BANZA
Beau Plan Estate
is a ritzy hideaway in the sugar country
of northern Mauritius where most
tourists cluster. The Moka Range
foothills rearing up behind the estate
make a spectacular backdrop for all the
charming heritage buildings. And on a
pretty day, it is a beautiful place to wait
for someone who is stuck in traffic in
Port Louis.
So when the African Leadership
University, ALU, compassed the estate
like the Mali Empire in West Africa,
it’s like the beginning of a movie. To be
precise, it’s an African version of 300:
Rise of an Empire with Katleho Mohono
as Themistocles.
I revere a capable man who can lead
like Lee Iacocca; especially since he had
to guide me through entrepreneurial
learning.
Why here, why now? Katleho
responds, “Because Africa is changing
fast. The heart of what’s happening in
Africa today is the need for a paradigm
shift in every individual. They need to
realize the power they have, and we’re
making that happen at ALU.” He’s in
a check button-down shirt in shades of
zaffre.
As the incarnation of a world-class
university, he is a leader, a project
leader of the ALU Arts program, and
acts like one: he had today’s meeting
tightly planned weeks before. Today
is Sunday: Monday he is off to work
on redesigning the entrepreneurial
leadership course, which he facilitates,
to optimize the students’ experience and
impact. His other hand is in the mi dst
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of running a three-week orientation
program for the new students, but he
won’t talk much about it.
A young South African who is ardent
about developing people, Katleho
Mohono studied organizational
psychology and human resource
management at the University of
Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South
Africa. That’s not how he enrolled,
though; he was a law major for the first
two years.
“The challenge I started having is that
I couldn’t see myself as a lawyer. For a
good debater and public speaker that I
was, in high school, everyone looked at
me as a lawyer. I was good at law, but I
wasn’t passionate about it.”
You called the shots to drop out then,
I say, having read various biographies
of entrepreneurs and how they love
dropping out of college.
He says, “No.” You switched your
major or took a break? He says, “Took
a break.” Oh, my. I just made an
assumption that he dropped out of
college to start his own business or
organization – but he cuts in: “No, not
at all. I took a gap year and joined the
Volunteering in India project, did a
TED talk program, and later I joined
Fundisa.”
Fundisa is an e-learning platform which
aims to bridge the gap between high
schools and universities in South Africa.