ALU is ranked the most innovative company in Africa and it is the only university in the world on the list. It ranked 39 on Fast Company's annual list, which ranks companies that it judges are making "the most profound impact on both industry and culture".

ALU was founded by Ghanaian Fred Swaniker in September 2015. Its first campus, known as the African Leadership College, is in Mauritius. In 2017 it opened a second campus in Rwanda’s capital Kigali. Mr Swaniker told the Fast Company magazine that 80% of his academy graduates were leaving Africa to go to college.

"As an African trying to develop African leaders, that didn’t sit well with me. I realised that we need to have our own world-class universities," he said. He added: "We don’t have the time, money, and resources of the rest of the world. So we have to design a new educational model for Africa’s large, untapped talent pool."

People have been posting their congratulations on Twitter.

Omidyar Network?@OmidyarNetwork

 Congrats @alueducation for being #1 on @FastCompany’s most innovative in Africa list (+ top 50 globally)! Read @FredSwaniker's vision to scale higher #education in #Africa where by 2035, it will be home to the world’s largest workforce. #FCMostInnovative https://www.fastcompany.com/90299069/african-leadership-university-most-innovative-companies-2019 …

9:25 PM - Feb 20, 2019

This Ghanaian founder is building the university of the future by focusing on problem-solving, not...

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