An idea was borne by forward-thinking individuals, of an organization that would support African Business Schools through capacity building, collaboration, and quality improvement programmes of deans, directors, and faculty, became a reality when the Association of African Business Schools (AABS) was formally established in October 2005 and registered as a non-profit organization in September 2007.
In keeping with the basic tenets of support, collaboration, and development, quality programs such as the Research Excellence workshop, the Case Teaming and Writing workshop, and the Teaching the Practice of Management workshop were developed and offered to members. Also, an annual conference for business schools and business leaders, AABS Connect, was offered, and this continues to bring in participants from Africa and further afield. This conference gives thought leaders in management education across the world an opportunity to gather and share thoughts and experiences, as well as express their views on African business education and related matters.
AABS has evolved over the years, and in 2018 it started on a historic journey with the launch of AABS Accreditation, the first-ever African Accreditation for African business schools. This accreditation is based on values relative to the African continent and promises to bring African business schools to the forefront of management education.
Managing Director of Sup ‘Management (Mali)
Lecturer at Strathmore Business School (SBS) and Deputy Executive Dean Executive Education (East Africa)
Prof Lyal White is the founder of research and advisory practice Contextual Intelligence, an Associate Professor of International Business Strategy at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), University of Pretoria, and a Research Associate with the Brenthurst Foundation. In his personal capacity, Lyal partners on various education initiatives from Edtech solutions for small businesses in low-income communities in South African to senior leadership consortia and dialogues around the globe.
A strategic advisor on leadership, strategy and contextual intelligence in Africa and new markets, where he focuses on nuanced approaches to learning for development, his areas of interest and expertise cover a broad range of interdisciplinary fields, with a particular focus on comparative political economy and strategy in Africa, Asia and Latin America and building impactful businesses. He is widely published in news media, academic journals and books, and a regular commentator on radio, television and social media.
With a keen interest in measuring and understanding the complexity and opportunity around context, and how this relates to a global mindset, the way countries, firms and individuals improve their competitive performance balanced with purpose and impact is key. To this end, Prof. White has undertaken various studies and developed indices around metrics of performance and economic progress.
Lyal has lived and worked in South Africa, Rwanda, Argentina, Colombia, Morocco and the US. He is an active board member of the Association of African Business Schools (AABS), to which he was elected in June 2019, and a member of the Growth-Ten Academic Advisory Board.
Prof. White was the founding Director of the Johannesburg Business School (JBS) at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. He has taught at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, Al Akhawayn University in Morocco, Science Po – Bordeaux, France, and the Kelly School of Business - Indiana University. He lectures regularly at CEDEP in Fontainebleau, France, Strathmore Business School, Kenya, and was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at UC Berkeley in the US.
Lyal is committed to purpose-driven business with a deep cultural understanding and impact. The right measures of performance are key. He is of the firm belief that strong institutions and connectedness build community, harnessing long-term prosperity for people and organisations across the globe. The development of people is a crucial part of organisational strategy and vision.
Kamil Senhaji, Joined Galileo Global Education (GGE) in June 2018 as Regional Director Africa, Middle East, Asia and Americas. He is a member of the Group Executive Committee and has the mission of developing GGE in Emerging Countries. Prior to joining Galileo Global Education, Kamil Senhaji served as Business Development Director of JCDecaux then Director of the Executive Committee of JCDecaux Africa and Board Member of several Group Companies. He started his career as an Auditor in 2005 at Carlson Wagonlit Travel before joining JCDecaux in 2008. He has developed throughout his career a strong expertise in International Development, Negotiation and Merger & Acquisition.
Passionate about the African continent, he has also worked extensively in Asia while being an Auditor.
Kamil has been teaching at HEC Paris (Leading business school in France) in 2018.
He is since December 2018 the President of ISM Group a leading Higher Education institution in Francophone Africa (Business school, law school, engineering school and political science school with around 10.000 students).
In 2018, Kamil has been ranked by Forbes Africa and Choiseul Institute among the top 100 young leaders in Africa. He holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from the University of Rabat and a Master Degree in Auditing and Risk Management from Paris V University.
Yasmine SY SARR is currently the Strategic Development and Quality Assurance Director of Groupe Supdeco Dakar, (West Africa) and Academic Director, one the first business school in West Africa, since 2009. She has been part of the development and growth of the institution serving as the Head of International Relations and quality for 7 years, where she developed their international network on four continents (Europe, America, Asia and Africa) an Accreditations.
Yasmine SY SARR holds a master’s degree in international business and Finance from Rennes School of Business in France and a Master of Arts in International Business from the Open University Business School in London (UK). She is currently a Phd candidate in Management. She began her career as a financial auditor in KPMG in Senegal.
For over twelve years, she has been very active on promoting quality assurance and internationalization in higher education in Africa. She is regularly invited in various places in the world to share her experience in quality assurance and internationalization in higher education.
Alongside her work, she was in charge of the sponsorship commission of the Senegalese Tennis Federation for 10 years. She is also very active in humanitarian and women empowerment associations.
"For me , a positive mindset and strong Education are Power"
Professor Ogbechie is the 4th Dean of the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University and Professor of Strategic Management. Prior to this, he served as Deputy Dean of Lagos Business School from 2020-2021 and pioneer Director of LBS Sustainability Centre from 2010-2020
Chris is a renowned business leader, and strategy scholar, having published several papers, literary works and research articles within and outside Africa. He is a visiting professor at the Strathmore Business School, Nairobi, Kenya. He cut his teeth in marketing and business development early on in his professional career across reputable multinationals where he built expertise and experience in core marketing, product marketing, corporate governance and strategic management. He garnered a reputation for leading key regional and international functions in Nestle in Nigeria, Singapore, Malaysia and Switzerland from 1979 to 1990. He was also instrumental to driving remarkable Pan-African business growth for Ecobank Transnational Inc as Group Head of Marketing (1999-2001) before his eventual transition to the academia.
Professor Chris Ogbechie serves on the boards of several corporations and advises governments, conglomerates, and multilateral organisations. He serves on the board of NASCON Allied Industries as an Independent Director; he also currently serves as a Non-executive Director of Palton Morgan Holdings, Health Partners Ltd and Summit Healthcare Group. Previously, he served as Chairman of Diamond Bank (now part of Access Bank) from 2015 to 2018 and as Non-executive Director of Red Star Express (FedEx) from 2014 to 2018. He sits on the Board of the Association of African Business Schools (AABS) and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Network for Advanced Management (GNAM), amongst many others. His research interests are in strategy in turbulent environments, strategic leadership, board effectiveness, and corporate sustainability.
Professor Chris Ogbechie has published extensively in leading journals on international business practices, strategic management, board effectiveness, sustainability, corporate governance, and strategy in emerging and turbulent markets. He is a regular keynote speaker and panellist at various reputable fora within and outside Africa. He has authored and co-authored several books, including: Strategic Marketing of Financial Services in Nigeria (Feathers and Ink Press, 2011); Key Determinant of Effective Boards - Evidence from Nigeria. Germany (Lap Lambert Academic Publishing, 2014); Corporate Governance Toolkit for SMEs in Emerging Markets (Centre for Commercial Law Development Services (CLDS) Press, 2020); and Incorporating Sustainability in Management Education: An Interdisciplinary Approach (with Amaeshi, K., and Muthuri J. N. by Springer Press, 2019), etc.
Industry research and reports he has published include: Africa Sustainability Champions – Volume 1: The Nigeria Casebook on Corporate Sustainability (with Atanya, O. I., Okupe, A. & Ikiebey, G. published by LBS Sustainability Centre (2020); Business and Sustainable Development in Nigerian – The Banking Industry (with Nwagwu, I., Atanya, O. I., Elendu, K. & Obidiagha, J. published by Pan-Atlantic Press, 2019), etc.
He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Brunel University, an MBA from the Manchester Business School, and a 1st class honours Bachelor of Science (Mech Eng) degree from the University of Manchester. He is a recipient of several honours and awards, among them are the Educator of the Year award given in 2015 by the Academy of International Business (Africa Chapter) and Best Paper Award on Corporate Governance in 2007 at the 28th McMaster World Congress in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is also a recipient of several investitures for his exemplary accomplishments in corporate governance leadership, strategic management, and research. In 1999, he was knighted by Pope John Paul 11 in recognition of his selfless contribution to humanity and community development
It takes a multi-talented leader, innovative businessperson and expert in curriculum design to direct Henley Business School South Africa. Dean and Director Jonathan Foster-Pedley has worked in six continents and has over thirty years of global business experience. He is a former airline pilot and senior executive in the European aerospace industry, and has guided and facilitated cohesion and productivity in international and local multicultural sales and marketing and management teams.
He is also an entrepreneur, a leading academic and coach (working as a visiting professor in Strategy, Creativity and Innovation), and a writer and blogger. He is Vice Chair for the South Africa Business Schools Association. Foster-Pedley’s expertise in strategy, creativity, design, thinking and innovation are key features of the Henley MBA curriculum.
He has developed hands-on programmes designed to stimulate innovative business thinking strategies, to increase productivity in the workplace, and to develop self-confidence, self-belief, creativity, proactivity and out-of-the-box thinking. Foster-Pedley has the business acumen, the academic prowess, and the social conscience to direct Henley students so that they reach the full productive potential in every facet of their daily lives.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Development) of Strathmore University
Emeritus Professor at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Cape Town
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Pan-Atlantic University
Chairman, African Management Initiative
Barclays Endowment Chair Professor at the University of Nairobi, School of Business
Founding Director and Sasol Chair of Strategic Management of the Gordon Institute of Business Science
Director, Academic Affairs at HEM Business School
Dean and Director, Namibia Business School
Recently appointed as Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), with effect from September 1, 2021, Professor Samuel K. Bonsu is a Professor of Marketing and Responsible Business in Accra, Ghana.
His research interests are in Consumer Cultures, Socio-Economic Subjectivities in Contemporary Markets, especially as they relate to African and Diaspora experiences that inform theoretical developments.
Prof. Bonsu has taught marketing and consumer behaviour at various universities around the world, including the Bryan School of Business and Economics, the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Simon Fraser University, and the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada.
His works have been published in some of the most respected academic journals including the Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Consumer Culture. He is a past President of the International Society for Markets and Development (ISMD), a society that brings together scholars/practitioners of development. He is a sought-after speaker who has lived and worked in a wide number of countries across four continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America).
Tracy Hauptfleisch joined AABS in March 2016 and is the Secretariat Manager. Tracy has studied through the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers as well as UNISA where she completed the programme in Business Management. She comes with a wealth of administrative experience from both the corporate and NGO worlds. After working for corporate giants such as SABC, Cargo Carriers and Foodcorp she then worked for a number of well-known community organisations in administration, fundraising and programme management: St Anthony’s Educate Centre in Boksburg, Radio Veritas, and the Jesuit Institute.
In this last role, she oversaw the doubling in size of the organization and also coordinated, over a number of years, a national touring lecture programme that brought in professors from Europe, the USA and East Africa and linked to several SA universities. Tracy moved from the corporate world into the NGO field because of her desire for social justice and her passion for Africa, its people and their upliftment.
She first became involved with GIBS through her involvement in the BizSchool programme for disadvantaged post-Matrics; she also pioneered a programme of mentoring and service-learning for undergraduate students from Fordham University New York at the University of Pretoria. Her move to AABS will allow her to see more of the African continent and the people about whom she feels so passionate.
Sandrine B. Tshishimbi is the Accreditation Manager since September 2022 after joining AABS in June 2021 as the Accreditation Officer. Previously, she worked in the office of the DRC Ambassador and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps as the Personal Assistant. She was called to provide administrative support to the Ambassador and the entire Diplomatic corps.
She has also worked as an Interpreter at the Refugee Centre, South African Department of Home Affairs. She studied at the University of South Africa where she obtained a Bachelor of Commerce in Banking and Postgraduate in Risk Management.
Lana Elramly leads the Association of African Business School’s (AABS) operations with a specific focus on the development of African business schools as the AABS Director: Accreditation and Strategy.
Prior to that, Lana has held the position of AABS Accreditation Director since 2018 and, in this time, has overseen the launch of the AABS Accreditation and has provided strategic leadership in planning, implementing and supervising the quality-based AABS accreditation system. In her current role, she has put her experience in higher education, accreditation, and quality improvement in Africa and the Middle East into spearheading a new vision and direction for AABS that will be of benefit to the entire AABS network. Her key responsibilities are to develop a strategy for AABS operations while still continuing to overlook the accreditation process. She is working closely with the AABS Secretariat to design and implement the plans that will benefit all AABS members and she, as leader of the team, is enhancing the association’s performance and capabilities.
Lana graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Global Affairs from George Mason University, USA, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with Honours from the American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt, and has also participated in the “Women in Leadership” programme at Harvard Graduate School of Education. She also brings to AABS a wealth of experience from her tenure of more than ten years at AUC. In her capacity as Manager: Academic Assessment and Accreditation, she, twice, achieved the School of Business its Triple Crown Accreditation with a record breaking three visits in one academic year. Prior to joining the education sector, she worked for the Department of State, Inspector General’s office, based in Washington DC, USA, where she was instrumental in assisting teams with inspecting US missionaries around the globe while preparing requested reports and briefs as demanded by the US Senate.