Thank you very much. Dean Harrison, Members of the Faculty and the Administration, Family and Friends, and Class of 2019, thank you for inviting me to speak here today.
Class of 2019, congratulations! It is so heartwarming to see you all here today, and I am so pleased for you. Twenty years ago, I sat in this amphitheater with my colleagues from the MBA Class of 1999 as we prepared to start a new phase of our lives. I know how you’re feeling today.
I came to Berkeley with a singular goal: to prepare myself, and to figure out how to establish a successful new university in Ghana. My greater purpose was to contribute towards a transformation of the African continent – and by so doing, help change the world.
I was in my early thirties. My wife and I had just become parents of a beautiful infant when we decided that it made total sense for me to quit a career at Microsoft to set off on this new adventure. Sometimes I wonder what possessed us to set off on this new journey. Sometimes I think that the lack of sleep that we were experiencing at the time, taking care of our baby, affected our executive decision-making abilities.
In fact, a few weeks ago, I suggested to my wife that “we were not thinking properly when we made that decision as a young couple.” I mean, why did we think it was reasonable for me quit my job right after we’d started a family? Would we advise a young couple right after their first child to make the same decision? Would we advise them to set off, to, of all things, go change the world?
Africa was here before we were born. We did not establish the trajectory of the world. Isn’t the universe unfolding as it should as Max Ehrmann claims in his poem Desiderata? Aren’t Africa, the world, and the universe unfolding as they will, with or without us?
Her response was, “Patrick, someone had to do something.” She was right of course, and history is full of stories of individuals and groups of individuals who dared greatly, who sometimes suffered greatly, and who made significant contributions that improved the human condition. But my questions were important too. They are questions about what we ought to dare, and how big to dream. They are questions about privilege and responsibility. They are questions about timing and risk-taking. Questions you should ponder at this transitional point in your lives.
So did my wife and I make the right decision?
I can tell you, Class of 2019, that by making the decision to stop accumulating financial capital for our family at such an early stage in our careers, we closed off certain possibilities. For example, I am in no position today to make a grant to pay off all your college loans on your behalf.
I can also tell you that by making the decision we did, we have positively affected the lives of thousands of students and alumni of Ashesi University; we have changed the trajectories of many families for the better; we have changed the narrative in Ghana about what higher education can and should accomplish for our country; and through the work of our students an alumni, we have positively touched the lives of millions of people in Africa.
Twenty years ago, on my commencement day, I knew I had made the right choice to come to Berkeley. Here, my dreams of establishing a university in Ghana were nurtured by colleagues and faculty who believed it could be done.
By the time I graduated, I had a business plan for Ashesi University, developed by a team of MBA students who worked with me on it, and sharpened by the advice and feedback of faculty and venture capitalists who generously took their time to review it.
A member of that team, Nina Marini, joined me as co-founder of the new university.
I had curriculum, designed by faculty members here.
I had conceptual drawings for Ashesi’s campus, developed by a team of architecture students here.
Most importantly, I had clarity about how I would go about the daily, weekly, monthly and annual tasks to get Ashesi University up and running. In just two years, members of this community had helped me set the stage to establish a new university in Ghana.
Because of the running start I got here at Berkeley Haas, Ashesi University enrolled its first students, a pioneer class of 30 students, just two and a half years after my commencement day.
The past year has been one of remarkable effort and growth for Ashesi. We added 5 new campus buildings as our enrolment exceeded 1,000 students. We were finally taken off the Government of Ghana’s private university supervision programme and granted full rights by the President of Ghana to operate independently. We became the youngest private university to receive this recognition. It has also been a year of reflection for me, about my journey as a university founder.
Nearly every week, students come into my office to tell me about their dreams for their careers and their lives: Goals they hope to accomplish; businesses they hope to build; problems they hope to solve. And every so often, I find myself thinking, “Wow! These students are more ambitious and more driven than I was when I was their age!”
This is as it should be. They belong in the universe -- in Max Ehrmann’s words, “no less than the trees and the stars”, and their dreams and ambitions belong here too.
As I reflect on the aspirations of my students, and see the accomplishments of Ashesi’s alumni, I see that my decision to move back to Ghana, was just as it should have been. That my finding Berkeley, at a time when all my classmates were also arriving here, was all a part of this unfolding. That the decisions I made for my life at that time, were decisions the universe intended for me to make.
Ashesi started here; and I recognize the fact that there are not very many other places where it could have. We all had hope that it was going to be a remarkable institution; but it has exceeded even our loftiest dreams. The commitment of the students, staff and faculty on our campus remains one of the most uplifting things in the work I do; and I have experienced the joy, and the peace, that comes from serving a people and community that I care deeply about.
At Ashesi today, I see echoes of Berkeley. In our classrooms and in the curriculum we teach; in the values we share – from honesty and integrity at the highest level, to the open embrace of equitable access to opportunities for learning and development. I see echoes of Berkeley in how our community works, and in our corporate culture. I see echoes of Berkeley in the ambition of Ashesi’s people and leadership. Ashesi University continues to grow and become stronger each year; each academic quarter brings its own successes and learning, as well as its own difficulties to navigate and overcome. It is all unfolding as it should.
Sitting here today, many of you will have questions. Where do you go next after this milestone in your lives? Which career opportunity should you pursue next? Should you go ahead and start that business as you intended? Should you stay here in the U.S, or move back home and contribute your skills to a cause you believe in? These are often tough questions; and tough questions don’t have easy answers. But I encourage you to take your next steps from Berkeley with confidence. I am certain that your best years, regardless of where you are at in your life at this moment, are still ahead of you.
When you made the choice to apply to Berkeley; when you got that offer of admission from the Berkeley admissions office; whatever choices you have made over your time here, good or bad; whatever friendships and relationships you have built here; whatever co-founders you have met here; all those things are exactly as they should be.
Be willing to accept the lessons that your life and work will teach you moving forward. You will soar. You will stumble sometimes, but you will recover stronger and wiser. Through it all, you will find and create beauty.
Remember Berkeley Haas. Question the status quo. Have confidence, without attitude. Be students always. And look beyond yourself, always focusing on the bigger picture.
Godspeed, Class of 2019. I wish you all the best in the days and years ahead.