4th Curriculum Development Workshop - Africa Values-driven Leadership Development Initiative
On December 4 and 5, ABIS and IBM held their 4th Curriculum Development Workshop as part of its Africa Values-driven Leadership Development Initiative. Supported by ABIS’s corporate partners, IBM, Unilever, GSK, the workshop brought together fifteen faculty members from eight African countries and 6 corporate representatives.
The business schools represented were: Lagos Business School, Nigeria, Ghana Business School, Strathmore Business School, Kenya, Stellenbosch Business School, Graduate School of Business, Henley Business School and University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Facilitated by Mary Gentile, Director of Giving Voice to Values (GVV) and a Senior Research Scholar at Babson College and Senior Advisor at the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program, the two days were spent on developing a short course on Values-based Leadership, Ethical Business Conduct and Sustainable Management. GVV was chosen as the pedagogical approach that would be utilised to shape the course content in all three areas to ensure maximum interactivity, personal development and network-building. Instead of focusing on decision-tools, GVV is an action-oriented approach empowering participants to express what they know is right and to take appropriate action to enact what they believe to be the ethical course of action.
With active participation from corporate members and faculty, the framework for the curriculum was pieced together. Two pilots will be launched in 2016 at the Strathmore Business School, Kenya and the University of Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa in the form of a three-day executive course. Strathmore’s pilot will be an open enrolment offering and Stellenbosch’s will be a tailored corporate offering.
Future plans include the offering of the course in every country in Africa with the intention of contributing to Africa’s sustainable development, reinforced through good governance and values-based leadership.
At the end of the workshop, Celia Moore, Director of IBM’s Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs remarked “I hope we are starting a mutual journey that will achieve a great deal over time, and deliver economic strength for all in Africa through inclusive and enlightened leadership”.
Another example of how powerful a combined effort by corporates and academia can be in contributing to the common good!
If you would like to know more about Managing the Responsible Business Challenge in Africa, click here.
