Ashesi University College, Berekuso – December 15, 2011 - On Tuesday 13th December 2011, Executives from General Electric (GE) Africa hosted an event to announce the selection of Ashesi University College as one of GE’s Executive Schools worldwide.
Speaking at the launch, Mr. Abu Sulemana, GE Africa’s Chief Information Officer, gave a brief overview of GE’s business worldwide and shared GE’s engagement with the African continent. Last year, GE was named Fast Company’s Most Innovative Company, and was ranked by Fortune as one of the world’s most admired companies. Mr. Sulemana (who just joined GE Africa from GE Healthcare in Princeton, New Jersey) explained that GE has identified a need to invest more in Africa, to spur development on the continent and in GE’s business.
The GE Executive Schools, which include the Massachusetts Institute of technology (MIT) and Cornell University, “are selected based on academic excellence and GE’s ability to build a recruiting team with the alumni of the school, among many other factors.” In Africa, Ashesi is the second school (and the first in Ghana) to be selected to join the GE Executive Schools list. University of Dayton reports that almost 70% of GE’s interns and college hires comes from this list of schools.
Mr. Kunle Olaifa, GE’s Talent Acquisition Leader for Sub-Sahara Africa and GE Relations Manager for Ashesi, who also spoke at the event, said that he was very enthusiastic about GE’s relationship with Ashesi. Mr. Olaifa explained that even though it was the second university in Africa GE was partnering with, Ashesi is currently the leader in terms of Return on Investment (ROI) for GE Africa. He further stated that a university like Ashesi, which shared very similar values with GE, was a model for other universities in Africa. Mr. Olaifa also shared his excitement for the Ashesi Honour Code and explained that he had become an evangelist for the system in his home country Nigeria and other parts of Africa. Within the last 18 months, GE has recruited 8 Ashesi graduates, and currently has one student interning with the GE Ghana office.
GE’s partnership with Ashesi will be aimed at talent identification, developing focused relationships and increasing placement for Ashesi’s graduates in GE. The partnership would see a rise in several GE related activities at Ashesi, including leadership workshops with some of GE’s global executives, and would allow more opportunities for Ashesi’s students to intern at GE’s offices. Also, the GE relationship with Ashesi would extend to the university’s alumni who may be interested in working with GE Africa.
From Left: Mr. Kunle Olaifa, Dr. Patrick Awuah & Mr. Abu Sulemana after the launch