STANFORD, Calif. & NAIROBI, Kenya--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Building on the success of its program in West Africa, Stanford Seed, the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, has announced the launch of the Seed Transformation Program in East Africa.
In May, the first group of promising business leaders selected by Stanford Seed will gather in Nairobi to begin a 12-month transformational process led by world-renowned faculty from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Aimed at driving sustainable growth in the East African regional economy through private-sector-led development, Seed will train these established entrepreneurs from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Ethiopia, in a yearlong, interactive, educational journey based out of Seed’s new regional center in Nairobi, Kenya.
Seed’s expansion into East Africa is intended to bolster and scale existing businesses in the region. Thirty-one CEOs, founders, and executives have been chosen to participate in the pioneering program. Each member of the cohort was selected based on their leadership capacity and the growth potential of their business. The mission of the initiative is to leverage the innovative and entrepreneurial mindset that is fostered at Stanford to help businesses in developing economies create new jobs, and ultimately, end the cycle of poverty.
Jesper Sørensen, Robert A. and Elizabeth R. Jeffe Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford GSB and Executive Director of Seed, states: “One of the goals for our Seed centers is to help stimulate local and regional ecosystems to bring the Silicon Valley spirit to those environments.” The Seed Transformation Program will address specific regional challenges such as leadership, strategy, value-chain innovation, and most importantly, will deliver an invaluable network of like-minded individuals from the Silicon Valley to Sub-Saharan Africa.
“The SEED Transformation Program opened my eyes on the business potential, the sheer size of how the business can be scaled,” said Tara Fela-Durotoye, founder and CEO of House of Tara, and a past participant of the Seed Transformation Program in West Africa.
Stanford University, located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, is one of the world’s leading teaching and research universities. Since its opening in 1891, Stanford has been dedicated to finding solutions to big challenges and to preparing students for leadership in a complex world. One of seven world-renowned schools within Stanford, the Graduate School of Business delivers innovative, hands-on management education that pairs best practice with advanced theory drawn from rigorous research. Graduates of the business school have founded such companies as Nike and eBay, and lead global organizations such as General Motors, Warner Brothers, General Mills, and AmBev.
Based on the belief that business is one of the most powerful engines of change, Seed is committed to changing lives, changing organizations, and ultimately, changing the world.
