New Era for Tanzania

Tanzania (my home country) has just had an election, with the ruling party winning 80% of the vote. I’m not very much into Tanzanian politics since the ruling party always wins the elections and there is often claims of vote rigging. But Tanzania has something to be proud of, the economy is growing at a rate of 6% per year and there is political stability. As long as the incumbent party continues to do a fantastic job, I am happy. At the moment, my plan is to return to Tanzania permanently after 5-10 years work experience in the west, unless anything happens to change my plans including any bright ideas for a start-up.
I thought I’d also use this spot to talk more about Africans at Stanford business school. We are probably around 10-15 Africans at most across both years and Stanford has recently been talking about pushing more Africans to apply here, particularly direct from African countries, unlike me, who has really come from the UK. There are some hurdles, for those applying directly, for instance the costs just needed to apply to business school are astronomically high when you consider GMAT, application fees etc…We are talking a good $600 if you apply to several schools, this is a barrier for citizens of a country with GDPs of $200. There has been talk about setting up a Stanford fund to help out such applicants, which is a great idea and may be something I may take on, except I’d hate to think how the process would work out in which applicants would qualify for such grants, but a good idea nevertheless- maybe this would work if all the business schools established this and gave applicants the choice to choose their schools, of course this may increase the total number of African applicants applying to business school, not necessarily Stanford. Our admissions office has been “reaching out” by going to visit places like Nigeria and Kenya. I had to laugh and then point out that these were only two African countries, which already see the lion’s share of African applications anyway. Stanford is a small school, and I did not come here for the African community, if I wanted that I would have gone to Harvard (dinged) or Wharton (did not apply). I came here for Silicon Valley, the weather and strength of non-profit offerings. We are just too far out from the mainstream to attract a mass of African applicants. I have noticed that Wharton, for instance, reaches out to African applicants the best way you can- through the internet. Throughout my application process, I have noticed how the Wharton African community have used businessweek MBA forum posts in this manner- we should do the same. Sure, admission trips to African countries are great, but if you want a diverse representation and maximum reach, the internet is you most obvious means to do it.
I think at the heart of Stanford’s plans to get more African applicants, is this drive to be a more “global” business school. This a deep topic, but briefly, I really believe this has to start with the academics (including bringing in more international faculty), and we are so behind other schools, if I wanted global offerings I would go to INSEAD or London Business School. I would guess that most African applicants who would come to business school would want to stay here in the US on graduation, and hence, an American focus on the curriculum is not all too bad, in fact since I came from the UK, that's what I wanted anyway! I fear the pressure of rankings may have something to do with all this. How global a school is may be of increasing importance these days and this is harder for a small school out in California to achieve, for bigger schools, simply diversifying the head count is an easy means to do it.