Professor Kwaku Atuahene-Gima, the founding president and executive dean of Nobel International Business School, has said that winning a scholarship at the age of 15 completely changed the course of his life.
Atuahene-Gima is the first African scholar to feature among the world’s top 1,000 innovation management scholars; he ranks at number four.
He had a C-score of 4.00 in the world rankings of the top 2% of scientists, published by Stanford University on 16 October 2020. The list places him at 140 out of a total of 36,319 scientists figuring in the top 2% in business and management.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday (27 July 2023), Atuahene-Gima said he was constantly mocked as a country bumpkin when he entered Mfantsipim for sixth form, until he proved he was the best student in English literature and geography.
“At 15, I entered into a scholarship essay competition by the American Field Service and when I won, I was sent to Belgium for a year. That was what changed the entire trajectory of my life.
“When I went to Mfantsipim School, I was constantly laughed at because I was a ‘village guy’. They only stopped when I became the best student in literature and geography.
“What Mfantsipim taught me, to be honest, is humility.
“I was conscious of the sacrifices I had to make because it was tough – my father was a cocoa farmer, and farmers those days did not save, so I faced a lot of financial struggles, especially when it came to paying school fees,” Atuahene-Gima told the ABS.
Watch the full interview in the video clip attached below:
Reporting by Fred Dzakpata in Accra
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