Announcing the First Cohort of Gurus & Griots Fellows
The yearlong program aims to attract African and Afro-descendent leaders in business, policy, and academia.
Congratulations to the inaugural cohort of Gurus and Griots!, This selective, cohort-based fellowship puts African and Afro-descendant leaders front and center as educators and representatives of IE University.
The selected fellows are:
Akinkunmi AK Akinnola, Senior Manager, Marketing & Communications – Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, Canada
Ayuli Jemide, Lead Partner – Detail Commercial Solicitors, Nigeria
David Harrley, Co-Founder, Managing Partner, and CEO – Third Way Capital, Canada
Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, Executive Director – National Board for Small Scale Industries, Ghana
Raphael Ani, Head of External Commercialization – Wayra UK/Telefonica, UK
Tayo Akinyemi, Consultant – Query Insights, USA
The yearlong program – will address global challenges and help develop and showcase the unique perspectives of the fellows, incorporating their work into the IE University ecosystem. The group of fellows will be divided into practitioners – the gurus with influential ideas or business theories – and academic innovators – the griots who focus on scholarly research and take their name from Africa’s storytellers, poets, and musicians, who known to carry a wealth of tradition.
As Gurus and Griots actively weaves African and diasporic perspectives into course materials and initiatives across the institution, fellows will serve as high-profile representatives of the university, developing academic content, and receive priority consideration for positions as adjunct professors in IE University’s degree-granting and executive education programs. Additionally, Each cohort will form an advisory panel that will be influential in reimagining ways of learning and thinking about business and public affairs through an African and Afro-diasporic lens.
“At the IE Africa Center, where we consider Africa both a continent and a people, our mission is to shine a light on African solutions to global challenges. With the launch of Gurus and Griots, we are inviting African and Afro-descendent leaders to share their experience and expertise with a worldwide community of learners, dreamers, and doers.” Felicia Appenteng, Chair, IE Africa Center.
“We are a global university that values not only equity but also practicality. Weaving the insights and accomplishments of African and Afro-descendant experts and academics into the heart of tour educational experience is not only our responsibility as educators but an opportunity to advance a new model of learning,” said IE University President Santiago Iñiguez.