A new project will boost IESE's Africa-related activities at the University of Navarra. PHOTO:

IESE at the University of Navarra has launched The Africa Initiative at IESE, a new project that will bring together and promote the school's various activities related to Africa. Prof. Lluís G. Renart will lead the initiative, with Izabela Kordecka at partnership .

"We aim to provide information and ideas and help coordinate the different initiatives developed by the academic staff, the Chairs, the research centers and all of IESE 's partner schools at the University of Navarra on the African continent. We also seek to think about new projects and programs and provide updates on the activities the school is already carrying out there," explained Prof. Renart.

The main tasks of The Africa Initiative at IESE include coordinating and promoting academic relations with Lagos Business School, Nile University and Strathmore Business School, contributing to the training of African professors, supporting the creation and launch of other associated business schools, and contacting and cooperating with different organizations and entities active or interested in Africa.

In addition, IESE of the University of Navarra also aims to stimulate the presence of the African continent in its programs and academic activities, as well as to collaborate with companies, both those already present in Africa and those considering the possibility of including the African continent in their business strategies.

With this initiative, IESE consolidates its commitment to the future of the African continent. The second edition of the AMP Panafrican Module, a program that brings together executives studying at leading African business schools (Strathmore and Lagos) to experience the possibilities of partnership between the two, will begin next week. In its first edition, the AMP Panafrican Module brought together 58 participants from the East and West of the continent for a joint module of their respective Advanced Management Programs.

IESE also worked with local academics and entrepreneurs to promote the birth and consolidation of the most important business schools in Africa, such as the Lagos Business School (LBS), created in 1995 in Nigeria, the Strathmore Business School (SBS), which was born in Kenya in 2005, and Nile University in Egypt.

In 2006, IESE and SBS launched the AMP Kenya program, whose first class even traveled to Barcelona to take the final module course at IESE 's campus at the University of Navarra. Some of the AMP participants were key government ministers or health advisors.

IESE 's "Inside Africa" program offers practical knowledge to investors and managers with the goal to do business in sub-Saharan countries. "Inside Africa" gives participants a first-hand look at the business context in Kenya and South Africa, although the program's scope extends to the entire sub-Saharan region. Kenya (ranked 72nd on the World Bank's report Doing Business 2008) and South Africa (ranked 35th), present an illustrative contrast between two sub-Saharan countries at different stages of development.

To this end, IESE faculty will partner with professors from Strathmore University and the Gordon Institute of Business Science, part of the University of Pretoria in Johannesburg. The week-long intensive program includes a variety of interactive sessions, company visits and presentations by local experts. In addition, guest speakers aim to reflect all facets of the public and private sector.