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Mfon Ekpo Joins Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia, Others for Harvard’s Africa Development Conference 2023
After a three-year hiatus, the Africa Caucus of the Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard African Law Association kicked off the 2023 edition with its two-day Africa Development conference on the 15th and 16th of April at Harvard, Cambridge
Speakers such as Mfon Ekpo, CEO of The Discovery Centre were one of the many notable speakers that converged to give voice to the theme of the event, “Reimagining Africa’s Growth on Our Terms”.
Other speakers included The Vice President of Ghana, His Excellency Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, Claver Gatete, the new Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Special Adviser to the President of Nigeria on Ease of Doing Business and Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, Ghana’s former Minister for Education, amongst others.
Ekpo an educational consultant and CEO of The Discovery Centre, an award-winning training and development organization joined Prof Opoku-Agyemang who was also the first woman to hold the position of Vice Chancellor in Ghana and Adelaide Siaw-Agyepong founder of the Liberty American School and Executive council Member on the American International School to discuss how Africa could rise to its education challenges and opportunities post the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2023 conference which featured interactive panels and networking opportunities for attendees to engage with experts and leaders on how Africa can thrive in international trade, challenges and opportunities in transitioning to a green economy, focused on the unique opportunities of the continent and the need for Africa to rebrand, reinvent, and reposition itself as a partner of choice in the global market.
Discussing alongside a diverse range of leaders from across the continent, Ekpo, a Mandela Washington Fellow in the pioneer set of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative who was shortlisted by the British Council Awards for Social Impact in Nigeria in recognition of the tangible socio-economic impact of her training and coaching programmes, highlighted the challenges facing Africa’s education sector in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the urgent need to reimagine education on the continent.
She stated that although COVID affected the form and structure of education, it boosted the spirit and the original intent of education which was to draw out, elicit or evoke learning and investigative thinking in solving our continent’s pressing problems.
“Education is one of the core root sources of qualitative leadership hence Africans seeking to change the reality of our people must first play the long game of intentional education; it is stealth in its working, but it is tangible in its effect,” she explained.
The Africa Development Conference is a student-led event at Harvard University that convenes, students, and practitioners to highlight and explore critical issues related to the African continent’s development.
