In ecosystems without strong accelerators, it’s hard to find mentors who understand both ambition and local constraints. At the same time, many of the brightest minds in Nigeria leave academia or the nonprofit space due to survival pressures. From your experience, what mentorship structures and co-founder matching practices are most critical to replicate in regions like Nigeria to help leaders retain talent and build resilient organizations?
I think it starts at an earlier stage than something like CE generally operates. I sometimes think of CEA as like a PhD program—it’s best fit for someone who has been working on impact directly for a long time. I think what is missing in most LMICs is the early university and chapter infrastructure to build up networks and knowledge so that there is more ready-to-found/be-Sr-staff talent built up over time. I generally wish more people spent time living in LMICs as I think it does give you a practical edge that is hard to get otherwise.
In ecosystems without strong accelerators, it’s hard to find mentors who understand both ambition and local constraints. At the same time, many of the brightest minds in Nigeria leave academia or the nonprofit space due to survival pressures. From your experience, what mentorship structures and co-founder matching practices are most critical to replicate in regions like Nigeria to help leaders retain talent and build resilient organizations?
I think it starts at an earlier stage than something like CE generally operates. I sometimes think of CEA as like a PhD program—it’s best fit for someone who has been working on impact directly for a long time. I think what is missing in most LMICs is the early university and chapter infrastructure to build up networks and knowledge so that there is more ready-to-found/be-Sr-staff talent built up over time. I generally wish more people spent time living in LMICs as I think it does give you a practical edge that is hard to get otherwise.