Hosted by IFC and the Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration
Accra, Ghana, March 1, 2005
– The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, and the Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration today convened the first meeting of leaders from African business schools.
The two-day meeting, which will be facilitated by the IFC’s Global Business School Network, will focus on opportunities to strengthen business education in Africa. The event will bring together business school deans and directors from both Francophone and English-speaking countries. The discussions will focus on issues of accreditation, quality assurance and financial sustainability. Participants also include leading experts from other regions, including representatives of international accreditation agencies. A dinner has been organized to provide an opportunity for the participants to talk with representatives of the local and regional business community.
“This meeting is an important step for African business education. Never before have the leaders of business schools from across Africa come together to share ideas in this manner. We have been very pleased to work with the IFC on this important initiative and we are very grateful for their expertise and support,” said Professor Stephen Adei, Rector, Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration.
“The Global Business School Network pilot projects were launched in mid-2004. We are delighted with the progress to date and look forward to continuing to learn from these initiatives as we work on our plans to scale the network across Africa and into other developing markets,” said Guy Pfeffermann, former chief economist of the IFC and Director of the Global Business School Network.
The conference is one part of four Global Business School Network African pilot programs financed by the IFC. The network harnesses the experience of several of the world’s top business schools in support of capacity-building for African business schools. Strengthening these business schools will deepen and widen the pool of well-trained local managers, who play a crucial role in generating jobs, reduce reliance on expatriate managers, and help stem brain-drain.
The network’s pilot programs are with Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration, Kenya’s USIU, the Lagos Business School in Nigeria, and an all-Africa Training-of-Business-Trainers program run jointly by South Africa’s Gordon Institute of Business Science and Lagos Business School. The network is also helping the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) in support of Ethiopia’s major business school.
About IFC
The mission of IFC (www.ifc.org) is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY04, IFC has committed more than $44 billion of its own funds and arranged $23 billion in syndications for 3,143 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's worldwide committed portfolio as of FY04 was $17.9 billion for its own account and $5.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
