Nurturing business education in Africa

INSEAD, the leading international business school, is hosting the second annual meeting of the Global Business School Network Academic Advisory Council. The meeting brings together more than 30 business school deans and faculty from around the world for an event centred on the theme ‘Nurturing Business Education in Africa’. The aim is to lay out a precise plan of actions on how leading business school from developed countries can help their African counterparts grow their capabilities. Africa is in acute need of management and business talent that can drive economic and social development, and reduce poverty. Management education can support the development cycle in many ways, for example: 

• Support efforts to build more effective governance among policy-makers
• Enhance general management skills, contacts and resources for local entrepreneurs 
• Build the case for responsible foreign direct investment with policymakers, multinationals and NGOs. 

Africa has several well-respected business schools but they are insufficient in number and do no have the resources to supply business, governments and NGO’s with all the skilled staff they need. 

"As 'Business School for the World', INSEAD has a responsibility to support business education in Africa and thereby help to build the foundation for economic growth and poverty reduction," said Frank Brown, Dean of INSEAD. 

The objective of the meeting at INSEAD is to match commitment from the top western business school in the Network with the needs of African schools and to establish a programme of tangible actions. 

Potential avenues of involvement being discussed at the meeting will include: 

• Experimental fellowships 
• Visits by mentors to teach in African schools 
• Joint case-writing projects 
• Creation of alumni advisory groups 
• Pro bono consulting support to African schools 
• Joint student projects 
• Formal pairings/partnership 

Landis Gabel, Novartis Chaired Professor of Management and the Environment at INSEAD commented: “The challenges that African nations face as they try to improve the welfare of their people are enormous, and those of us who can help, even if only modestly, have an obligation to do so. That is the spirit in which the schools will come together today at INSEAD. We will be looking for practical ways that business schools and their professors can strengthen the capability of African schools to train the continent’s future managers.” 

About the Global Business School Network 

The Global Business School Network (GBSN) helps bring together schools, companies, and international organizations to develop sustainable programmes for management education and training in developing countries. GBSN is the responsibility of the Management Education and Research Consortium (www.mercnetwork.org), a non-profit organisation incubated by the International Finance Corporation, the private sector investment branch of the World Bank Group. 

List of GBSN partner schools

• BI Norwegian School of Management, • Columbia Business School • Copenhagen Business School • Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia Fuqua School of Business, • Duke University • Gordon Institute of Business Science • Haas School of Business, UCLA, Berkeley • Harvard Business School • HEC Paris School of Management • IESE Business School • IMD Business School • Indian Institute of Management • INSEAD • Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University, • Lagos Business School • Lahore University of Management Science, • Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, • London Business School • MIT Sloan School of Management • Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, • SDA Bocconi • Stanford Graduate School of Business • Stockholm School of Economics • The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania • Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth • UCLA Anderson School of Management • Umea School of Business and Economics • University of Chicago Graduate School of Business • University of St. Gallen • Yale School of Management