Our alumni who are interested and talented in entrepreneurship emanating from their Ashesi courses, are taught the SDGs, especially graduates who are awarded fellowships to the Ashesi Venture Incubator (AVI). These AVI fellows are taught skills in sustainability, sustainable development, how to provide employment opportunities and decent work for employees (SDG 8). They are taught to be resilient, through appreciation of failure and to foster innovation to remain novel and relevant (SDG 9).
One AVI fellow, Edel Togobo an Ashesi alum, the founder of Edelicious Lifestyle & Edelicious Farms (Edelicious Network), offers a platform that supports the adoption of healthier eating habits through convenient menu designs, meal prep packages, and fruit delivery services (SDG 2 and 3).
Another AVI fellow and Ashesi alum, Christian Hakizimana the co-founder of Hakikris farms, packages, sells, and delivers top-quality local rice to customers and retail shops in Burundi, East Africa. He aims to bridge the gap between local farmers and the market and, to serve customers with trusted branded local rice in Africa and the world (SDG 2, 3, and 8).See the link for more https://www.nexti2i.com/ashesi-venture-incubator/ and https://www.nexti2i.com/avi-mentorship-recruitment-programme/
Two major SDGs Ashesi teaches its communities and alumni, include SDG 4 (Quality education) and SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth). Our lecturers, including Rebecca Awuah, and some Ashesi recent graduates, in the spirit of national service, model quality teaching to the teachers of our neighboring middle school, when they volunteer in the schools.
Our students must complete 40 hours of community engagement and improvement as one of the graduation requirements at Ashesi. During this period, our students teach the SDGs to various communities without necessarily defining the SDGs. For example, one student spends time empathizing with street children (SDG 1) in our immediate community to build trust before holding conversations on sex education (SDG 3) and the necessary skills for a responsible and productive life. These skills include critical thinking, problem solving skills, leadership, which are all tenets of a quality education (SDG 4). Another student empowers marginalized youth in the community by equipping them with basic IT Literacy, basic reading and writing skills.
Generally, Ashesi University is known in the community as a model of quality education, and it is our intent and the community’s desire that we impact them with sustainable development.