Stanford SEED team visits Ashesi to explore collaboration opportunities

Stanford SEED team with Ashesi team

A six-member team from the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (SEED), which recently opened its first regional centre in West Africa, visited Ashesi this past week to learn more about the university, and to explore possible areas in which the two institutions could collaborate and learn from each other.

The team was made up of venture capitalist and Stanford alumnus, Robert King, and his wife, Dorothy King, whose donation helped start SEED, Joshua Cohen, Stanford Professor and Apple University faculty member, Garth Saloner, Dean of the Standord Graduate School of Business, and Jo Addy, Managing Director of Alsweb, an advisory service to launch businesses global in scope and socially innovative in orientation.

The team met with Dr. Patrick Awuah, and other members of Ashesi's leadership team, and was positive that Ashesi and Stanford would be able to work together to improve Africa's business environment. According to the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the purpose of SEED's regional innovation center, located in Accra, Ghana, is to fuel economic opportunities, including job creation, by helping strong local and regional businesses expand.

The West Africa hub will host programmes for local and regional entrepreneurs and provide management education by Stanford faculty and long-term coaching by Stanford alumni and other volunteers. Participating companies, whose revenues range from $150,000 to more than $5 million, apply to the programme and are selected by SEED for their potential to scale up quickly and create jobs.