IESE Business School

IESE and Africa

For many years, IESE has been actively dedicated to helping foster management development in Africa. Through its work with the Lagos Business School (LBS), in Nigeria, IESE has helped prepare managers in both the private and public sectors through workshops, seminars and exchanges.

Each year, for example, participants in LBS’s Executive MBA participate in a residential module on IESE’s campus in Barcelona. The project has had far-reaching effects, not only in terms of providing support to managers in Africa, but also toward keeping IESE faculty informed on the most pressing issues that affect business leaders in this critical part of the world.

IESE has also collaborated with Strathmore University (Kenya) to help launch their business school. Since 2008, participants of the AMPs from Strathmore and Lagos business schools attend a joint, one week long module, at IESE in Barcelona. This week enriches the learning process and the participants’ networking opportunities. All the participants are senior executives.

IESE supports the Institut des Hautes Etudes (IHE) of Ivory Coast since its foundation in 2003. The objective of this school is to improve the decisions' quality of business executives from Ivory Coast and other French-speaking African countries. Various IESE professors collaborate with the IHE, educating and orientating the school through their Academic Committee. Some of the faculty members of the Institut des Hautes Etudes have been trained at IESE. The IHE also has the support of Lagos Business School.

Additionally, students from Africa come to Barcelona to partake in IESE programs. The Global Executive, MBA and Ph.D. programs include participants from various countries including Kenya and Uganda.