Dorcas Amoh Mensah | Skoll World Forum Emerging Leaders Story Studio | #skollwf 2017

Curious about why Africa is still wallowing in poverty and under-development, I decided to pursue a Masters’ degree in Africa and International Development to uncover the puzzle and figure out how I can contribute to the change I want to see on the continent as a child of the land. I am a Ghanaian with an undergraduate degree in Business Administration obtained from Ashesi University College. My time at Ashesi, liberal arts college, unlocked unparalleled opportunities for me which helped me build enormous passion for Africa and its development as well as heightened my interest in social impact. Over the past four years, I have been involved in innovative activities aimed at improving rural education (Starfish Aid) and eradicating child poverty and streetism in Ghana (Future of Africa). With exposure to the business and impact worlds through internships with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Camfed Ghana respectively, I seek a career which would combine business with impact to create sustainable solutions for societal problems. I am also very interested in the economic transformation of Africa, transformational education as well as creating integrity-driven and gender-equal societies. Additionally, I would love a career that provides an opportunity for traveling all over the world as a medium of learning how various societies are internally solving global challenges. My time here in Edinburgh has made me realize I am a foodie and has exposed me to the essence of celebrating diversity in the midst of the world’s uproar against immigration and migration. Here, I co-run a mini food-tasting and fund-raising event aimed at introducing the university community to foods from different cultures and various countries each month. It’s my dream that this would enhance collaboration, mutual-respect and love across all cultures and nations. I love arts and craft and have a special attraction to origami. Now in its fourth year, the Emerging Leaders Initiative brings together the next generation of social entrepreneurs from around the world. Selected and supported in partnership by the Skoll Foundation and The MasterCard Foundation, the Emerging Leaders represent the great potential and passion existing in social entrepreneurship’s future leaders, addressing a wide range of issues like energy access in sub-Saharan Africa and the links between corruption and natural resource exploitation. Cohorts are selected from those already demonstrating leadership qualities and making significant efforts to bring social change in their communities. The primary goal of the Emerging Leaders Initiative is to create a tailored learning experience to develop relationships and resources that extend well beyond the Forum that will help grow their impact on the communities they serve. The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship is the premier international platform for advancing entrepreneurial approaches and solutions to the world's most pressing problems. Our mission is to accelerate the impact of the world's leading social entrepreneurs by uniting them with essential partners in a collaborative pursuit of learning, leverage and large-scale social change. Each year, nearly 1,000 of the world’s most influential social entrepreneurs, key thought leaders and strategic partners gather at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School to exchange ideas, solutions and information. http://skoll.org/skoll-world-forum/