For Abubakar Sulemana, Chief Information Officer of General Electric Africa, being mindful of your day-to-day experiences matter immensely in growing one's career and personal life. On a visit to Ashesi, he shared some of those experiences that shaped his rise through GE; drawing a roadmap from his college days to becoming a part of General Electric Africa’s top leadership team.
“The experiences you have while you’re in college matter," he told the students he spoke with. "Learning to live on your own, making friends and having to survive in this environment; from your classroom experiences to how you relate to people. They all matter. These are basically what you’ll live on in the real world."
Over the past five years as CIO, Mr. Sulemana’s work at GE has focused on driving technology solutions to generate revenue and provide better service for clients through information technology. His work includes guiding GE’s corporate strategic IT programs across the continent, while positioning GE’s IT service as a strategic business partner.
The visit to campus was one of his and GE's continued engagement with the Ashesi community. Speaking across a broad range of his personal career experiences, he shared the value of hard work, humility and staying focused on one’s goals, when building a successful career.
“An Ashesi degree is not an automatic passport to success,” he said. “It is your attitude to working well with people and in leading people– that’s what is going to carry you through. Where you came from and what you have, eventually matter very little. You have to be humble. Your degree is great, but your attitude is priceless. And when you’ve identified your path, you have to be focused. It’s the focus and drive, that will see you through your tough moments. You need to maintain this energy from school to the working world.”
