People

Q: What inspired you to establish IDEA4Africa?
A: The nonprofit grew out of the work that I did in Africa while I was at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Babson College, and Wheaton. I’ve been taking groups to Africa and other countries to do work around business planning and entrepreneurship for over 20 years. When I was at Babson, we took more than 50 students and faculty to Ghana each January and ran a competition for business ideas among the high schools in the western and central regions. From selling avocados at school to providing computer support, students took what we taught them and became entrepreneurs.

I quickly realized that to really have an impact, we needed to provide ongoing support and embed entrepreneurial thinking within the local communities. That inspired us to form IDEA4Africa. IDEA stands for “Inspiring Development Through Entrepreneurship and Action.” Right now, we’ve got a great team, including in-country directors in Rwanda, Uganda, and Liberia. In addition to working with youth, we work with people in refugee camps and other economically challenged communities. In many cases, the support we provide to enable people to start businesses of their own is the only viable option for them to make a living.

Q: What is the most pressing economic issue in these countries?
A: The biggest challenge in many countries is access to jobs. So we look at what we can do to help people become more entrepreneurial-minded and create small businesses. That’s what IDEA4Africa is about. It’s not for me to solve your problem. It’s for me to help you identify solutions to the problems in your community.

Q: Why does IDEA4Africa focus on young people?
A: Especially in areas where there are significant economic challenges, if there’s going to be long-term progress made, it has to start with the young people. Social entrepreneurship teaches people to think in a different way, to develop innovative solutions and act on them. It’s not that typical in different parts of the world for students to engage in the classroom through experiential education. But creating that hands-on entrepreneurial mindset among teens is the best hope for significant improvement in areas challenged by poverty and job access [problems].

Q: What have you learned from this work?
A: I’ve learned how much people want education and opportunity. And I think education provides opportunity. We can’t provide that to everybody in the world, but we can provide people with access to some of the concepts of our education system and help them to see the power of education for themselves. We’ve inspired many students to reach for the top. For example, two students from the first seminar we offered in Rwanda ended up at Harvard on full scholarships. Over the years, the number of students we’ve worked with who have gotten into top institutions is probably close to 100, usually on full scholarships. These students are truly amazing in so many dimensions, but I think every one would say that IDEA4Africa ignited a spark that helped them to see the power of education and the way it offers hope and creates opportunity.

Q: What’s the connection between your work in higher ed and social entrepreneurship?
A: Higher-ed institutions are some of the most mission-driven places in the world, since they are focused on providing a social good, education. In every role I had, I was always thinking about how I could meet the needs of the day and develop even more creative solutions to fulfill our mission. Running a higher-education institution is a form of social entrepreneurship. It’s figuring out a model that achieves the institution’s mission and meets the needs of various constituents—all while making the institution more sustainable and impactful. I believe that being an entrepreneur and being a higher ed administrator are different forms of the same thing.

Q: What does the future hold for IDEA4Africa?
A: We plan to expand into other countries. We just did a virtual workshop for high school students in Burundi, which is one of the poorest nations in the world, and which suffers from a lack of access to quality education at all levels. I have a partner who is interested in helping IDEA4Africa to build an even bigger presence there, developing entrepreneurs in all sectors of the economy, but particularly in agriculture. We are also focused on bringing the power of entrepreneurship to many new audiences in economically challenged areas of the world through the use of technology. I also hope to get students and faculty at Fordham involved in this important work, which is so aligned with the University’s Jesuit philosophy. There is so much to do, but it is so rewarding to see how when people join together, so much can be achieved.

Photo courtesy of Keith Nordstrom

Dennis Hanno, PhD, on the power of education and social entrepreneurship

This fall, Dennis Hanno joined the Gabelli School faculty as a clinical associate professor. The former president of Wheaton College in Massachusetts, Hanno is a higher education leader, educator, and social entrepreneur. In 2014, he founded IDEA4Africa, a nonprofit which educates, mentors, and supports young entrepreneurs in several African countries.

Q: What inspired you to establish IDEA4Africa?
A: The nonprofit grew out of the work that I did in Africa while I was at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Babson College, and Wheaton. I’ve been taking groups to Africa and other countries to do work around business planning and entrepreneurship for over 20 years. When I was at Babson, we took more than 50 students and faculty to Ghana each January and ran a competition for business ideas among the high schools in the western and central regions. From selling avocados at school to providing computer support, students took what we taught them and became entrepreneurs.

I quickly realized that to really have an impact, we needed to provide ongoing support and embed entrepreneurial thinking within the local communities. That inspired us to form IDEA4Africa. IDEA stands for “Inspiring Development Through Entrepreneurship and Action.” Right now, we’ve got a great team, including in-country directors in Rwanda, Uganda, and Liberia. In addition to working with youth, we work with people in refugee camps and other economically challenged communities. In many cases, the support we provide to enable people to start businesses of their own is the only viable option for them to make a living.

Q: What is the most pressing economic issue in these countries?
A: The biggest challenge in many countries is access to jobs. So we look at what we can do to help people become more entrepreneurial-minded and create small businesses. That’s what IDEA4Africa is about. It’s not for me to solve your problem. It’s for me to help you identify solutions to the problems in your community.

Q: Why does IDEA4Africa focus on young people?
A: Especially in areas where there are significant economic challenges, if there’s going to be long-term progress made, it has to start with the young people. Social entrepreneurship teaches people to think in a different way, to develop innovative solutions and act on them. It’s not that typical in different parts of the world for students to engage in the classroom through experiential education. But creating that hands-on entrepreneurial mindset among teens is the best hope for significant improvement in areas challenged by poverty and job access [problems].

Q: What have you learned from this work?
A: I’ve learned how much people want education and opportunity. And I think education provides opportunity. We can’t provide that to everybody in the world, but we can provide people with access to some of the concepts of our education system and help them to see the power of education for themselves. We’ve inspired many students to reach for the top. For example, two students from the first seminar we offered in Rwanda ended up at Harvard on full scholarships. Over the years, the number of students we’ve worked with who have gotten into top institutions is probably close to 100, usually on full scholarships. These students are truly amazing in so many dimensions, but I think every one would say that IDEA4Africa ignited a spark that helped them to see the power of education and the way it offers hope and creates opportunity.

Q: What’s the connection between your work in higher ed and social entrepreneurship?
A: Higher-ed institutions are some of the most mission-driven places in the world, since they are focused on providing a social good, education. In every role I had, I was always thinking about how I could meet the needs of the day and develop even more creative solutions to fulfill our mission. Running a higher-education institution is a form of social entrepreneurship. It’s figuring out a model that achieves the institution’s mission and meets the needs of various constituents—all while making the institution more sustainable and impactful. I believe that being an entrepreneur and being a higher ed administrator are different forms of the same thing.

Q: What does the future hold for IDEA4Africa?
A: We plan to expand into other countries. We just did a virtual workshop for high school students in Burundi, which is one of the poorest nations in the world, and which suffers from a lack of access to quality education at all levels. I have a partner who is interested in helping IDEA4Africa to build an even bigger presence there, developing entrepreneurs in all sectors of the economy, but particularly in agriculture. We are also focused on bringing the power of entrepreneurship to many new audiences in economically challenged areas of the world through the use of technology. I also hope to get students and faculty at Fordham involved in this important work, which is so aligned with the University’s Jesuit philosophy. There is so much to do, but it is so rewarding to see how when people join together, so much can be achieved.