Henry Njoroge, Managing Executive at Vodacom Mozambique, sees big changes on the horizon. As more African executives acquire the training and insight they need to advance, they prepare themselves to take over corporate leadership roles in many of the continent's emerging economies. To enrich his own professional development, he enrolled in HBS's Senior Executive Program—Africa. In this interview he discusses the program's rich content, as well as the exceptional faculty and participants who helped to shape his experience.
This was a chance for me to work with a lot of senior executives in Africa. It allowed me networking time with people in East Africa, South Africa, Central Africa, and West Africa. The curriculum was also excellent. And, of course, the fact that it was being offered by Harvard made it an outstanding opportunity to learn and share with one of the world’s best faculty
It's quite a good thing for us that organizations like Harvard appreciate the leadership gap and leadership training that needs to be done in Africa. There's a change in leadership taking place across Africa, as more Africans take over roles that were previously held by people from other continents. We now have the training, and we have exchanged ideas and networked — so we should be able to take on the continent's leadership challenges and be better leaders.
Yes. The majority of African economies are growing at more than 5% per year. Of course we have our hiccups here and there, but generally the economies are growing quite well. There are a lot of things that need to be done from a leadership point of view, but there's also a lot of opportunity. Africa has a billion people, a huge young population and the land mass is also big and rich.
I loved the program. One reason is that it offered a great opportunity for networking across a broad range of executives. I met people from telecoms, others who were in infrastructure, and others who were running their own businesses. I met people who were in government, manufacturing, and media. Despite the fact that we had different backgrounds, we had similar experiences in common. Another great aspect of the program was its outstanding faculty. Through the depth of their understanding and the way they modeled discussions, they were able to bring out the relevant themes and challenges. The case study method was a very effective way to learn because it didn't provide a solution. Instead, it made us think and come up with all sorts of ideas and approaches based on our realities.
I had in my mind that the participants would constantly be excusing themselves because they are very busy people. But they were actually quite dedicated. If we had a discussion early in the morning or late in the evening, everyone was there. So the dedication of the team surprised me. Also, the quality of the faculty who taught us was quite high. I was impressed when I read about the depth of their experience, the programs they have run, and the books they have written.
Yes, definitely. For example, one of the biggest segments focused on innovation. Before we were even finished, I started thinking about my organization’s challenges. By the time I had returned to the office, I already had done a great deal of the work in my head. So I didn’t even have to wait to implement what I learned.
