of the Aspen Institute, ALI/West Africa is designed to build linkages between—and to promote open dialogue among—leaders from Ghana and Nigeria on the makings of a “good society” in West Africa. The program provides the tools and perspectives necessary for effective, enlightened leadership in business, government, and not-for-profit sectors—that is, in society-at-large. It also seeks to spur Fellows “from thought to action” by asking them to carry out individual leadership projects of their own design.

The West Africa class, comprised of 24 highly accomplished Nigerian and Ghanaian Fellows between the ages of 30 and 49, met for the second time, from November 29-December 3, 2006, in Abuja, the political capital of Nigeria. Their first meeting was in May 2006 for a seminar entitled “ The Challenge of Leadership ,” in which they explored what effective leaders do and do not do . In their second meeting, the “ Great Values Seminar,” moderated by Aspen Senior Moderators Keith Berwick and Peter Reiling, the Fellows were prompted to consider those societal values they deem most important, and the trade-offs they are willing to make in seeking a good and just society. Fellows read and engaged in animated dialogue on the writing of Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, William Graham Sumner, Freidrich Hayek, Ibn Khaldun, Milton

1 Friedman, Thomas Jefferson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Simon Bolivar, Harriet Taylor Mill, and Karl Marx, among others. They also performed Antigone , the classic tale of leadership and hubris by Sophocles. (See Appendix A for full agenda).

The Great Values Seminar provided an opportunity for Fellows to deepen the bonds of trust they began to develop during the first seminar. Indeed, Fellows shared that they had already met with each other in Ghana and Nigeria several times between the first and the second seminars. Some reported new collaborations in professional and private activities as a result. Many reported progress in their leadership commitments made during the “ check-out ” session of the first seminar. Some of the more interesting projects include: employing a network of beauty salons to educate women on HIV/AIDS in Ghana; using a mass media platform to create an " It's Not About Me " campaign promoting civic engagement in Nigeria; and providing legal coverage for migrant workers leaving the region for Europe and other developed regions.

The West Africa class is an outstanding group of men and women representing the entrepreneurial business, government, and NGO sectors. All members of the group returned for the second seminar, except for three who had extenuating medical or professional circumstances. Even so, the group maintained a good balance of men (10) and women (11), and Ghanaians (12) and Nigerians (9). (See Appendix F for bios)

We believe these Fellows are having a measurable and positive impact in the countries and communities where they live, as are the seminars on the participants themselves. Seventeen of twenty-one Fellows said they plan to make changes in their professional or personal lives as a direct result of this seminar (see Appendix E for Evaluation Summaries); several have initiated their leadership projects ahead of schedule and are reporting progress (see “ Check-in” and “Check-out” sections of the report and appendices); and they have all worked on more clearly articulating their vision of a good society (see Appendix B) .

2 The Great Values Seminar After a welcome reception and dinner, Fellows jumped right into the first session on “The Good Life Well Lived” with Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Rhetoric. They concluded that “virtue in conformity with happiness” is how one lives the good life according to Aristotle.

“Aristotle is telling us that if we aren’t contemplative enough, we risk seeking means to justify ends. Contemplation allows society to focus on high ideals. Since happiness is an abstract concept, virtue and a sense of goodness are what make a good life,” summarized one Fellow. “The pursuit of wisdom with time for reflection and balance make a good life,” added another.

Veteran moderator Keith Berwick wrapped up by asking the group to consider the question, “What is the good society and what is the role of leaders in creating it?” Among the answers were: leaders should be an example to others, they should live a well-balanced life, and they should have an activity of the soul tempered with rationality.

The evening concluded with an exercise led by moderator Peter Reiling, who asked the Fellows to list what they thought were the attributes of a good society, looking at Ghana and Nigeria for clues as to what they consider necessary or lacking. See Appendix B for responses.

Day I –“Check-in ” and Liberty and Equality

The first full day began with the “ check-in ”—a tradition at each gathering where the Fellows share with each other news, both personal and professional, and progress or setbacks since the last meeting. Excerpts from the “ check-in ”:

“I started to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and training through my network beauty salons in Ghana. We managed to train in 64 salons and have put together a training team to expand that reach. We created a buzz in the salons with clients talking about HIV/AIDS.”

3 campaign to promote civic participation and democracy. We began working on development, leadership, sexuality, health, and the purpose of life. Then we began to ask if we could use technology for advocacy and for intervention for democracy. We are starting with five thousand students at a time. They register to be members of an online community. The program is called “It is not about me. It is about us. ” We plan to roll it out next year before the election. I started writing a blog. I am also working on a program called ‘Chain of Hope’ to address rape and provide medical and legal support to victims.”

“My issue was to look at illegal migration, and in particular at the risk side that illegal migration poses to individuals involved. Twenty thousand Africans have died trying to cross the Mediterranean. I am working with a filmmaker, interviewing migrants, and publicizing the risks in the newspapers.”

“I selected 18 disadvantaged 3-10-year olds to teach basic reading and writing in Northern Nigeria. Since I began, all except the two 3-year olds can read simple sentences and do basic math. I am now in the process of registering with the state and local government to formally open a school for the underprivileged. I now feel more confident and more willing to explore different things.”

“Last meeting I said I was approached to work on HIV/AIDS with a foundation and was hesitant about taking on that responsibility. I have fully committed and was appointed chairman of the board. I have also made progress in bringing together the first private sector interaction with the Global Fund which works on HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria. With four million people in Nigeria with HIV/AIDS, we are trying to place HIV/AIDS on the front burner for the private sector. On a personal level I am trying become more balanced. With everything I am trying to do, this has really been challenging. I have a new baby girl so I am trying to spend more time with my family. Children don’t spell love L-O-V-E they spell love T-I-M-E.”

“I promised to try to bridge the digital divide by creating more IT empowerment opportunities for youth. I have secured four investors for this project and we are teaching young people remotely. We have developed a resource center and library. We are also developing a resource training center to train people in repairs and maintenance.”

“Our first meeting in Akosombo was a defining moment for me. Since then I have really reflected on my life and I have become more focused. Now, I am finding a lot of space for myself while the law practice is growing. I am doing more pro-bono work and am trying to incorporate it into the practice in a more systematic and strategic way.”

Introduction to the Executive’s Compass Keith Berwick presented the framework for James O’Toole’s Executive Compass with its four elements of liberty, equality, community and efficiency, and the trade-offs and tensions between them. Over the following days, each one of the four elements was explored further with a series of readings that highlight that particular element, beginning with liberty.

Liberty

4 In the section on Liberty, the group explored the writings of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Karl Popper, William Sumner, F.A. Hayek, Ibn Khaldun, and Milton Friedman. With Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan they explored the concept of the basic equality of all men, and Hobbes’s view of man’s nature as competitive, selfish, and greedy, and ultimately warmongering. He called for a system of governance with rules and sanctions to keep men safe from each other. For Hobbes the trade-off is one of freedom and liberty for security.

John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government (b), chapter V, lays out an argument for individual property rights and manifest destiny. In Locke’s view, the individual who makes the best use of the land should have the right to own it, as long as he only takes what he needs. Not all fellows were in agreement. “He provides a labor concept of property ownership, but doesn’t take into account consequences of the conquest of a continent ,” said one. They contrasted Locke’s view of man living in harmony, taking only what he needs to live, with Hobbes’ view that men will, by their very nature, take more than they need. Many disagreed with Locke’s view that unused land was wasted land, especially today where the environment is so overtaxed. Others in the group felt Hobbes’ argument was merely a justification for robbing the American Indians of their land.

Peter Reiling kicked off— Karl Popper’s, The Open Society and its Enemies—by asking what sort of leader Nigerians and Ghanaians are looking for in the next elections. Some of the answers: “A leader who will address the needs of the people at the most basic level,” “A leader who will uphold the constitution,” “ Someone who will guarantee a better society ,” “ A leader who will help to entrench democratic processes,” “A leader who will play by the rules. ” Fellows then discussed Popper’s view that leaders cannot be trusted and that therefore institutions need to be strengthened to keep leaders in check. Fellows discussed whether Popper’s ideal society applies to their circumstances:

“We need a leader who can do great things for a long period of time, like Lee Kwan Yew. It was a painful experience, but that was the price of transforming a nation.”

“In Nigeria, we have checks and balances, but we don’t have the right kind of leadership. You can have a perfect system, but if the people running it don’t have the right values, then you may as well not have it.”

“While I agree with Popper about strengthening institutions, the choice of leader still matters.”

In conclusion, Peter asked why Popper is in a section on liberty and a Fellow aptly answered, “Because institutions are the best chance of securing liberty, because you can’t trust men. ”

The next reading, William Graham Sumner’s The Challenge of Facts, presents a world where man is in a constant struggle with nature for survival. For him the notion of natural rights is

5 senseless: there is no right to work; it is an obligation. His view of a good society is one which promotes industry, diligence, entrepreneurship, prudence and self-sufficiency. He shows little consideration for those who can’t live up to hard work.

Many in the group rejected Sumner’s “good society.” As one Fellow put it, “ Sumner fails to recognize any interventionist role for the State, even to create equal opportunities. He offers a contradictory society, where he recognizes that a tool is of benefit to all of society, but he doesn’t recognize that helping a disadvantaged person is a benefit to all of society. Nor does he recognize the negative impact of poverty on wealth.”

Another added, “ If you look at the poor in my country, it is not due to a lack of effort on their part. I see kids toiling all day for nothing . What Sumner talks about is unattainable. You would need to start from a place of equality, but that just doesn’t exist. ”

One Fellow rose to Sumner’s defense, “ We shouldn’t throw what he says out the window just because it is extreme. There are some people that just want to live off the backs of others. NGOs are replacing the functions of government. If we let that happen our institutions will never develop .”

The final three readings in the Liberty section— F.A. Hayek’s, The Road to Serfdom, Ibn Khaldun’s The Muqaddimah , and Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom—deal with limiting government intervention and protecting economic and individual freedom. In Hayek’s good society, the rule of law should do no more than provide road signs to guide people, not tell them which road to take. Likewise, Khaldun writing in the 1300s, worried about the governing dynasty competing unfairly with the private sector and protecting private property. Friedman’s “good society” requires both political and economic freedom with minimal government intervention.

The group debated different mixes of economic and political freedom in several countries such as Russia, India, Singapore, and China, before turning to Africa. One of the Fellows challenged Friedman’s thesis, pointing to China’s economic miracle achieved under a very restricted political environment, arguing that China is more successful than India, which has both political and economic freedom. Another Fellow countered that this might work for a while, but it is not sustainable over a long period. Economic freedom eventually leads to political freedom.

On Africa one Fellow complained, “ There is the pretense of economic freedom, but the economy is actually controlled and administered by cronies . Africa is a classic case of state monopoly of economic power as a major obstacle to political freedom .” Another Fellow noted that government intervention and nationalization of the cocoa industry actually made Ghana less competitive. Most Fellows liked Friedman’s “good society” with minimally interventionist government.

6 Equality The session on equality began with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract in which Rousseau proclaims “Man is born free and yet everywhere he is in chains,” and then proceeds to dismantle premises put forth by Aristotle and Hobbes in the previous sections that some men are made for slavery or that they require sovereign rulers to protect them from their own greed. Rousseau argues that everyone is born equally free and that slaves behave a certain way because they are enslaved. He prescribes a system of legitimate power made possible through a social contract between the people and the government. In this basic framework for a democracy, each citizen sacrifices a part of his individual rights for the common good.

A Fellow described this as the flying geese theory, “ Geese fly in a V formation. Each one submits to flying in that formation together because it is more efficient for the group. If one decided to drop-out, he wouldn’t make it alone .”

The session concluded with Fellows noting that the problem with Rousseau’s social contract and the sovereignty of the general will are their exclusion of the rights of minorities. So here is introduced the idea that although equality benefits the common good, it leaves out a portion of the population that doesn’t fit into the equation.

The next reading, Harriet Taylor Mill’s Enfranchisement of Women , written in 1851, addresses those excluded from equal participation in American democracy, focusing on the rights of women. Using the Declaration of Independence she argues for universal suffrage, and maintains that the continued disenfranchisement of woman is contrived by men for their own convenience. Not unlike Martin Luther King’s indictment of the moderate clergy who tolerated segregation, Mill criticizes the moderate reform movement for its support of women’s education for the companionship of men. She concludes that a situation where women do not have full equality is equally corrupting to men and to women. Fellows’ reactions to this:

“In Nigerian society, the highest socially accepted attainment for a woman is marriage. Women who speak their mind are derogatorily called ‘Thatcher’ ”

“Certain chores are carved out for men and others for women; like doing the dishes. Why should the man be the head of the household when he has no experience or training? Women start as young girls taking responsibility for the house.”

“In the North, you have educated women whose husbands prefer that they stay at home to cook, clean, and serve them. You have educated women just toiling at home.”

“Until recently, foreign wives of Ghanaian men needed a work permit to be allowed to work. To get the permit, they needed their husband’s permission. We have now changed that.”

7 Keith Berwick concluded session by reminding the group that enlightened leaders will need to take into account the resource that is the female population, which is still vastly underutilized.

In The Importance of Universal, Free, Public Education, Horace Mann saw the growth of urban centers and inequality between labor and capital. He believed that education is the great equalizer because it allows people to take advantage of institutions and, that therefore, everyone should have access to education.

The group approached the reading by discussing whether Mann’s arguments apply in Nigeria and Ghana. An animated debate about the relationship between education and instability in African democracies followed:

“Our ability to choose leaders is compromised by an illiterate population. I ask myself if we wasted precious years in our fledging democracy as a result. We handed the government to the Obasanjo regime, and we had a dismantling of structures. We elect unelectable people ,” asserted one Fellow.

“Actually, educated people have caused more harm than the illiterate people. Illiteracy is not stupidity. Educated people have distorted facts and have taken power by force. I don’t agree that we have been short-changed by the undereducated ,” argued another.

“Without the tools to fight the powers that be— education—an uneducated population is unhelpful to democracy ,” retorted one.

“ Those who wield the pen have stolen more than those who wield the gun, ” concluded another.

After a day full of animated discussion on liberty and equality, the group organized themselves for their production of the play Antigone , by Sophocles. They agreed upon the main point of the play and then began to assign roles and work on the effects and staging.

Day II – Equality (cont’d) and Community

The morning session continued on the theme of “equality,” with Fellows delving right into The Communist Manifesto —a road map to liberty, revolution, and the good society according to Marx and Engels. “Their description of a global economy that sucks resources from the world sounds a lot like today’s anti-globalization movement,” noted one Fellow. “Socialism is still very attractive in Nigeria. These divisions still exist, and people are still seduced by this concept,” added another.

After thoroughly covering Marx and Engels’ key points, the group discussed the appeal Marxism can and does have in many parts of the world today, given that the experiment was a failure. Some excerpts from the discussion:

“There are people in Ghana and Nigeria who fall outside of the framework of the capitalist society. To these people, Marx says you are right and everyone else is wrong. Capitalists are literally eating out of your lunch box— get rid of them .”

“You have to make sure that those who have nothing have something, so that at least you can live in peace. The bourgeoisie have created a force that they can’t control in the proletariat. ”

“We haven’t focused on why it is that some move forward while others are left behind in the capitalist system, or why we aren’t able to bring the others along. ”

“We have latched onto the capitalist democracy bandwagon, which works for a certain group, but we haven’t figured out alternatives that work for the rest. People need hope which explains the growth of the evangelical church in Africa. ”

The discussion on “those left behind” provided a nice segue into Arthur Okun’s Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff. After describing capitalist democracy’s double-standard that “pursues an egalitarian political and social philosophy while simultaneously generating gaping disparities in economic well-being,” Okun lays out the different intellectual influences that have informed the combination of equality and efficiency found in America. He sees people being left behind by poverty and discrimination. His view of a good society includes dignity, decency, basic health care, and nutrition. Okun’s prescription is to let the markets work but with an active government public policy: progressive taxation, incentives, and transfer payments.

One Fellow doubted Okun’s model would work in Nigeria, where inequality is so high; 90% of the population is in poverty. Another pointed out that 90% of oil profits in Nigeria go to government, so why, she asked, “is there no greater alleviation of poverty? ” Another noted that a great deal of funding comes from NGOs and questioned their efficiency and how much money actually gets to the people.

When asked how Fellows ensure that efficiency and equality prevail in their own lives, one Fellow said she puts systems in place to maintain fairness and hires on merit. Another pointed out that the dilemma of inequality is not easily resolved when the gap is so huge and widening: “If you don’t narrow the gap, the solutions will become very radical ,” she warned. “ As leaders, we have to be aware of this inequality and it must affect our conscience. We can’t continue to sweep it under the table,” warned one Fellow. “We must look at the root causes of our problems and deal with them . If we do not, something will snap. The State and political systems have not adapted enough to meet our needs ,” stressed another.

In concluding the session, Keith Berwick urged the group to continue to think about the impact of inequity. “ Your generation is capable of turning the tide and incorporating the yearnings and aspirations of all people who merit and require our attention, including those that have been marginalized. The spirit of inclusion of “the other” is one of the fundamental precepts of what we are discussing here.”

Community Moving to the topic of community, the group spent the afternoon discussing: Thomas Jefferson’s, The Merits of Agriculture , on protecting the agrarian way of life, which he sees as intrinsic to the “good society” in America; Rachel Carson’s, Silent Spring on man’s arrogant and uninformed use of science in pursuit of “progress” agriculture without knowing not the

9 consequences on the environment; and E.F. Schumacher’s, Small is Beautiful, which takes issue with a policy of economic growth and human greed which he says lead to war; indeed, he suggests that if everyone were to make do with less, there would be enough for everyone.

Starting with The Merits of Agriculture , one Fellow pointed out the irony in Jefferson’s romantic ideal of the American working the land, since he maintained slaves. The group then explored whether any aspects of Jefferson’s vision resonated in Africa today.

Many felt the intellectual attention paid to the making of a “good” American society, even if agriculture was not the way, would be helpful in Africa today. One Fellow lamented that, “There is no discussion on what would make a good Nigerian. ”

This led to a discussion on the need for policy driven governance versus politics based on personality:

“There is no intellectual debate going on in politics in my country . We have programs but no ideology. ”

“In my party I pushed for issues to be part of the debate and I was told nobody is talking about these things.”

“Political reform is critical. If our government hasn’t thought about what values we want and where we are heading, we have a big problem. ”

“Why do we wait for people who hold the power to give it to us? People in my country are hungry for dialogue. We can go out and find platforms for discussion and share these ideas. We can go to the towns, to the radio stations, and to the political leaders to force a discussion on policy.”

The next reading, Carson’s Silent Spring, proposes that there are rights that extend beyond humans and is concerned with the impact of pesticides on animals. The issue of the unintended consequences of man and science struck a chord among many Fellows.

“We don’t know what potential harm we may be causing. It’s really scary. I worked in a lab for many years. In this field, you are more interested in short-term benefits than long-term consequences. Sometimes people do know the harm they are causing but pretend they don’t to reap the short-term benefit,” said one Fellow.

Another discussed a case where, the agency responsible for monitoring the drugs commonly used in Ghana for treating malaria lost its accreditation because it found and reported that the drugs were adversely affecting the people taking them. “The medicines are still being sold! ” he said.

Fellows had varying reactions to Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered . One Fellow asserted that the reduction of needs itself might cause tensions. Another asked how you determine the maximum and the minimum growth or needs. “Can you limit the abilities of anybody?” he asked.

Another said, “He is discounting people’s competitiveness. You need different reward systems to make this work.”

“My objection is to his opposition to big companies and industrialization, without addressing the benefits that big generates.”

Another pointed out, “If you can grow, you have the ability to help others.”

The group then debated the concept of needs and how much you need. Is having your own plane to travel too much? One added, “Contentment is more than material things.”

The session on community concluded with the thought that, as leaders, it is important to consider the concept of balance. The Fellows spent the remainder of the afternoon rehearsing for the production of Antigone and then took a short excursion through Abuja.

Day III – Efficiency

Beginning the theme of efficiency with Plato’s Republic , Fellows recapped Plato’s creation of a hypothetical state to test his theories on human nature and justice. The citizens of this State start by producing to meet their basic needs: food, shelter, and clothing. But soon enough, it is agreed that basic needs are not enough. Then they start to specialize, become more efficient, trade with the outside for more things and so on. Plato’s point: People will always want more until they are fighting with their neighbors to get what they think they need.

The Fellows then discussed their own perceptions of basic needs and luxuries. One Fellow gave an example, “When growing up, I wore polyester. But then, when I discovered cotton, I stopped wearing polyester. For now, cotton is enough. Maybe if I found something else, I would want to replace cotton .” Another said, “ You strive to achieve something and once you have it you move on. ” A Fellow reflected back on Schumacher and reminded, “ Your state of mind is more important than perceived needs. It requires a change in attitude .”

Plato discusses the kind of guardians and leaders needed for a State which balances needs with desires and seeks leaders that serve the people rather than themselves. This discussion concluded with the acknowledgement that this is the work of this Fellowship—fostering the next generation of leaders in the good society.

11 Simon Bolivar, in El Liberator , speaks about the kind of State he feels the newly independent Venezuela needs. Like Plato he believes a leader is the guardian of the State. He believes the country was too new, too ignorant, because of Spanish control, to enjoy freedom and democracy. He argues that the laws should be suitable to the country and appropriate to the character of the people. He calls for a British model with its hereditary House of Lords with and an additional institution to focus on morality and civic education.

The Fellows discussed when a society is ready for democracy. Some felt you need time, others felt there is no right time; everyone is ready for a better life. “We will continue to move in circles if we believe that a governance system that doesn’t address the needs of the common man will work, ” said one. “In the transition to civil society people rise to the occasion, ” added another.

When discussing whether Africa is ready for democracy, making the point that democracy, like freedom, is an inalienable right, a Fellow asked, “Should we have waited for slaves to be ready for freedom? ” Another, pointing to an apparent double standard, questioned the practice of implementing a chieftain style of governance locally, yet seeking real democracy on a national level. Referring to a current democratic dilemma in Nigeria, another Fellow questioned whether president Obasanjo should be given a third term, even though he should step down after this term, because the other options are so “terrifying.” In conclusion, Fellows agreed “ We need to find a system that works for us. I am not saying democracy won’t work, but what can we tinker with? That is our challenge. ”

The third reading on efficiency was Freidrich List’s The Natural System of Political Economy. List argues that the State has a role in protecting its people through tariffs. He says sacrifice the consumer for the well-being of the State, since everyone else is doing it. The group listed several recent protectionist stances taken by governments, including the U.S. cotton tariff, The U.S. blocking the sale of Unocal to a Chinese oil company, and France’s objections to Mittal steel. Closer to home, they discussed the Nigerian movement to manufacture SIM instead of import them and to process its own oil and gas, and the 20% tariff on poultry and rice to protect local farmers in Ghana. Many in the group agreed with List: “ Its naïve to try to protect heavy industry, but service-related industry should have some form of protection .” “We are not ready for free trade; we need to be brought up to speed first. ”

Others argued for open markets: “We should encourage local participation instead of protection. In the past, 50% of employees in foreign companies were ‘expats’; today it is less than 5%.” “We need to focus on things outsiders can’t compete in—value-added business. ” Another admitted that competition forced him to improve his publications business by improving quality and diversifying.

In conclusion, one Fellow said “Tariffs are a good idea, but with enlightened leadership .” “ We need to improve efficiency, create centers of excellence, and provide service and better distribution ,” Added another “We need to start looking at an Africa – China policy ,” suggested a last Fellow, noting the new wave of Chinese investment in Africa and on the heals of a recent China-Africa Summit.

12 The final reading in the session was Peter Drucker’s, A Century of Social Transformation and the Coming of Entrepreneurial Society. In this reading, Drucker addresses the unprecedented transformation in the nature of the workforce in the 20 th Century and the rise of the knowledge worker over the blue collar working, largely as a result of the GI education bill for veterans. He argues that the knowledge societies will leave other countries behind.

This led to a discussion on the poor quality of education in Ghana and Nigeria. “We don’t have a system that teaches people to find solutions to problems or thinking creatively ,” worried one Fellow. “ We don’t recognize the size of the problem. We know we are behind, but we don’t know how far,” added another.

Looking to solutions, one Fellow said, “ We need continual renewal, innovation, and entrepreneurship. In many respects we don’t have a choice; we can’t wait to go through the stages of development Drucker describes from the West; we have to adapt quickly.” “If we poured all our energies into it, we could transform the next generation ,” offered another. The session concluded with one Fellow urging, “We have to do it! It’s not going to happen by accident. We need to create institutions that will provide the skills needed to compete .”

Following this session the group went off to one final rehearsal and the staging of Antigone . The group performed one of the most creative and heartfelt performances of Antigone the ALI program has seen, coupled with superb staging.

Afterward, Fellows talked about what they learned from the play and the process of staging it. The key lessons they identified in addition to team work and what they learned about each other and their characters were to beware of the ego in leadership and be open to taking advice and not to be so focused on your passion for the cause that you lose sight of more constructive ways to find solutions. Here are some excerpts from the discussion:

13 “In preparing myself for the part of Antigone, I imagined that Creon was the Nigerian dictator Abacha. I pictured the kind of indignation that would bring you to the point of recklessness. Antigone was self righteous and too judgmental. She brought others down with her.”

“Like my character, Ismene, I like to stay out of trouble. In Antigone , as in real life, you come up against bad people and I learned it is important to stand up to them.”

“What I saw was how close one can be to averting disaster. You see it coming, yet in the play, and in real life, you head right for it. It felt very much like George Orwell’s ‘ Shooting the Elephant’ , from the first seminar.”

“I felt this was very true to life, with the counselors afraid to counsel their leaders and forgetting that they have a role as leaders themselves.”

“I thought the chorus was very much like the voice of public opinion. There was so much at stake and yet they were afraid to stick their necks out to avoid the tragedy.”

“Everyone stepped up to the plate to fulfill their roles. As the manager, the lesson I learned is to try people out in different things. You never know what they are capable of!”

After discussing the play, the West Africa Fellows and moderators joined the Nigeria Leadership Initiative for its inaugural fund-raising gala and dinner. NLI is an initiative similar to ALI, but geared to a more senior group of leaders from within Nigeria and from its Diaspora in the UK and U.S. This provided the West Africa Fellows with an opportunity to meet some of their counterparts outside of the region and learn about their program and projects.

Day IV – Personal Executive Compass and “ Check-out ”

In this final day, of the Great Values Seminar , Peter Reiling discussed progress on the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) and invited everyone to the 10 th Anniversary celebration of the Henry Crown Fellowship and introduction to the AGLN on June 28-30 in Aspen, Colorado. He also introduced and explained the individual leadership projects and made available the opportunity for those that wanted to participate in a mentorship program.

Keith Berwick then returned to James O’Toole’s The Executive Compass and Fellows did their own personal values assessment, plotting themselves on the compass. They agreed that the tool helped to inform varying leadership approaches given the different contexts. They discussed the tension between good hearts and good intentions and lack of action or solutions. “If we could decentralize our governments more and allow for more participation in the process, it might help our countries to move from the extremes ,” offered one Fellow.

They were sometimes surprised by what they learned about themselves: “I have discovered a hidden disdain for the capitalist and efficiency and, as a result, have realized that I have rejected a system that would help me do a lot more if I moved from my extreme ,” confessed one Fellow. “I am a community person; yet I am far along the efficiency axis. I realize that the only way I can achieve my community goals is by being more efficient ,” said another.

The final reading of the Seminar was Plato’s Republic , in which Plato describes a scenario where a prisoner is in the dark cave, chained, and can see only shadows and reflections. Therefore his reality is an illusion. When he comes out and sees the light, he feels sorry for the people chained below and is compelled to return to “enlighten” them. Plato was describing his belief in the human capacity for learning and the potential for good and evil. He went on to discuss servant leadership. The group agreed that Plato’s ideal leader is somebody who is well schooled and leads a balanced life, is slightly reluctant to lead, appreciates wisdom above power and money, is willing to get his or her hands dirty, and not lead from on high. “Be nice to those on your way up, they will be the ones you meet on your way down ,” warned one Fellow. “ When you become the big boss, be careful not to alienate people. Remember to stay in touch, go into the cave ,” added another.

Keith, concluded by suggesting that Fellows seek to build into their leadership the best of Aristotle, Plato, Milton Friedman and others they have read, as well as what each has told one another. “The best of your generation is required in the spirit of what we have discussed here: true wisdom, compassion, communitarian aspirations, liberty, love, and spirituality. We are all a microcosm of the problem and the beginning of wisdom is to realize that each of us and the world has a darker side. You have to build into your stock of wisdom the ability to see the virtue in those who believe things you find obnoxious and somehow reconcile yourself.” This Session, as all sessions, concluded with the personal “ check-out.” The following are a few excerpts (see Appendix E for additional notes on “ check-out ”):

“I want to integrate more fun into all aspects of my life, dedicate twenty percent of my active time to my family and to knowledge, make Access Bank a model for good corporate intervention, use my association with the Global Fund to address HIV/AIDS, advocate on enlightened leadership using my platform. The retreat and fellowship has been more important to me than I could have realized and I want to thank you. ”

“I am intrigued by the pursuit of the good society. I like what we are doing and the kind of dialogue we are having. It is humbling to know that the time to do this is now. If you can’t do it in family or at work, where can you? I am committing to self improvement because I don’t want to do damage, because of what I don’t know. I will be looking to family, work, and community to institute change .”

“I want to launch the “Read Ghana” campaign, galvanizing resources and media attention toward getting more people to read. The knowledge base in my country has weakened. I want to broaden my scope of reading outside of personal development. I want to write two books for the younger generation. I also want to befriend my children more in the year ahead. ”

“I want to thank all of you. You have helped me to understand that I will always be restless and searching. I am going to use my public platforms to reach a wider audience and share the idea of values-based leadership and, I hope, trigger a debate on the search for good society. I would also like to keep the Ghana class meeting together more regularly. I will also work on the Ghana-Nigeria relationship.”

15 APPENDIX A: The Africa Leadership Initiative/West Africa The Global Values/Executive Seminar Defining “The Good Society” November 29-December 3, Abuja, Nigeria Moderators: Keith Berwick Peter Reiling Wednesday, November 29, 2006

5:00 – 7:00 pm Opening Reception and Dinner

7:30 pm “The Good Life Well Lived” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics and Rhetoric Defining the “Good Society”

Thursday, November 30, 2006

8:15 – 10:15 am Personal “Check-in”

10:15 -10:30 am Coffee/Tea Break

10:30 – 12:30 pm Introduction to the Executive’s Compass Liberty Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (b), Chapter V Karl Popper, The Open Society and its Enemies

12:30 – 1:30 pm Lunch

1:45 - 3:45 pm Liberty William Graham Sumner, The Challenge of Facts F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom

4:00 – 5:30pm Equality Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract Harriet Taylor Mill, Enfranchisement of Women Horace Mann, The Importance of Universal, Free, Public Education

5:30 – 5:45 pm Introduction to Group Exercise : Sophocles, Antigone

5:45 – 7:45 pm Group Rehearsal : Antigone

8:00 pm Dinner

16 Friday, December 1, 2006

8:15 – 10:00 am Equality Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto Arthur M. Okun, Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff

10:15 – 12:30 pm Community Thomas Jefferson, The Merits of Agriculture Rachel Carson, Silent Spring E.F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered 12:30 – 1:30 pm Lunch

2:00 – 7:00 pm Group Rehearsal : Antigone

7:30 pm Dinner

Saturday, December 2, 2006

8:15 – 9:45 am Efficiency Plato, The Republic (Book II) Simon Bolivar, The Angostura Address

10:15 – 11:45 pm Efficiency Friedrich List, The National System of Political Economy Peter Drucker, A Century of Social Transformation – Emergence of Knowledge Society and The Coming of Entrepreneurial Society 12:15 – 1:15 pm Lunch

1:45 – 5:00 pm Group Rehearsal : Antigone

5:00 pm Presentation and Discussion of Antigone

8:00 pm - Gala Awards Dinner with the Nigeria Leadership Initiative

Sunday, December 3, 2006

8:15 – 10:15 am Leadership Projects Mentors The Executive’s Compass 10:30 – 1:00 pm Plato, The Republic (Book VII) Personal “Check-out”

17 APPENDIX B : Attributes of a Good Society for Nigeria and Ghana

Basic needs are met Good food, company and discussions Access to education Citizens can thrive Good institutions Access to education Growth Excellence Values and ideals Equality of opportunity Social justice Self development Liberty/freedom Happiness Law and order Capital not concentrated/access to capital Basic infrastructure, electricity, roads, hospital, Good living trains Security No discrimination Peace Wealth is shared, equity Community Justice is not arbitrary Accountable leadership Responsible citizens Social and economic mobility Fairness “Green” Sustainable Clean Appealing to the soul Spirituality Religious freedom Beauty Pursuit of knowledge to extend the human frontier Temperate weather Intelligence Tolerance Courtesy Respect Pride Supportive Care Innovation/creativity Abundance Principles Higher learning Intelligence Adaptability Greatest good for the greatest number Greatest happiness for the greatest number Inclusive/leaves no one behind

18 APPENDIX C: “ Check-in ” “I selected 18 disadvantaged 3-10 year olds to teach basic reading and writing in Northern Nigeria. Since I began, all except the two 3-year olds can read simple sentences and do basic math. I am now in the process of registering with the state and local government to formally open a school for the underprivileged. I now feel more confident and more willing to explore different things.”

“I tried to change my leadership style which is difficult in a traditional place. As a result of this experiment, it has taken longer to achieve our goals, but I am seeing results. In my “check-out” last time we met, I made a commitment to do something about HIV/AIDS. I am now helping one person, though I wanted to do more.”

“This year has been the most challenging year for me, both professionally and personally. I have been under a lot of pressure from politicians to find answers and to tighten borders overnight. My issue was to look at illegal migration, in particular to the risk side that illegal migration poses to individuals involved. Twenty thousand Africans have died trying to cross the Mediterranean. I am working with a filmmaker, interviewing potential migrants, and publicizing the risks in the newspapers.”

“In my ‘check-out’ I said I was going to work on the Jack Stack example of leadership from the Challenge of Leadership Seminar. I worked with my managers’ financial knowledge and opened up the books. Just when I was beginning to see results, I found that we were losing 50% of our business. We agreed to reduce our own salaries and everyone is stepping up and finding more business. As a result we are recouping some of the loss.”

“I said I would clear my plate of unfinished business. I gathered all my publications and submitted my paperwork for promotion. I will finish with one of the four books I have been working on in January. I went on my first professional interview since the 1980s and was chosen to work on a four country study on mental health. I also said I would work on depopulating the psychiatric hospital and began working on that. I brought in students to work in the hospital. It was rewarding to see how many people wanted to volunteer and the hospital’s excitement about the interest. We are just taking it one day at a time with our children, and our marriage is a joy.”

“I promised to do something about HIV/AIDS, which I started by incorporating HIV/AIDS awareness and training through my network of beauty salons. I also delegated more to my team. We managed to train in 64 salons and have put together a training team to expand that reach. Two hundred people have graduated from our institute, we have provided scholarships to 10, and we are starting an on-line program. On the personal side, my son is getting married, my daughter is in University, and I am home with my husband. We are not doing badly.”

“I have been speaking of, writing about, and promoting a knowledge-based society. I indicated that I wanted to continue that on a bigger scale. We donated some books to Mairo’s education project. On the professional level, we began sharing info on our accounts and opening our books. Initially there was panic in the industry about how much information we were sharing. But we managed to implement a salary adjustment. I am excited about the new level of emerging leaders I am seeing in Nigeria that are doing amazing things. Personally, the family is doing fine.”

“I am on the tipping point of either systemic failure or success. I have attempted to improve the lives of as many people as possible supporting street girls getting into fashion, supporting three university students, helping my sister set up an AIDS foundation, and helping a previous benefactor to set up a business. I have been taking on loads of speaking engagements. I sit on many boards and I see lots of problems everywhere. On the family front, I have 13-year old triplets so, as you can imagine, balance is a challenge. Marriage is also a challenge. The long and short of it is I am still trying to find myself. I need to take a step back and choose my real path.”

“Our first meeting in Akosombo was a defining moment for me. Since then I have really reflected on my life and I have become more focused. In terms of my professional leadership development, I attempted a more open model and have allowed the lawyers in my office to run the show. It has been difficult because advocacy is a personal confidence driven trade and clients want to deal with me, but I have been promoting my associates to them. Now, I am finding a lot more space for myself while the law practice is growing. I am doing a lot more pro-bono work and am trying to incorporate it into the practice in a more systematic and strategic way. I am also using my speaking engagements to create awareness about HIV/AIDS and I completed the village library project. And I am spending more time with my family .

“On the business front, we have accomplished a lot of things that we have never done before. On the volunteer front, an ex-colleague set up a career counseling center and I have offered my time. Personally and professionally I have learned to say ‘no’ more often. As a result I have managed to get less busy. I am prioritizing and maintaining a better balance between work and life. My children are doing very well. I have a teenage daughter and my husband has been very supportive of all my travels.”

“I have almost completed the personal business plan I promised I would write. Just writing out the elements has already been very beneficial for me. With respect to the ‘Youth Leadership

20 Program,’ I have people line up who are willing to put the money down but I just need to finish the concept paper. I have been working together with my son to come up with and work on a social cause. He was to develop the concept himself, but has been very busy in school and preparing for college, so it has been slow. I committed to step back and let him figure it out. On a personal level, things have been very difficult. I am physically, mentally, and professionally tired. I feel overwhelmed by everything around me. As a result my family has been suffering. ALI has helped me to know what I should be doing and I am taking the steps to get there. I was trying to put everything right before the end of the year to get my plan going.”

“I am both trying to seek a mentor and to mentor others. This is a work in progress. I am growing the business, working on employee development, and am in the process of raising money. I am facing major challenges in that department. Home has been very exciting. My wife was in Syria helping with refugees from the Israel–Lebanon conflict, so I was responsible for the house. I had to get home early, help my kids with their homework. Also, my mother lost two of her siblings in a space of a month which was very difficult. I learned a lot by going through that. I am more appreciative.”

“I am planning for my succession by identifying the people who will take over for me and giving them more responsibility. I am aiming for the end of 2007. I am the management sponsor for a women’s network mentoring younger women in the country. I am also managing the diversity- related activities at my work place. I have become more involved in “Child Life Line.” We held a meeting with government, policy-makers, and the Ministry of Social Welfare to come up with a strategy to address the problem of street children in Victoria Island. There are at least 10,000 children on the streets of Lagos. Government agencies made the least useful contribution, but they heard what we had to say, and a relationship has been established between our NGO and the Ministry. On the family front, everything is fine. My daughter got a first from Oxford, and my son is preparing for his exams.”

“I began developing a leadership training program. I put a good team together and we have a draft of the course on business and financial literacy. I found four representatives from all the northern states to start with. My wife and I also selected leaders from youth organizations from 18 states and put them through a six-day course. I am also working on interfaith and ways of achieving peaceful coexistence. We have been invited to do these courses in Qatar, Sri Lanka, and Bahrain. I started to work on my health and lost 3.5 kilos. Since ALI I have become more conscious about leadership and begun to read more on the subject. On personal fronts I have been able to spend time with family. We went on a one-week holiday to Egypt. I shared the ALI readings with my wife and we both really enjoyed going through it together. I am spending more time enjoying my two-and-a-half year old son.”

“I said I would do two things—try to get my party to start changing the way it thought and go back to help a school I came across in a small village that needed a lot of assistance. I have been doing both, but the party work has been more successful than the school. I decided not to make a frontal attack on the party, but work from the background, like Monnet. I went to them one by one to explain what I was talking about and many agreed. When my paper was published no one came to attack me. I feel things are beginning to change. The school project is more ambitious than I originally thought so it will take more time. In terms of my style, I have become

21 less autocratic. I have since realized people need to be committed and to come to an understanding so they will want to get things done. My children are a challenge. My daughter thinks everything is negotiable so I spend a lot of time negotiating. I try to spend a lot more time with my sisters than I used to. We are working on expanding my father’s farms. Akosombo set me on a new course. Everything is not perfect. But it is a work in progress.”

“Jack Stack and Monnet and others that we read in the first seminar have been very instructive in my life, particularly in a culture where mediocrity is almost celebrated. I have tended to do a lot of things by myself and I have tried to stop doing that. Children and youth education are very dear to my heart. We are ensuring that 3,000 children will have access to computers. I am having fun with my son. I try to either drop him or pick him up from school every day. I am working as Chairman with a foundation for orthopedics and complex spine problems that brings doctors from the U.S. It has treated over 3,000 patients.”

“Akosombo had a really big impact on my life. I left in crises mode asking myself whether I should go out and conquer the world, and develop myself as a more enlightened leader. Today, I am a really different person. My eyes were open but I couldn’t see. Now I can see more clearly. When I came back from Akosombo I shared my experience with my management team. At each team meeting we discussed leadership. I have also scaled up our corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The company signed a global compact on business integrity and we developed a code of ethics internally. This year’s MTN marathon theme will be “Running against AIDS.” We have also partnered with other organizations to drive social good. Personally, I am really tired. I need more balance and I am looking forward to taking a break at Christmas.

“When I left our last seminar I wanted to build a powerful platform for change and create a road show for our university campuses. The challenge was finding resources to take what I was doing to the next level. Then I was invited to a meeting on communications in Aspen, Colorado which showed me how to use technology to achieve my goal. I worked with twelve people to develop a campaign to promote civic participation and democracy. We began working on development, leadership, sexuality, health, and the purpose of life. Then we began to ask if we could use technology for advocacy and for intervention for democracy. We are starting with five thousand students at a time. They register to be members of an online community. The program is called “It is not about me. It is about us. ” We plan to roll it out next year before the election. I started writing a blog. I am also working on a program called ‘Chain of Hope’ to address rape and provide medical and legal support to victims.”

“I was humbled by certain things in the program. It seemed well and good to talk about these leadership ideas, but you have to measure them against where you are in your own life. At home there was lots of joy, but at work I was not personally satisfied. Having been to the seminar, one of the things I did was to take feedback to the office and share the materials. I also asked why we couldn’t create a good community at the work place. If you can’t do it small, how will you do it big? We are a Christian society, so why aren’t these values expressed in our lives? I thought about Lee Kwan Yew and how to implement some of these things where I am.”

22 Appendix D: “Check-Out” and Personal Statements

“I will complete my personal business plan and work on improving personal productivity, including speed writing and typing. I will set regular times to read self development material, take time for my self, my family and my marriage, and work on spiritual development. I will also complete my project description for the youth leadership initiative and share the comments.

“I am seeking more balance in my life and in some of my beliefs. I am finding the need to readjust some of my positions. In terms of projects, I would probably try to find ways to translate some of what we are learning to others, but I am not sure of the medium yet. I wish to expand this knowledge base.”

“I plan on expanding my spiritual community. I would also like to work with Mairo on her school and with Funmi on expanding a sense of community.”

“I will complete my research on peaceful coexistence and see what cooperation we can have with Leap Africa in the North of Nigeria. I would also like to work with secondary and tertiary schools. I would like share some of the Aspen materials and pledge to send them to at least 15- 25 people in key states.”

“I would like to formalize the structures of the properties our father left me and my sisters and create an agricultural company. We have finished the consolidation stage of restructuring in my own company, and the first two quarters of next year will be critical so I will be dedicating a lot of time there. I would like to consolidate the Aspen Seminar and the Salzburg Seminar into a seminar for women to seek how women can work together toward change. There would be themed discussions, readings from both seminars to get Ghanaian women to think about what they can do to change Ghana and also to help less privileged women and younger women in universities. I will try to hold the first seminar in February and the next one in June. I invite the women in ALI to be present and the men in ALI to support us. Additionally, Ghana will be 50 next year. I would like to start a dialogue on our identity and who we are as Ghanaians, using radio, television, and the mail.”

“I would like to incorporate values in my teaching. I will teach ethics to medical students, will include Plato readings, and strive for excellence while gaining balance. I will continue to enjoy my marriage. I will also read for 15 minutes before going to bed.”

23 to do damage, because of what I don’t know. I will be looking to family, work, and community to institute change.”

“I learned that I need to pay more attention to my health, reduce my working hours, spend more time with my husband, and cut down on my traveling. I will continue to upgrade the beauty salons I run and make HIV/AIDS prevention my focal point, by making it basic and easy to understand and training the owners of the salons to start that discussion.”

“I would like to read more, create more balance in my life, and focus more on what I am doing. I want to do more mentoring of other people and to formalize how I do it. I would like to narrow and focus my corporate social responsibility work and create more impact by scaling up. The two areas that I want to focus on are HIV/AIDS and rural access to telephones. As captain of ALI Nigeria, I want to ensure we meet more regularly.”

“I have had health problems in the last six months and have been living with chronic pain. I want to work on addressing this problem which has been hampering me for some time. I would like to continue this partnership with my brothers and sisters from Nigeria and Ghana. I have been thinking about running for Parliament for my village in 2008. I will make a decision on this by the next time we meet.”

“My goal is to build good leaders from my sector, which is technology. We don’t have small or medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria, and no one is funding them. I have already started the discussion as I am part of a presidential committee on how to grow and Fund SMEs. In my own company, I have been training people and am bringing people in from outside to train them, which is freeing me up to do other things. I am trying to make more time for family.”

“I will continue developing my projects with some acceleration. The first is a legal aid scheme to persuade other lawyers to take on legal aid cases, work on civic education, and public interest litigation. I hope by May to have incorporated that into my practice. The second is the rural library project. I am working on completing the building, and replenishing and stocking the library. The third is to start an international private school which will offer a third of its slots to brilliant but needy students.”

“I would like to work on personal fitness. I plan to be more efficient in my use of time and try to better balance work and outside interests. When I create that additional time, I also plan to do more reading. In my work with Child Life Line I would like to establish at least one additional drop-in center in Lagos, to reach a much larger population of street children, put them in touch with relatives, provide them with access to basic education, and help those that we can to achieve a better life. At home I plan to work with my son to ensure he gets good grades this year.”

24 “I want to thank all of you. You have helped me to understand that I will always be restless and searching. I am going to use my public platforms to reach a wider audience and share the idea of values-based leadership and, I hope, trigger a debate on the search for good society. I would also like to keep the Ghana class meeting together more regularly. I will also work on the Ghana- Nigeria relationship.”

“I will try to become less insular, reach out more, stop pushing people away, spend more time with my younger sisters and my daughter. I will also expand my circle of friends to be around more people that will help me to grow. I am going to work on separating my work from my life and create a better balance between the two. I never allowed myself to be mentored, so I will reach out to mentors. I am going to streamline my project and focus on building a community of young people. I will make the Nigeria meetings!

“I will stop accepting engagements and meetings on other people’s agenda and will focus on spending more of my time on my own agenda, the national agenda, and the good society.

“I am going to work on being on time. I am always late. I feel my time should always be occupied and I am always busy, but I need to free up time to do more community work. I am a teenage counselor in my church and I need to find more time to do this and extend this beyond my church. I need to use my position to find resources to help the youth. I also owe it to my colleagues to share what I have learned at ALI and to find avenues to provoke further discussion on these issues.”

“I commit to setting a determined number of days that I will get home before sunset to spend more time with my family. I want to continue developing my leadership skills, to become more effective in my corporate life. I feel there is so much more to know. I commit to reading at least four books from The Executive Compass ’s recommended readings list. I want to work on reform of public servants, and am thinking about how to get them involved in the process. One avenue may be “open book” forums.”

“I am going to focus on being a mother. I am going to focus on only the best in whatever I do, but especially in my work on opening my school. I am going to strive to be more assertive and refuse to pay for bad work, take bad advice, or miss opportunities.”

APPENDIX E: Summary of Evaluations 15 identified themselves as working for a private company, 2 for an NGO, and 2 for a government agency.

Pre-Seminar Questionnaire: Seventeen out of twenty-one Fellows turned in questionnaires

1. Fourteen Fellows believe that West Africa can guarantee equality for its citizens without stifling the economic freedom of the business community. Only one Fellow outright disagreed, saying their leadership and institutional problems make it difficult to guarantee equality. One said West Africa should not be in the business of guaranteeing equality, but should provide equal opportunity. Another said it would be desirable to have both.

2. Sixteen agreed that Africa can have both economic growth and maintain community values. Only one disagreed saying the process that fosters growth will have an impact on the environment and traditional communities.

3. Sixteen also said there are government policies that hinder income and job creation. Only one Fellow disagreed. Among the policies mentioned were; corruption, over regulations, government monopoly, government interference in the economy, tax and banking policies, over taxation, and unlimited access to West African markets.

4. There was consensus that West African political, economic, or social culture hinders competitiveness on global markets. Some of the reasons given include centralization of power, frowning on prosperity, instability, poor planning, inequality of women, lack of vision, breakdown of the education system, acceptance of mediocrity, authoritarian political stance resulting from years of military rule, lack of infrastructure, poverty, fear of change, corrupt institutions, and socialist leaning governments.

Post-Seminar Questionnaire : Nineteen out of twenty-one turned in the questionnaire

1. All nineteen wrote something about their vision of a good society. The following are some of the highlights: Freedom, justice, and equality; leaders are accountable; appropriate portions of liberty, equality, community, and efficiency; greatest happiness for the greatest number; equal opportunity for all; fairness and justice; poverty is reduced to the barest minimum; gap between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is reduced; basic needs are met—food, shelter, health care, good education, and basic utilities.

2. Seventeen Fellows said they plan to make changes in their professional or personal life as a direct result of this seminar. Some of the changes mentioned: mobilize and motivate other, focus on health, do less so I can achieve excellence, improve the quality of courses and seminars I conduct, use the Executive Compass as my guide, more efficiently fund my dream, read more, seek balance, seek wisdom, make an impact through my personal project, be more accommodating and more tolerant of others.

26 3. Most influential readings in order of times mentioned: Plato (8), Okun (4), Aristotle (3), Friedman, Drucker, and O’Toole (2), Hobbes, Locke, Kaldhun, Bolivar, Rousseau (1).

4. Compared to other seminars Fellows said:

• deals with different areas of personal leadership development, • participants were very knowledgeable and interactions were extremely beneficial • learned a lot from the facilitators • more thought provoking • more challenging of personal values • nothing like this • team building and personal sharing is fascinating • reading and discussion puts this above other seminars I have attended • increased trust • more intense • model is unique • moderators are excellent and Aspen method and ideals are highly commended • provokes thought and actions to address numerous challenges we face in our countries, politics and businesses • outstandingly better • stimulates and requires greater thought and reflection • intensely and intensively meaningful and purposeful

5. Comments/suggestions for improvement: extend the seminar for one more day, allow for more time to explore readings, include more readings based on the African perspective, send the readings earlier, and the schedule was too fast paced/no time to catch one’s breath – trade a little efficiency for community.

27 APPENDIX F: ALI INAUGURAL WEST AFRICA CLASS – BIOS

GHANA

Adelaide Addo-Fening (38) Adelaide is the Regional Programme Director for West and Central Africa of the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) – an international development Agency. She progressed from the position of Programme Officer with VSO Ghana in May 1996 to her current position at VSO International. Adelaide is responsible for the management of six country offices including Cameroon, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Her duties include the provision of leadership and strategic guidance to Country offices on the development and implementation of programs. Adelaide is currently pursuing an MA in Democracy, Governance and Law and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Arabic. Adelaide was awarded membership to the Order of the British Empire in May 2004 by the Queen of England as an Honorary Officer of the British Empire. She currently serves on the steering committees of the DFID ‘Rights and Voice Initiative’ Fund and the World Bank Small Grants Program. She is married with three children.

Elizabeth Adjei (45) Elizabeth is the Director of Ghana Immigration Service and is the first female in Ghana, to be appointed Head of Ghana’s Immigration Enforcement. She is responsible for determining strategic direction, policy and managing the development of the Ghana Immigration Service in accordance with legal and international requirements. Elizabeth has been involved in managing large-scale international public sector restructuring projects over the past years. She has a Masters degree in International Development (Dev. Policy) and was also the Coordinator of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Programme. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences from KNUST. She also has a Diplome d’Etudes Français from the Université de Benin, Lome, Togo. Elizabeth’s hobbies include organizing charity activities for deprived people, health promotion for women, aerobics, and fund raising.

Roland Akosah (48) Roland O. Akosah is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of ENO International, a firm involved in farming, information technology, commercial real estate, pharmaceuticals and financial services. He holds an MBA from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania (1989) and Bachelor of Arts (Economics & Statistics) from the University of Ghana (1984), respectively. Prior to striking off as an entrepreneur, Roland had professional experience at IBM, United Technologies Corporation and Sallie Mae, an education finance company, all in the United States. He has traveled extensively around the world. He and his wife, Pearl Akosah (a management consultant) live in Accra with their son, Nyamekye. He likes discourse on public policy; he enjoys reading, especially poetry.

Grace Amey-Obeng (49) Mrs. Amey-Obeng studied Beauty Therapy initially in the United Kingdom and proceeded thereafter to the United States of America where she studied paramedical aesthetics at the Aesthetic Research Institute of California. She has pursued several certificate courses. These include a Certificate in Beauty Therapy Level 3 from the Profile Aesthetic Institute, England, and certificates in Dermabrasion, Electrolysis and Lymphatic Drainage Micro Pigmentation -- all from Newlands Hospital, England. She has also taken several refresher courses with Alan Roy Aesthetics and Skin Science College in South Africa.

She serves as a Member of the Board of Trustees to the Millennium Excellence Award Foundation. She also serves as an Organizing Committee member to Technoserve’s Believe Begin Become, National Business Plan Competition by Google Foundation. She is the Managing Director of FC Group of Companies, which comprises: FC Skin and Beauty Klinik, FC Cosmetics Industry, FC Institute of Beauty

28 Therapy, FC Perfumery and Cosmetics and Beauty Scope Magazine. She is the first Ghanaian Beauty Specialist to come out with a full range of make-up -- color cosmetics. Mrs. Obeng is the franchise owner of the FC Cal (Bank) Franchise Scheme, and the initiator of the Free In-Salon-Training; which is a move to upgrade the profession and know-how in the beauty industry nationwide.

Harriette Amissah-Arthur (48) Mrs. Amissah-Arthur holds an MBA (Finance) degree from the University of Ghana, Legon and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology also in Ghana. In 2004, she was appointed the Director of KITE - a wholly-owned Ghanian Energy and Environment non-profit organization. She, among other endeavors, led KITE’s participation and contribution to the drafting of the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) White Paper on Access to Energy Services in rural and peri-urban areas. Mrs. Amissah-Arthur worked with the Volta River Authority (a Power Generation and Distribution Utility) for over 17 years where she served in various capacities. She established Kallidad Enterprise, a wholesale African Textile distribution business in 1995 and remains the proprietress to date. She is a Partner of Arthur Energy Advisors, an advisory services firm that provides professional technical expertise and support to project owners, developers and investors in Energy Sectors across Africa. Mrs. Amissah-Arthur served for several years on the Council of the Ghana Institution of Engineers and had special responsibility for Women in Engineering (WINE).

Kofi Ankama Asamoah (43) Kofi holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). While in KNUST, Kofi was involved in the Students’ Representative Council and National Union of Ghana Students. From 2001 to date, he has been the Chief Executive Officer of Cleaning Solutions Ltd. Prior to that, he worked at Unilever Ghana Ltd. Kofi ended his nine-year career in Unilever as Head of DiverseyLever Division. Kofi also worked in manufacturing, customer service, marketing, quality assurance and product development departments. Kofi is a Director of Gem Crafts Ltd. Kofi worships at the Accra Ridge Church. From 2002 to 2006, he served as a member of the church council, in charge of Couples and Neighborhood Fellowships and continues to be a member of the Evangelism Committee. Kofi is a member of Joyful Way Incorporated, a group committed to the gospel of Jesus through contemporary gospel music, especially to the youth. Kofi has been in the group for 31 years starting from his secondary school days in Mfantsipim School. Currently, Kofi is also the National Coordinator for Fruitful Ministries International, to improve marriages and family life.

Yofi Grant (48) Yofi is Executive Director of Databank Financial Service (investment banking) and Chairman of Databank Brokerage Limited. Yofi has over 15 years experience in banking and finance. Prior to his joining the Databank firm as Associate Director, he was at Cal Merchant Bank in a number of capacities including Head of Capital Markets. His experience includes treasury, financial restructuring and management, divestiture and privatization as well as equity, debt and project finance. Yofi has developed excellent relationships with major participants in the domestic financial markets and also with international fund managers in Europe and the USA, thereby acquiring extensive distribution capability.

Yofi has on several occasions had live interviews on CNN and BBC on the Ghanaian on African economies. Yofi was honored this year in March by the Metropolitan Trenton African American Chamber of Commerce and the State of New Jersey for promoting and facilitating business between Africa and African Americans and Africans in the Diaspora. He served with the UNDP as a consultant in 2001-2002 on the Africa Asia Business Forum. He is Chairman of Ghana Telecom One Touch Limited and Databank Brokerage Limited and a Board member of the Advisory Council for the Ministry for Private Sector Development of Ghana, a Member of the Special Presidential Council for Ghana Asia Business. He also served as Chairman of the Listing Committee of the Ghana Stock Exchange, a member of the Governing

29 Council of the Ghana Stock Exchange from 2000 to 2004. He is a Board member of xdsData (credit referencing company) in Ghana and a number of private companies in Ghana. He is an adjunct lecturer at the GIMPA Executive MBA course, the National Banking College and the West African Institute of Finance and Economic Management (WAIFEM). Yofi holds a B.Sc in Psychology and studied for an M.Phil in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Ghana Legon.

Yonny Kulendi (42) Yonny Kulendi is a graduate of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon with an LLB. (Hons). He completed the Ghana School of Law where he obtained a Barrister of Law (B.L.) and a Solicitors Certificate and is a member of the Ghana Bar. He underwent pupilage at the law firm of Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co., Accra. While undergoing pupilage, Mr. Kulendi was assigned to the Legal Aid Board, Accra, for his post call National Service. He continued as an Associate Barrister and Solicitor at Akufo- Addo, Prempeh & Co., until 2002 when he founded the law firm of Kulendi@Law, a commercial, litigation and constitutional law practice of which he is the Managing Practitioner. Kulend@Law currently is made up of nine lawyers with diverse interests and specializations. Mr. Kulendi also holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) in International Security & Civil-Military Relations from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, USA.

Djabanor Narh (43) Djabanor Narh is a consultant by profession. He has many years of management consulting experience to his credit and has led many consulting assignments for major local and international clients in both the public and private sectors. His areas of expertise and specialization include: Institutional Strengthening, Program Management, Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. He has played a leading role in the establishment and management of local consulting firms. He was also instrumental in leading the merger of one with Ernst & Young, Ghana where he is presently a Partner. Djabanor also acts in an advisory capacity for a number of corporate and non-governmental organizations. He has worked for International Professional Services firms as a Management Consultant in Europe and Africa. Djabanor completed his education in Ghana and the UK, Brunel University (Applied Computer Systems) & Henley Management College (Modular MBA).

Albert Ocran (37) Albert Ocran is Chief Executive of Combert Impressions, Ltd, a cutting-edge printing company based in Accra, Ghana. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Ghana, Legon and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). Albert lectures part-time in Entrepreneurship and Strategic Planning and serves as a motivational speaker and leadership consultant. He plays an advisory role to a number of business organizations. Albert is married to Comfort, with whom he has three children. Together they have authored three books, 10 Commandments of Success , Go and Owe No More and Building Your Dream Business .

Angela Lamensdorf Ofori-Atta, (45) Angela has taught and practiced as a clinical psychologist at the University of Ghana Medical since she graduated with a doctorate from the University of British Columbia in 1992 where she was a commonwealth scholar for six years. She has a Bachelor Degree in Psychology and Zoology from the University of Ghana. Since her teaching career began, Angela has introduced new courses to the curriculum of both the departments of Psychiatry and Psychology in Ethics and Professionalism. Between 1994 and 1998, she was part of a team that set up mental health services in the most deprived region of Ghana; the Upper West Region. She also set up and ran two volunteer organizations: Youthwatch for AIDS which taught 10,000 pupils about HIV/AIDS, while the other volunteer project renovated the children’s ward of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and brought young volunteers from Holland and Ghana to stimulate the patients on the ward. Angela served on boards of various non-

30 governmental and civil society organizations working in the area of democracy and good governance. These included the Centre for Democracy and Development, the Busia Foundation, and the Ghana Integrity Initiative. After seven years of teaching, Angela entered into the world of politics as a Deputy Minister for Manpower Development and Employment. In less than two years of government office, Angela expanded a government project of skills training and employment placement (STEP) of 2,000 participants to 30,000, and is acknowledged for making employment a cross-cutting issue of the development strategy for Ghana in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy. Out of government but continuing in active political life, Angela worked on President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s 2005 election campaign both in Liberia and in West Africa. She has since been part of an ILO mission to Liberia to assess employment issues for a nation now emerging from conflict. Currently, Angela continues to teach at the medical school while pursuing her civil society and political interests. Angela is married to Ken and they have three children, Katakyie, Ohemaa, and Nana Yirenkyi.

Michael Quarshie (39) Michael Quarshie is a co-founder of Persol Systems Limited -- a leading software, systems integration and IT Consulting Company in Ghana. Michael has an MBA from INSEAD, France and a BSc (Hons.) in Biochemistry from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He has a breadth of diverse experience ranging from living and operating a gold mine in the tropical rain forests of Ghana at age 25, white goods merchandising, cocoa and fruit farming in the northern part of Ghana and a stint as a Life Sciences Equity Research Associate at WestLB Panmure (London, UK). Michael is no stranger to the challenges that local businesses face in an ever increasing global economy, but he believes sub- Saharan Africa can compete with their global counterparts. He is convinced that Ghana can create a globally competitive economy but realizes that it will require commitment and the swift execution of a well-planned national competitiveness strategy. Michael is a co-founder of a not-for-profit organization (Foundation for Liberal Democracy-FOLD) in Ghana, which promotes classical liberal democratic thinking as an alternative to traditional economic and social paradigms that have yielded minimum success in Africa. He is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Hanna Tetteh (39) Ms. Tetteh holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Ghana, Legon and also completed the professional law course at the Ghana School of Law. She is currently the General Manager (Administration) and Company Secretary of Ghana Agro Food Company which is an integrated agro processing company situated in Tema, producing a variety of products for the Local & International Markets. She has other interests/functions apart from her daytime job. She chairs the sub-committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI). She is also a National Executive Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which is the largest opposition party in Ghana. She is a Director of Accra Hearts of Oak Football Club, and is a Director/Shareholder of Awutu- Emasa Rural Bank where she is working together with the new Board to restructure the bank’s operations. She is also currently pursuing an EMBA program at the University of Ghana – Legon. Previously, she was a Member of Parliament on the ticket of the NDC representing the Awutu-Senya Constituency in the Central Region. In parliament she was the Minority Spokesperson on Gender & Children, and Deputy Spokesperson on the Judiciary. She was also a Member of the Committees of Finance, Subsidiary Legislation, and Defense & Interior. Prior to entering Parliament, she worked with Ghana Agro Food Company in various Management Positions. She also worked briefly with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice as a Legal Officer, with the law firm of Ansa-Asare & Co., and did some Legal Aid Work with FIDA (International Federation of Women Lawyers).

31 NIGERIA

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede (39) Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede is the Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank Plc. Under his leadership, Access Bank Plc has emerged from the 65 th position in 2002, when he joined the bank to rank among the top 10 banks in the Nigerian banking industry. During the course of his professional development, Aigboje attended several business schools and institutes including, the Citicorp Institute of Finance, Euromoney Capital Markets Bootcamp, IMD Lausanne, Switzerland and Harvard Business School. He is a law graduate of the University of Benin and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987. Okechukwu Enelamah (42) Okechukwu Enelamah is the Chief Executive Officer of African Capital Alliance. He has a wealth of experience in private equity gained in New York and Johannesburg from Zephyr Capital and South Africa Capital Growth Fund. He also worked at Arthur Andersen and Goldman Sachs. Okechukwu is a medical doctor and qualified Chartered Accountant. He received an MBA from the Harvard Business School and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Funmi Iyanda (34) Funmi Iyanda is recognized as the queen of Talk Shows in Nigeria. With over ten years experience in the broadcasting industry, she currently hosts the popular morning talk-show “New Dawn with Funmi Iyanda.” Funmi has received several awards for broadcasting, as well as for her philanthropic efforts in education and health. Funmi has a Bachelors degree in Geography from University of Ibadan. She runs the Change-A-Life scheme which has 50 children from single homes on a 5-year scholarship. The scheme also runs a help scheme for women in need and mentorship for disturbed youth.

Omobola Johnson (43) Omobola Johnson joined Accenture 17 years ago, rising through the ranks to become the current the Country Managing Director for Nigeria. She is also a leader of WIMBIZ, Nigeria’s Women in Business Organization. Omobola holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester and a Masters degree in Digital Electronics from King's College, London.

Nurudeen Lemu (35) Nurudeen Lemu is the Assistant Administrative Secretary and Welfare Projects Inspector of the Islamic Education Trust, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. He also serves as the Assistant Director and Research Supervisor, Da'wah Institute of Nigeria. He is the Technical Advisor, Nigerian Environmental Society Niger State and Adviser to the Voice of the Voiceless Network, Minna. Over the years, Nurudeen has served at the Liberian Refugee Camp, Ogun State, Nigeria; International Islamic Charitable Organization, as well as at the Noor Al-Houda Islamic College, Sydney, Australia. He holds a Bachelors degree in Agriculture from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and an M.Sc. in Resource Management from Edinburgh University, U.K.

Muhtar Mansur (46) Muhtar Mansur is the Director-General of the Debt Management Office. He is also a member of the Economic team of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Over the past two years, Mansur has worked closely with the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to negotiate significant debt reduction for Nigeria. Prior to joining the Nigerian Public Service, Mansur has worked in the World Bank Headquarters as a Senior Economist for 8 years and taught at Bayero University, Kano. Mansur received B.Sc in Economics from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and an M.Phil in Economics and Politics of Development from University of Cambridge, Kings College, Cambridge. He has a Ph.D in Economics from University of

32 Sussex, Brighton. He has also has received certificates in Macroeconomic Policy and Management, and Managing Economic Reforms in Periods of Political Transition from Harvard University.

Amina Oyagbola (45) Amina Oyagbola is the Corporate Services Executive for MTN Nigeria Communications ltd., and is a member of MTN’s Executive Management team in Nigeria. She also serves as the Executive Director of the MTN Foundation. Amina, who has extensive experience in the banking and oil industry, is a member of several associations including, the International Bar Association, the Nigerian Bar Association, Oxford and Cambridge Club and the Nigeria Institute of Management. Amina received an LLB from Ahmadu Bello University, a BL from the Nigerian Law and an LLM from Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK. She also graduated with an MBA from Lancaster University Management School, UK.

Kayode Samuel (45) Kayode Samuel is the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Ogun State. A multidisciplinary communication and public policy specialist, Kayode's work experience spans a period of 21 years in journalism, civil society and Government, with a rich portfolio of cross-sectoral capacity building and human resources competence. He received a Bachelors and Masters degree in Political Science from the University of Lagos. He has worked with the TechnoServe country office in Nigeria and consults for the Ford Foundation office for West Africa.

Florence Seriki (43) Florence Seriki is the Managing Director and founder of Omatek Computers. In 1993, Florence introduced the Omatek brand of computers in Nigeria, and it became widely accepted and used as a result of its quality and ruggedness. She is currently the Chairperson of the Electronic and Telecommunications group of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce and the Vice President of the Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN). She has received several awards for her innovation in the IT industry in Nigeria. Omatek has been recognized as the best Systems Builder Partner by Microsoft for West, East, and Central Africa. The Omatek Company she will celebrate its 20 th anniversary in December 2006. Omatek is the first and only factory in Africa to assemble computer cases, speakers, flat screens from completely knocked down components (CKD). They engage almost 300 locals both staff and university students in gainful employment and technology transfer. Florence received an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and an MBA from the Lagos Business School.

Sally Udoma (47) Sally Udoma is the General Counsel and General Manager of Chevron Nigeria Limited. She began her career in the oil industry 24 years ago at Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd and Société Nationale Elf Aquitaine, Paris. She received an LLB from Kings College, University of London, and an LLB (post-graduate) in International Law from Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge and a BL from the Nigerian Law School.

Mairo Zakari (35) Mairo Ibrahim is the Proprietress of First Steps in Education, Kano. She is committed to teaching disadvantaged children English and Mathematics in Tarauni Community, Kano State, Nigeria. Mairo graduated with a B.Sc. in Economics from Bayero University, Kano. She has returned to school obtain a diploma in education.