Page 8 - GENIUS MAGAZINE AFRICA 7TH EDITION

A m I passionate? Initially I tried to run away

from the ALU idea. I pitched it to several
friends and urged them to take it on. But I
couldn’t stop thinking about its potential for
changing Africa?—?the continent I loved so much. I
could also see how it would revolutionize tertiary
education on a global scale. Its game-changing
potential excited me beyond measure. So it definitely
passed the ‘sleepless night’ test.

With answers to all three questions a resounding
‘yes’, I realized that the calling to launch ALU was one
of those 1% moments. I therefore stepped down as
the day-to-day CEO of African Leadership Academy
and have poured my energy over the last two years
into African Leadership University.

We recently launched a revolutionary new MBA
program to develop the leadership skills of African
professionals. The model is working. We’re creating
innovators and entrepreneurs in a refreshing new
way and at a fraction of the cost of existing world-
class universities. Some of the world’s best
employers like McKinsey, IBM, Coca-Cola, and Swiss
Reinsurance are partnering with us, and some of the
savviest investors in the world are funding our cause.
It’s going to be a very long journey. It will take 25–30
years before the 25 campuses educating 250,000
students at a time are fully realized. But I finally know
t
why I was put on earth?—?o develop these future
leaders for Africa and to reshape education for young
people all around the world.

So next time you feel a calling, I urge you to resist it.
It’s unlikely to be your purpose. Ask yourself the
three big questions: Is it big enough? Are you
uniquely positioned to make it happen? Are you
really passionate about it (i.e. does it pass the
‘sleepless night’ test)? If the answer to these three
questions is yes, then you should pursue the calling.
Otherwise, keep doing what you’re doing. It’s all part
of a plan that will reveal itself someday.

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