African adventure: SC State delegation signs business education agreement with university in Ghana

Three SC State students used the travel opportunity to explore their African heritage.

ORANGEBURG, S.C. – A global economy requires business graduates with a global mindset.

One way South Carolina State University’s College of Business and Information Systems (CBIS)  is fulfilling that goal is by developing a relationship with schools in other nations.

A delegation of SC State students, faculty, and staff visited the African nation of Ghana in July to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between CBIS and the School of Business at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

The trip also provided an opportunity for discovery and personal reflection. As South Carolina’s only public Historically Black College or University (HBCU), SC State gives young scholars the opportunity to explore ancestry and culture. Students Kennedy Grace Smith, Asia Rayna Crump, and Eric J. Byrd seized the opportunity.

“The kindness we received from people in the country -- unlike the feeling of separation we are sometimes made to experience in the U.S., for once, made me feel like I belonged,” said Byrd, a management major. “Before our plane landed in Ghana, I felt the energy as we got closer to Africa, I felt a rush, a vibration, and it was so strong.

“It felt like something was pulling me toward the country. That, I believe, must have been my ancestors,” Byrd said. “I felt so connected to my ancestors for the first time when I was in Ghana, especially when I was standing in the river where the captured slaves took their ‘First Bath.’

“Upon returning to the US, I realized a total change in me. This experience would help me thrive in everything I will do in the future — no more holding back,” he said.

CBIS Dean Matthew Waritay Guah considers experiences like visiting Ghana to be critical in creating a visionary minority population needed to transform America’s future.

“While students in colleges all over the U.S. participate in study abroad programs, the lack of diversity and equal opportunities continues even in this area,” Guah said. “Studies show that only 6% of study-abroad students are Black or of African descent.

“We see a similar trajectory in industry, where only 2% of leaders, entrepreneurs, and US managers are of African descent,” he said. “SC State’s College of Business and Information Systems is working to address this gap in diversity and talent by creating the next generation of global leaders and entrepreneurs who are proud of their African heritage, confident in their innovative aspirations and connected to the African continent.”

The agreement between SC State and the University of Cape Coast includes:

• Joint research activities, including the exchange of faculty members and research students.
• Joint teaching or supervision of students.
• Staging of joint seminars, conferences and academic meetings.
• Special academic programs.
• Education Abroad on the part of undergraduate and graduate students, including short-term cultural immersion visits, exchanges, internships, electives and practicums.
• Exchange of academic materials and other information.
• Collaborative academic programs that may involve cultural activities and a strong field visit component. These may be for groups or for individuals on independent guided study programs.
• Joint collaborative grant proposals.
   

Along with the students and the dean, the SC State delegation included Dr. Learie B. Luke, director of SC State’s Office of International & National Student Exchange Programs ( OINSEP); Dr. David J. Jamison,  associate professor of marketing; Dominique Rolle, OINSEP’s international education coordinator; Gary S. Robinson, executive director of the Orangeburg Regional Innovation Center; Patricia Gibson-Haigler, assistant program director for TRIO/GEAR UP; and Dr. Ruth A. Hodges; dean of SC State Miller F. Whittaker Library.

“When deciding where students go for study abroad, we want a program that is challenging and in a country that pushes them to explore their interests,” said Jamison, who also serves as coordinator for the CBIS International Program. “Our business students are frequently fascinated by how countries grow and develop. Ghana is a country that is presently rebuilding its economic systems and serves as a perfect place to take a travel abroad trip.

“Most of our students are first-generation college students who have never previously been out of the country,” Jamison said. “Such experience would make a world of difference. For any student who is on the edge of whether to study abroad or not, I would say that it is 100 percent worth it." 

During the nine-day trip (July 19-27) the SC State team visited cultural sites, museums, two universities, a top-quality high school, and a very poor primary school with less-than-inadequate facilities. The team also saw businesses led by native Ghanaians and helped make native African fabric.

Crump plans to someday return to Africa in hopes of impacting development as part of her dream of global leadership. She said the trip ignited her desire to influence reform, economic decisions, and infrastructure to collaboratively strengthen African businesses and local communities in Africa.

"Textbooks quite often do not explain the full story,” Crump said. "But by being there, I was able to ask my own questions and really get my brothers and sisters in Africa to elaborate in a way that I was able to understand the answers properly.”

In addition to the agreement with Cape Coast, the SC State delegation’s visit to Divine Kids Academy, a nearby primary school, led to the creation of the Friends of Jukwa Project, spearheaded by Luke. This project will lead to four different initiatives by the Bulldog team for the children and people met during the trip:

• School Fencing for the Divine Kids Academy.
• School cafeteria.
• Sanitation facilities for the Sefwi Village.
• Community Center for the Sefwi Village.
   

Gibson-Haigler, an SC State graduate, said the trip gave her husband and her an unexpected sense of closure.

“Prior to the Ghana trip, I had a lot of pent-up resentment and antagonism due to a history that I felt my people had no say in,” she said. “Born and bred in South Carolina, our history, according to the textbooks, starts with slavery. I was doubtful and kind of cynical about what the future held not only for me as an individual but also for Black people as a whole.”

After years of wondering where she fits into a world where her ancestors were stifled and doubting the connection between Africa and those who were forced to leave,  Gibson-Haigler finally got the answers to all her unspoken questions.

“We may not speak the same language, but the foods we eat, the way we carry ourselves, the way we relate to one another, and our deeply ingrained spirituality reflect a bond that is still there,” she said. “There is a sense of inner peace and ease I now have, that wasn’t there before. I can move forward with my life, with intention behind everything I do.”

An emotional part of the trip was tracing the path of enslaved ancestors into the Cape Coast Castle. The team got a detailed narration of the story of enraptured slaves, as they stood in the ‘Door of No Return” — any slave entering this doorway was either put on the ship to western captivity or thrown into the sea for being unfit to be sold.

“If you imagine all of the challenges that our forefathers went through just for simple survival,” Robinson said. “Giving their great, great-grandchildren something visionary, knowing that it’s going to help us become a worthy people in the new world is an inspiring promise.

“One of the things I take from this visit is if all my people back home knew what our ancestors really went through, we would be proud of our heritage and anxious to learn about our history, culture and ancestry,” Robinson said. “We wouldn’t be too concerned about insignificant matters but would be thinking about how the world should be our oyster.”

Such trips give SC State students an opportunity to explore their cultural roots and allow them to gain an understanding of the history and contributions Africans and people of African descent have made in the world.

“To be able to have an opportunity like this is really amazing,” Hodges said. “A trip like this serves as a catalyst for students to pivot their lives. We want them to understand that young people have always been part of what makes a society better, and how their voices can make a difference in their community and the world at large.” 

This December, six students of the CBIS will travel to Kenya as part of a CBIS delegation to the U.S. International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) in Nairobi, Kenya. The SC State Team will participate in a signing ceremony for the MOU agreement between the CBIS and the USIU-Africa School of Business. The delegation will also learn about Kenyan culture and experience the natural beauty and diversity of the African nation.

Students who experienced the Ghana trip encouraged other SC State students to take advantage of the opportunities to travel abroad.

“I most definitely achieved the purpose for taking this trip to Africa and learning about my culture,” Smith said. “I thank Dr. Luke, Dr. Jamison and the college administration for this opportunity. I think I returned to the U.S. as a changed person.

“You can sometimes reignite your life’s goals by learning a whole other culture from a different continent,” Smith said.