In Conversation with our CEO and Co-Founder, Elizabeth Dearborn Hughes
“At the end of the day, our mission was to give women economic empowerment, and men will be our allies in that process.”
As part of our recent Insta Live series, Akilah alum Allen Ingabire interviewed our very own CEO and Co-Founder, Elizabeth Dearborn Hughes. It was an insightful discussion about entrepreneurship, leadership, and resilience in the face of challenges.
Catch up on the recording here, or read highlights from their conversation below.
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Allen: As the Co-Founder of one of East Africa’s pre-eminent educational institutions, what are the key factors that have contributed to the success of Akilah since opening in 2010 and how does launching a co-ed college align with your vision for transformative education?
Elizabeth: The big part to this was my lack of experience and understanding of higher education. When my husband and Co-Founder Dave and I started Akilah, we were only 23. We started working on it and because we didn’t know how traditional higher education should be done we had the freedom to innovate, create and design something that made sense to women in Rwanda and something that’s not copying and pasting from other continents or cultures. I think sometimes being a young, naive entrepreneur is actually a big advantage because you look at things with a different perspective than someone who’s been in that field for so many years.
Secondly, we’ve been so fortunate to have many people who understood this vision and believed so much in the importance of supporting this empowering community. They took our idea and brought that to life. Now I am thinking of Aline Kabanda, who transitioned her role from being a President to now being on our Advisory Board. She had been with us for eight years and when she joined the organization it was so small, we were still at our first campus, we had two classrooms and Aline was one of the key people that was able to take this idea and bring it to life. There are so many others who contributed immensely that I could’ve never accomplished just as a solo entrepreneur. It has really taken a huge community of people to bring it to life including our students and alumnae.
I think if ten years ago, Dave and I had taken our idea to any other country in the world other than Rwanda it would not have been nearly as successful as it has been. I think that the vision that Rwanda has for the economy, specifically the role of women, is unlike any other countries at this time in history. Working with people over the last 14 years in the government who also believe in this vision made it possible and they were instrumental in our success. When we opened in 2010, we launched our first program in Hospitality and Tourism Management, not because we were experts in that industry, but because it was one of the strategic priorities of the government. We took the lead from the government’s vision and we created a community that supports that.
Allen: Our academic programs are centered on five key pillars: Personalized Learning, 21st Century Skills, Innovation, Sustainability and Ethical Leadership. What are the leadership qualities that you see as critical for students to develop for careers today and in the future?
Elizabeth: After 10 years of building the education model for young women in Rwanda, based on those five pillars that you just listed, and seeing the transformational impact and incredible success that our alumnae have had, and reaching this milestone as a women’s college, we realized a few years ago that extending access to young men was really an important part of our mission and our belief that accessible and affordable higher education is really a human right.
Our thinking about opening a co-ed campus started when the First Lady of Rwanda, Jeannete Kagame, asked me six years ago: “What are you doing for young men?” At the time, I was just so focused on how to make Akilah succeed and we were so young. But she was right, she recognized that we built something that should be extended to young men. I think that conversation really planted the seed in my head because then I started thinking about it more seriously; perhaps when I was about to have a boy. It was about three years later when we made a decision as an Executive Team to start planning for Davis College.
All the work, energy and love that the community has put into Akilah has been so impactful and why wouldn’t we want young men to have that experience? At the end of the day, our mission was to give women economic empowerment, and men will be our allies in that process. So, bringing them to the table and creating an academic environment that is promoting gender equality goes hand in hand with our mission and goals.
Allen: What are the leadership qualities and skills that you see are critical for students to develop their careers?
Elizabeth: I will answer this from a perspective of an employer. We have over 20 Akilah alumnae that are working across different departments on campus and over the last several years I’ve had an opportunity to work with them. What I really appreciate is the leadership skills they have, their confidence, and their critical thinking. They are able to work in any department and on projects that they have never done before and take on big responsibilities. To have the skills, attitude and mindset of saying, “Okay, I’ve never done this but I’m going to make some mistakes and I’m going to learn from it.” Allen, you’re a perfect example for that! There are a lot of projects that you’ve done in the past and I don’t think that you could have ever anticipated during your studies that you were going to be doing that, but you had that foundation and the attitude that you could do any of those things. I think this is what employers look for!
Allen: Being a leader during such turbulent times must be quite stressful. I’m interested to know how you navigate uncertainty and what tips you can share to overcome challenges?
Elizabeth: I think there are two parts of the answer to this. One is more tactical and operational, and the other is mental and psychological. I’ll answer the first part which is tactical and operational. I think the basics of crisis management really comes down to trust and communication. It occurred to me during this crisis that we as a community have high levels of trust, which is a very difficult thing to build and easy to lose. We built so much trust in our leadership and students, which is a great foundation and I think that we were ready to navigate this because all of us were scared and stressed and we didn’t know how this would end but trust helped us so much. I didn’t feel alone and I knew all of our colleagues were committed to trusting each other. We knew that it was important to keep communicating clearly, both the good and the bad. Our culture code principal is Radical Transparency and we have been radically transparent with our challenges and our successes in this organization.
Allen: What has been your proudest moment in the last ten years since Akilah opened and what are you mostly looking forward to in this coming decade?
Elizabeth: Six months ago, I would have answered by saying that graduation has always been my proudest moment because I get to see the joy and pride of the students, their families and the team. It is just the best day of the year for me because all the hard work, exhaustion and collective challenges we have been through as a community pays off.
Today, I would say that the proudest moment was the last few months because of how our team was navigating the crisis. I am so proud of the resilience and commitment and passion that our team and our students have brought during a very difficult time. This has shown us that we have built a strong community. Looking back ten years ago, I used to go to bed worried if we were going to survive the week. The first years of building an institution are very hard and very scary and I used to wonder if we’re going to survive. But the strength of our team and being able to navigate the challenges and scary times like this, it makes me so proud of all the incredible work our team has brought to the table over the last months.
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Stay tuned on our Instagram account for more inspiring live sessions in the coming months!