08/23/2026
Learning Together at Notre Dame
We were 25 of us, from 20 African countries.
25 Africans meant 25 ways of looking at the same challenge of development in Africa, and how entrepreneurship & innovation could help us design solutions that would work for our different realities.
Aminu, Winnie, and I, came from Nigeria.
Catherine came from Ghana, Jacqueline from Tanzania, Tiyani from South Africa, and Dancan from Kenya.
Then there were Alfred, Malick, Somia, Anousha, and many others you will soon meet here.
Before long, 20 countries were sharing one classroom at the University of Notre Dame ( Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame ) in South Bend, Indiana, USA.
Prof. Melissa Dufficy Paulsen and the team made learning practical and living at Notre Dame community, memorable.
John Pinter turned culture into a game and an exercise, and got all of us talking and explaining the game we couldn’t understand at the beginning; later on, we caught up.
Grace Munene, Eric Love, Jennifer Krauser, Luis Ruuska, and Tom Marentette were part of our Notre Dame experience too. Not forgetting Sunny Shaa, and the "duo" that led us on Design Thinking Simulation sessions.
Also, thankful to Megan, the volunteer that assisted us all in our dorm and equally in the various aspects of our time here. Megan, thank you!
We learned business by trying things out.
Capsim put us inside a business simulation where our decisions produced results we could see and question.
Classes at the Mendoza College of Business, design thinking practical sessions, visits, and conversations continued beyond the classroom at Mendoza Hall, reaching into various parts of the Notre Dame greenly paved university community.
Then we went out to different parts of the United States within the travel space around the state of Indiana, Indianapolis, Detroit, and Chicago, Illinois, and would later make it to Washington, DC, for the summit
Detroit took us to Quicken Loans. That visit was a kind of personal moment for me, recalling how my friend, Dave Okorafor, and I had spent time training undergraduate students in Nigeria in the application of the QuickBook & Peachtree Complete Accounting Software (now, Sage Accounting) as a side hustle for us, having had an early exposure to the life of computing and software applications.
Now I was walking through the operations of a major American financial company. They were different businesses, of course, but I found myself thinking about the distance between teaching business and seeing it in action.
In Detroit, we visited different businesses and innovation centers.
At TechTown in Detroit, I saw how ideas could be supported and developed into businesses. TechTown, sure, I am coming back for a return match of more experience sharing and experiential learning. How and when, I don't know yet, but I strongly believe that one of the Notre Dame forces is going to make it happen.
Still in Detroit, General Motors showed us enterprise at a much bigger scale. At the same time, our experience with the Kresge Foundation brought another view of how institutions could invest in communities and the places around them. I think the idea, concept, and peculiar model of American companies' Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was useful for us to study as emerging private-sector operators in our various countries.
Then came the Motown Museum and a different kind of learning. When the Motown Museum in Detroit is mentioned, one major historical piece that comes to mind is the iconic Michael Jackson (at this point, cameras & mobile phones were not allowed into the (historical) training rooms & dance floors that helped make Michael Jackson).
Motown Museum, Detroit: I am coming back for a better, more detailed historical tour. One of the "Notre Dame forces" will surely make this happen so quickly.
At the Motown Museum in Detroit, we walked into a part of American music history we had known from far away, including the story of Michael Jackson & the Jackson 5.
For a while in the Motown Museum, our learning had nothing to do with business models or balance sheets, CAPSIM, or decision-making 😀.
Chicago brought another set of experiences.
At Google Headquarters in Chicago, we saw another working environment around technology & enterprise.
While at Google Headquarters, Catherine, Cathy Morton wanted to know why the search results she gets from the Google Search Engine when she is in Accra, Ghana, are entirely different from the results she gets now that she is in Chicago!
Catherine, you remember?
But then, Google Headquarters, I am coming back for more applied & hands-on enterprise tech experience.
A visit to Capsim headquarters brought us closer to the people behind the business simulation software & platform we had been using. At the same time, VestedWorld & Wasson Enterprise opened conversations around investment & growing new ventures.
We also spent time at HBCUvc, exploring venture ideas, incubation, and how early support could help an idea grow into a business.
This is one area America is far ahead, leading the world.
Every idea is worth investing in. I mean, every idea, no matter how "stupid" you may think the idea looks or sounds. Uchenna Onwuamaegbu Ugwu - Page STEMQueenAfrique can bear witness on this.
Our encounters with PwC & Accenture added another perspective on how organizations approach business problems, strategy, and ex*****on. Hemant Ramachandra , I haven't forgotten your talk while we were here at PWC.
Different offices, different kinds of work, but each visit gave us something practical to take back into our conversations at Notre Dame.
Now, back again to our "home" in South Bend. South Bend brought us closer to the community that is hosting us.
At Unity Gardens in South Bend, we worked with our hands, assisting in ways we could to help plant the crops.
We also met Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the young mayor many called "Mayor Pete".
He spoke about efforts to bring South Bend back through innovation, hospitality, and diversity, and how bringing people & ideas into the city could help.
Mayor Pete, thank you, and I still have a return visit in view to assess, measure, and see/experience the impact of the community-building efforts & programs you initiated and engineered in South Bend.
And then there was the learning among ourselves. Zeinebou & Pervenche could bring one view to a conversation; Stella, Nancy, and Sibusisiwe another.
Bright Chinyundu & Xolani could talk business & running a marathon on the University campus.
At the same time, Alfred, Malick and Mulku came with ideas around technology, with Mulku especially and always emphasizing & referencing "back home in Africa,".
Florentine, Mulu & Somia had their questions. Lamba, Issaka and Tidiane had theirs. Mouhamadoul Samb, Anousha & Jacqueline could take a conversation "somewhere else entirely."
25 Africans meant 25 ways of looking at a problem!
We lived together, ate together. Traveled together. Disagreed sometimes. Laughed often.
We spoke about our countries & the businesses, communities, and problems waiting for us at home to be solved using one or a combination of the enterprise solutions we are building & developing.
Later, I will recall our conversations at Mendoza Hall at the University of Notre Dame when I think about the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, AfCFTA Nigeria .
Trade & Business Agreements like AfCFTA can make it easier for African countries to trade. But Africans must also know one another.
A business person in Nigeria should be able to pick up a phone and call someone in Ghana, Senegal, Zambia, Ethiopia, Kenya, or South Africa and begin business discussions, with a face to the potential business partner.
Maybe we were practicing a little bit of that already at Notre Dame.
We called it a Fellowship.
We were also learning together.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is the flagship program of the U.S. Government’s Young African Leaders Initiative Network and a program of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
It brings emerging African leaders together for academic learning, leadership training, networking, and community engagement. The experience doesn't end when Fellows return home. Alums become part of the wider Exchange Programs - U.S. Department of State community, while U.S. Embassies ( U.S. Mission Nigeria, U.S. Mission to the African Union) and Consulates across Africa continue to connect Fellows with alum activities, professional opportunities, and one another.
I am Bright Chimezie Irem
Fellow, MWF
Fellow Global Citizen ✨️
