Patrick Awuah Jr.
Born1965
NationalityGhanaian
CitizenshipGhana
Alma materAchimota School
UC Berkeley,
Swarthmore College
Known forAshesi University
SpouseRebecca Awuah
AwardsMacArthur fellowship

Patrick Awuah Jr. (born 1965) is a Ghanaian engineer, educator, and entrepreneur. Awuah established Ashesi University in 2002.[1] Awuah has won many awards as an individual and as the founder of Ashesi University.[2][3][4][5][6]

Life

Awuah grew up in Accra, Ghana. He attended the Achimota School[7][8] where he was a house prefect. He moved to the U.S. in 1985 to attend Swarthmore College with a full scholarship. He earned bachelor's degrees in Engineering and Economics, graduating in 1989. Following graduation, Awuah worked as a software engineer and program manager for Microsoft from 1989 to 1997. At Microsoft, he met his future wife, software testing engineer Rebecca Awuah.[9]

In 1997, Awuah left Microsoft with the goal of returning to Ghana to educate the next generation of African leaders.[10][11] He enrolled at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, focusing his work on preparing a business plan for Ashesi. Awuah, Nina Marini, and other graduate students from Berkeley went to Ghana to do a feasibility study for opening a private university there. Awuah graduated with his MBA in 1999. That same year, he moved back to Ghana with his family to found Ashesi University.[1][12][13][14] Awuah continues to serve as the president of Ashesi University.[15]

Achievements and awards

John Kufuor presented Awuah the Order of the Volta Award to recognise his contribution to tertiary education in Ghana in 2007.[2] In 2009, Awuah won the John P. McNulty Prize.[16] In 2010, Awuah was awarded 87th most creative business person by Fast Company.[17] In 2014, he received The Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award, which honours UC Berkeley alumni with distinguished records of service to their native country.[18] In the same year he was named best social entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.[19] In 2015, Awuah was listed by Fortune as number 40 in world's 50 greatest leaders[4] and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.[5] In 2017, Awuah was awarded the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) prize, a major global education award.[6]

See also

References

External videos
video icon Education Entrepreneur Patrick Awuah, 2015 MacArthur Fellow, 3:35, MacArthur Foundation[20]
video icon Patrick Awuah: How to educate leaders? Liberal arts, 17:26, TED Talks[14]
  1. 1 2 "History :Ashesi University Foundation". ashesi.org. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  2. 1 2 "Order of the Volta award". Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  3. ↑ "Creating the next generation of ethical leaders in West Africa". McNulty Foundation. 29 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Worlds 50 greatest leaders".
  5. 1 2 "MacArthur Fellowship 2015".
  6. 1 2 "Ashesi University founder wins education award". Graphic Online. 15 Nov 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Ofori-Mensah. "22 Successful Ghanaians Who Went To Achimota School". OMGVoice. Archived from the original on 2017-03-30. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  8. ↑ Awuah, Patrick. "Achimota School @ 80" (PDF). Ashesi University Archives. Ashesi University. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  9. ↑ Maguire, Ken (January 2010). "A New Model of Leadership for Africa". Swarthmore College Bulletin.
  10. ↑ "Building a University, and Hope, in Ghana". NPR.org. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  11. ↑ "Setting Up Ghana's First Liberal Arts College Makes Him A 'Genius'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  12. ↑ "List: MacArthur Foundation 'genius grant' recipients, 2015". San Diego Mercury News. Associated Press. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  13. ↑ Carpenter, John (28 September 2015). "3 Chicagoans among class of MacArthur 'geniuses'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Patrick Awuah: How to educate leaders? Liberal arts". TED Talks. 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Governance & Leadership". Ashesi University. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  16. ↑ "2009 John P. McNulty Prize Finalists". Archive.org. 25 June 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  17. ↑ "Patrick Awuah named amongst 100 most creative people in business". Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  18. ↑ "Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award".
  19. ↑ "Ashesi at a glance".
  20. ↑ "Patrick Awuah". MacArthur Foundation. September 28, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
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