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What does it take to lead in a world shaken by a pandemic?
If you ask the honorees from the Atlanta-based IUGB Foundation’s upcoming scholarship gala, some key traits include adaptability, resiliency and humility. But there are a few others that show up less frequently in leadership literature.
Linda Dempah, CEO of Adeba Nature, says leaders must be “anti-fragile,” meaning that not only do they respond well under pressure, but they actually find a way to benefit from the difficulties that befall them. Think making lemonade out of lemons, rather than complaining about what life gives you.
Ms. Dempeh, whose company is developing modern cosmetics from traditional West African ingredients and wellness techniques, is one of Education and Prosperity Award for Excellence honorees at the IUGB’s Sept. 15 virtual scholarship gala, an online affair that will rely largely on the cachet of its speakers to raise funds for the International University of Grand-Bassam, a university in Cote D’Ivoire.
While it’s a co-ed school, this year’s crop of IUGB awardees includes a few powerhouse women with significant global profiles, and IUGB Foundation Executive Director Amini Kajunju caught up with a few of them to capture leadership lessons that give a taste of the content to come at the gala.
Ms. Dempeh was caught off guard but happy for the recognition that the award provides for her mission to empower local entrepreneurs across Africa.
“Meaning scales, but people don’t, so for me it is all about the meaning; it’s all about what Adeba represents and how it can be replicated by other folks on the continent,” she said.
That’s a similar mission for Erika Norwood, CEO of Atlanta-based Gray Matters Capital, an impact investing fund that helped pioneer the space. Ms. Norwood said impact investors are driven by curiosity and a constant sense for the need to learn. Not only is she building a team around external excellence, but she’s aiming to make her own company the world’s best place to work.
“People do not leave great relationships,” Ms. Norwood told Ms. Kajunju.
Leaders can also fuel hope for future generations, the driving force for former Mauritius President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, who values compassion in leadership and aims to inspire youth by helping them understand history, science and agriculture — a discipline that is vital to Africa and the world but remains under-appreciated as a field of study.
“We cannot deny (youth) a future, and this future can be built on the foundation of quality education,” said Ms. Gurib-Fakim, a professor and biodiversity scientist taking home a STEM and women’s leadership award, told Ms. Kajunju.
Agriculture is dear to the heart of The Jacobs Foundation, which has been working to improve livelihoods and education among cocoa farmers in Cote D’Ivoire and is being honored by the IUGB Foundation with a philanthropy award.
Not least in the lineup is John Nkengasong, the inaugural director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Before taking up that post, he served as deputy principal director of the U.S. CDC’s Center for Global Health. He has been in the thick of Africa’s response to COVID-19, an experience he outlined in a recent discussion with the World Affairs Council of Atlanta.
To see awardee bios and the agenda or buy a $25 ticket to support the university’s scholarship fund click here.
To learn more about the foundation, contact Amini Kajunju at akajunju@ugbfoundation.org or visit www.iugbfoundation.org.
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