Removing English As Ghana’s Language of Instruction: Not So Simple (Infoboxx)

My latest column for Infoboxx on proposals to remove English as Ghana's language of instruction

Just a few weeks ago, the Minister of Education, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman, called for Ghana to bid a similar farewell to English as the primary language of instruction in public schools. According to Minister Opoku-Agyeman, English Language instruction hinders the working class from better education. In a forum at the University of Ghana, she cited the example of Korea as a country that used to be on par with Ghana in development but advanced through teaching children in their native language.

While Minister Opoku-Agyeman’s declarations may help instill more ethnic pride and respect for African languages, the link between economic development and instruction in mother tongues is not so simple. Nor is the expectation that instruction in local languages will stir national or ethnic pride.

Read more. 

Shea: Women's Gold (News Decoder)

Take a look at a piece I recently wrote for News-Decoder breaking down the shea industry, and how sustainable business contributes to development.

I knew it was used in cosmetics. But chocolate and medicine?

Before I started working with the Global Shea Alliance in Accra, Ghana, I was familiar with shea as a cosmetic product.

So I was surprised to learn that shea — from the tree of the same name — is mostly consumed in chocolate, and in Africa’s Sahel region it is used as a vegetable oil. Butter from the tree’s nuts is even used as an anti-inflammatory balm and to treat dermatitis.

Shea plays a critical role in West Africa’s economy. In the cosmetics industry, shea is well known for its excellent moisturizing properties and has become a popular go-to for hair and body products.

In the chocolate industry, shea is used as a cocoa butter equivalent (CBE) because it helps prolong chocolate’s shelf life without altering its taste.

As shea’s reputation grows in the food and cosmetics industries, it has the potential to substantially drive regional growth, especially in under-resourced communities, where shea can account for up to 12 percent of a family’s income.

Read more.

Profile in News-Decoder

The News-Decoder team chatted with me about how I got interested in international affairs. News-Decoder fosters global understanding by building a borderless community of young people keen to extend their horizons, learn about international affairs and challenge assumptions.

Check out the full profile here and see an excerpt below.

What international issue is of greatest interest to you today? Why?

I am most interested in sustainability, an issue that is multi-faceted in nature.

Sustainability focuses on crafting a present that leads to a stronger future.

In public policy, I think a lot of the most pressing issues we face today — from the refugee crisis to climate change to the recent Ebola epidemic — are the result of short-sighted policy decisions instead of long-term, sustainable strategic planning.

At the moment, I’m most interested in how sustainability plays a role in the business world and in crafting mutually beneficial relationships between communities and corporations.

I currently work in the shea industry, where sustainability is one of the big buzzwords of the moment.

When women shea collectors, for example, have a more sustainable source of income, companies not only achieve a number of global development indicators on economic empowerment, gender equality and food security, but they also improve their supply chains and incentivize the production of high quality products that attract consumers.

I strongly believe that the private sector has an enormous role to play in crafting a more sustainable future, especially when it comes to poverty alleviation.

Supporting African Luxury Markets (Infoboxx)

My latest column for Infoboxx on supporting African luxury markets

As more African consumers become a part of the global middle class, the continent’s appetite for luxury products grows. While countries such as Egypt and Morocco have traditionally attracted luxury retailers, more companies are setting up shops below the Sahara as the oil, mineral and telecommunications industries boom in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, among other countries. Accra, Lagos, and Nairobi are ranked the continent’s fastest growing cities for dollar millionaires.

Nigeria boasts the world’s second fastest growth in champagne consumption while the never-ending construction of luxury real estate developments in Trasacco, Cantonments and Airport neighborhoods suggest that Accra has more than its fair share of nouveau riche. The taste for the finer things reflects worldwide growth in the luxury market, which reached €224 billion in 2014. 

The luxury industry includes a wide array of products from personal luxury goods such as clothes and jewelry to home furnishings to transport and travel. But when it comes to these goods, where is the source? Many Africans appear far keener to spend money on European vacations and luxury clothes and accessories than to support the growth of high-quality homegrown brands.

Read more. 

The Racial And Generational Politics Behind South Africa’s #FeesMustFall Protests (OkayAfrica)

i recently wrote about South Africa's recent student protests for Okayafrica.

Nelson Mandela famously said, “Education is the most powerful tool we have to change the world.” But he also urged a newly independent South Africa to recall, “if the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government.”

Last week’s images of South African students squaring off against police have brought Mandela’s famous edict to the forefront and, for many South Africans, prompted memories of 1976, the year of the infamous Soweto uprising.

Read more. 

Building Cities Without Slums (Infoboxx)

I'm looking forward to starting as a columnist for Ghananian multimedia publication Infoboxx. Check out my first piece, "Building Cities Without Slums" here. See an excerpt below.

Slums are not a phenomenon of the developing world. As the Industrial Revolution created millionaires in cosmopolitan New York City, London and Paris, it also generated vast legions of urban poor. But with smart policymaking, these cities were able to enhance their residents’ quality of life. Whitechapel, once the poster child for Dickensian London, is now home to Whitechapel Art Gallery. In 1845, Victor Considerant wrote: “Paris is an immense workshop of putrefaction, where misery, pestilence and sickness work in concert, where sunlight and air rarely penetrate.” The Paris of today, a centre of art and refinement, was the product of Emperor Napoleon III and Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s expansive and ambitious public works programme.

With sufficient political will, the same is possible for African cities, where over 200 million people live in slums.

Read more.