The CEO and Executive Chairman of Smith & Berkeley Advisors LLC, Kris Senanu, has called for less emphasis on academic degrees and greater investment in practical experience and internships.
Speaking at the 2026 Impact Leaders Breakfast, Senanu explained that degrees have been overemphasized in this part of the world, arguing that more often than not, capital is lost or dissipated due to a lack of hands-on experience among people seeking to build their own businesses hence the need for a shift in focus toward building practical, experience-based pathways including structured internships and mentorship programmes that better prepare young professionals for real-world demands.
“I think there is advice to the African leaders who are my age and above that we need to bring our kids into the business much earlier. I think that for me because.I think for the last 30 years we have been focused on educating people academically. We have overemphasised degrees and so especially in Ghana or West Africa we have this thing of walking around oh I have masters from here, I have a PhD from here.
Those are nice and bougie but on the ground people need apprenticeships, people need exposure, people need experience. Most of the founders who raised money and lost money, they lacked the real raw experience.So the advice is to this generation let’s bring in people, let’s intern people, let’s mentor so that they become better captains of industry,” he stated
Senanu also urged business people to lean more toward partnership rather than sole proprietorships, explaining that long-term, sustainable growth and business success can only be built or achieved not through individual effort, but through collective effort.
“People want to end their lives singing, I did it my way. And it’s, all dreams are valid, but long-term strategic visions are executed by teams. That team could be your brother, that team could be your friend, that team could be your uncle, but it is very, if you take the big businesses, I come from a tech background,your Microsofts, your Googles, it was never one person.So I don’t know, understand why people don’t see the reality that if you have to go very far, if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, you go with people, you hunt as a pack.” He added
Senanu also urged Africans to explore other African countries rather than defaulting to trips to the UK or US, arguing that exposing the next generation of Africans to the continent’s beauty and standards builds in them the belief that big ambitions can be achieved right here in Africa.
“We need to expose our kids, not to get them excited to go to US or UK, to get them excited to travel Africa.Yes, just see the beauty of Africa experience, you know, the warmness of Africans and to believe on the continent because I believethose experiences make somebody wake up and say no, I’m going to do it here on the ground.” He added
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