Coming to Africa
My journey from the continent as a college freshman and my return to it as a university President
One sunny afternoon in July 1991, at age 19, I flew in an airplane for the first time. I left behind Sierra Leone, the only home I had known until then, to attend college in the United States.
It feels like yesterday. The odyssey started as a courageous dice roll 28 years ago at the urging of my mother to enroll at Morehouse College as an international student - with less than half of my college costs secured in a scholarship from the school. The adventure blossomed into an incredible journey spanning two world-class educational institutions, six global companies, 10 cities, and a myriad of powerful and enduring experiences.
One of my unforgettable lessons of the last three decades is that life happens in moments that shape you, for better or worse, and the way in which the moments impact you depends on how you respond to them. I have had my fair share of these moments and am grateful to have experienced each of them on the stops along the way – from nurturing and grounding by family and community as a child in Sierra Leone, to shaping by Morehouse’s proud tradition of producing great men, to hazing on Wall Street, to developing a passion for brands at Gap, to refining the ability and instinct to drive and make change at Harvard, to accelerating as a courageous and transformational leader at Nike, to seasoning as an executive at VF Corporation, to challenging personal mettle at adidas.
One of my unforgettable lessons of the last three decades is that life happens in moments that shape you, for better or worse, and the way in which the moments impact you depends on how you respond to them.
Maybe it was inevitable, but sometime in the last few years, amidst the all-day meetings and corporate debates and transfer flights, I realized I was as successful professionally as I could ever have imagined, but deeply unfulfilled at the same time. I woke up one day and realized how much I had evolved - from the wide-eyed new arrival at JFK Airport to conscientious analyst at Lehman Brothers; from a neophyte of business lore to a peer of accomplished global executives. I reflected on some corporate exemplars whose presence I could not get enough of and the others who challenged credulity in their claim to leadership. It prompted introspection about my own impact as a leader, and with whom and on what I should invest each unit of my talents. It framed my go-forward choices in terms of legacy - to continue toiling forward on the rungs to more professional success or to shift the majority of my efforts to reaching back and enabling other lives that would, in turn, impact more lives.
...I realized I was as successful professionally as I could ever have imagined, but deeply unfulfilled at the same time.
Reflection led to ideation. A brainwave from my wife led to action and earlier this year I took a sabbatical, moving with my family to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, one of Africa’s offshore nations, to serve for six months, as an Executive-in-Residence at African Leadership University (ALU).
ALU is a non-profit, innovative university founded in 2013 to create a generation of ethical leaders and problem solvers equipped to address Africa’s biggest 21st century challenges. The university currently enrolls approximately 1,300 students from over 40 countries on two campuses in Mauritius and Rwanda, as well as a pan-African School of Business.
ALU’s high-quality, low-cost model for the future of learning is unique in that it recruits and enrolls high-potential leaders who can thrive in a peer-supported environment that is student-driven rather than faculty-led. The students are focused on ‘missions, not majors,’ steeped in Africa’s biggest challenges as culled from the global sustainable development goals (SDGs). The experience is focused not on amassing static facts but on solving real-world problems. An innovative income sharing plan is in place to help students finance their education, and through its pan-African profile ALU creates a diverse global network that its students will access for the duration of their lives.
In 2019, Fast Company magazine named ALU the #1 most innovative organization in Africa and #39 on its annual global list of innovators (the only institution of higher learning on the list). The New York Times described ALU as "one of the top places in the world where history is being made." CNN and TIME magazine have referred to ALU as the “Harvard of Africa,” an apt summation of the true promise of the university.
Perhaps it was the compelling nature of the university’s mission on a continent whose time many feel has come. Perhaps it was the abundance of raw talent and boundless curiosity of the students. Perhaps it was the palpable energy of optimism and creativity that drives the faculty and staff. Perhaps it was the track record and momentum of the young university despite its shoestring budget. Whatever it was, it felt great for me to be at ALU and contribute to its mission; it also felt right, like the place and the moment I had been preparing for in the preceding thirty years.
Whatever it was, it felt great for me to be at ALU and contribute to its mission; it also felt right, like the place and the moment I had been training for in the preceding thirty years.
Last June, as I witnessed the first graduation of ALU's inaugural class with their parents, loved ones and the rest of the university family, a part of me walked across the stage with the students, and graduated too.
As it were, ALU loved me back...
The last few weeks, I have been humbled and excited to share that the Board of African Leadership University has appointed me, effective January 2020, the first President of the university.
I follow the 6-year tenure of its Founder Fred Swaniker, who continues, as Chairman of the ALU board and Founder of the African Leadership Group, to drive a bold mission to create three million African leaders by 2035. I have come to know Fred very well over the past year, admire his courage and resilience, and am proud to partner with him on this moonshot aspiration.
I approach this new challenge not as a new profession but as a discovered purpose. Indeed, the opportunity to create lasting impact on many generations of young Africans, thousands of lives in whose hands our future lies. And, in so doing, bringing to bear the best lessons of the career I have been fortunate to have and the life that I have been privileged to live - leveraging the past, embracing the future, pursuing potential, opening to change, accepting leadership, staying humble, helping people, striving always, and seeking and creating healthy environments.
I believe in the power of community and I share this honor with mine – family, friends and professional colleagues with whom this journey has been traveled, from Mount Aureol to West-end Atlanta, from Kuala Lumpur to Berlin, from the Bay Area to the Tri-State Area, and back to Africa - to Kigali and Pamplemousses. This same spirit of community has driven ALU’s success to date and, each day, across the world, well-wishers, the board, donors and partners aid the university’s work in countless selfless ways.
As I embark on my tenure as President and the accepted challenge to build an institution for the future, I welcome the support and visits of you all to our campuses and look forward to sharing the ALU culture of Doing Hard Things with you. Perhaps, like me, you may decide to stay. That would be okay by us :-)
Sincerely,
Christopher O.H. Williams (Incoming President, African Leadership University)