Patrick G. Awuah, Jr.
Founder and President, Ashesi University Patrick
Awuah is the Founder and President of
Ashesi University, a private undergraduate institution that has quickly gained an excellent reputation for innovation and quality education in Ghana. The university, which began instruction in March 2002, is modeled after
Swarthmore University in United States of America and has principal strengths in business, economics and computer science. The key characteristic that defines
Ashesi students is leadership potential, an institutional norm that is evidenced by the fact that a team of
Ashesi students won the
Standard Chartered Bank Innovation Incubator competition in 2005.
Ashesi’s unique learning environment, high quality lecturers and acclaimed advisory board makes it an exemplary model for private sector education in Ghana.
Prior to founding
Ashesi, Mr.
Awuah served for eight years as a Program Manager in the Business Systems Division of
Microsoft Corporation, where, among other things, he spearheaded the development of dial-up
internetworking technologies and gained a reputation for bringing difficult projects to completion. He holds bachelor degrees in Engineering and Economics from
Swarthmore College, and an MBA from
UC Berkeley’s
Haas School of Business. He is married to
Rebecca with two children.
In 2004,
Swarthmore awarded Mr.
Awuah an honorary doctorate in recognition of his leadership in African higher education. He is a fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative, a partnership between the Aspen Institute,
Databank, and
TechnoServe. He is also a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Tau Beta Pi national Honor Society for Excellence in Engineering.
