Day 8 – “Ending on a high”

Leslie: Meeting John Kufuor was an inspirational experience. The former President of Ghana showed himself a strikingly humble person, taking little credit for the flourishing of the country under his control. His commitment to good governance, and the sincerity of his belief in its importance, were clear, as he spoke about how people all over the world desire to be free. He spoke at length about the requirements for education, reduced taxation for cocoa, and inducements to find oil that helped quadruple GDP over his term as president. It was a fantastic meeting we were honored to have.

At Databank, we met with some of the beneficiaries of the steady, stable governance Kufuor provided. The corporate bankers seemed optimistic about the future of Ghana, talking about how pension reforms would give them lots of new investing business. They struck quite the contrast with their Nigerian counterparts; they seemed to have a more passive approach to growth, and had less of an idea what regulatory agenda they would support.

Finally, out of all the amazing experiences we had, for many of us, visiting  MEST (the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology) was a favorite. Some of us were surprised to hear that a startup incubator existed in Ghana.  But after visiting, we realized the incredible students and teachers at MEST seemed like something right out of the Silicon Valley.  Indeed, speaking to the founders reminded many of us of our entrepreneurial classmates and friends back at home.

When we toured the school and spoke with professors, students, and entrepreneurs, we found that the students are incredibly driven, mastering programming skills in under two years before some of their start-up ideas go on to the incubator stage. And the entrepreneurs in the incubator are spunky visionaries creating companies that are trying to solve global challenges, not just Ghanaian ones.

We were all impressed with the quality of the ideas and the students’ dedication towards executing on them. The eventual vision of MEST is to create the Silicon Valley of Ghana, with only Ghanaian-born entrepreneurs staying in Ghana and creating world-leading companies.  We are eager to see the new companies that are formed, and the positive impact MEST can have on Ghana and the rest of the world.

Andrew: After hitting the delicious hotel buffet a second time, we were on our way to explore Ghana night life.  Our first stop was a low key jazz bar, but that didn’t seem to fit the mood.  Then, we went to a different location in a shopping center which turned out to be closed.  Finally, we stopped at an outdoor bar which I heard was built from a shipping container.  This was a pretty local experience, with small plastic chairs, low tables, and cheap beer that reminded me of drinking on the streets of Beijing.  I’m not sure how it happened but others in the group found a lounge a few blocks away.  The arrival of 30 MBA students who were eager to drink was no doubt the biggest thing to happen on a Monday night for the business owner.  We insisted the music be turned up and got to dancing. 

Our next adventure was heading back to the hotel.  After some drinking at the hotel bar and a few spontaneous Disney songs, a group of us found our way to the hotel pool.  We chatted there a bit and then made our way across the beach to the ocean where we played in the sand and waves - a beautiful way to cap our our Africa adventure.