UGBS and Copenhagen Business School Kick-Start ABS Project to Drive Global Business Research and Education
Representatives of the Africa, Business and Society (ABS) Programme paid a courtesy call on the Dean of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Prof. Ernest Tweneboah-Koduah, on January 27, 2026, as part of efforts to formally introduce the programme and strengthen collaboration with the school. The delegation, comprising Prof. Lisa Ann Richey, Mr. Wilbert Van der Meer, and Prof. Thilde Langevang from Copenhagen Business School (CBS), alongside the UGBS Project Team of Professors, including Prof. Mohammed Aminu Sanda, Prof. Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai, Prof. Obi Berko Damoah, Prof. Justice Bawole, and Prof. Sheena Lovia Boateng, convened at the UGBS New Conference Room. This meeting with the Dean served as the official launch of the collaboration, capping off a series of initial project sessions held during the CBS team's visit to Ghana.
The multi-year, DANIDA-funded project under the Knowledge and Innovation Programme (KIP) 2025, valued at DKK 35.9 million, positions UGBS as one of the African partners in a network that includes the University of Johannesburg and the University of Nairobi, and is set to run through 2030. Welcoming the delegation, Prof. Tweneboah-Koduah expressed his appreciation for the partnership, noting that he had no hesitation in signing the collaboration agreement due to UGBS’ long-standing relationship with Denmark. He also highlighted that several UGBS faculty members had received training in Denmark, reinforcing his confidence in the success of the project. The Dean commended the initiative and expressed hope that the collaboration would create further opportunities to train and nurture students for national development.
Prof. Ernest Tweneboah-Koduah welcoming the ABS delegation
As part of the engagement, Prof. Lisa Ann Richey led a presentation on the ABS project, outlining its objectives, partnerships, and key components. She explained that Africa, Business and Society is not a capacity-building project in the traditional sense, as partner institutions already possess strong research and teaching capabilities. Instead, the project seeks to strengthen collaboration, research-based teaching, and student mobility across institutions. She highlighted the student scholarship component, for which Copenhagen Business School is the responsible institution. Under this component, students from partner African universities will graduate from the Business and the Global South master’s degree at CBS, with a total of 47 students across three cohorts from the three African partner universities.
In addition, Prof. Richey outlined the educational partnership component, for which all partner institutions are responsible. This includes the enhancement of study programmes across the four universities, the development of a common pedagogy incorporating qualitative and quantitative methodologies, case-based learning, and Global South knowledge, as well as joint research applications and publications. Prof. Richey noted that Copenhagen Business School ranked 24th globally in the 2025 Financial Times Research Insights Ranking for research shaping business, policy, and society. She further disclosed that 36 CBS scholars were featured on the Stanford/Elsevier list of the world’s top 2% most cited researchers, underscoring CBS’s strong research profile and experience in large-scale international collaborations.
According to her, educating students from both the Global North and Global South in the same classroom strengthens analysis of global challenges such as climate change, artificial intelligence, and geopolitical rivalry. She added that the programme aims to produce critical thinkers, ethical entrepreneurs, and responsible leaders equipped to navigate an increasingly complex global environment. Further conversations focused on key ABS activities, including annual workshops, faculty exchange programmes, curriculum development workshops, podcast production, blog writing, and joint supervision of ABS Master’s theses. The team assured stakeholders that the project framework remains flexible.
On the second day of the visit, the CBS team, together with the UGBS Project Team, met with Heads of Department and students to introduce the programme's scholarship component. It was explained that five students from each of the three partnering African countries, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya, would be selected, bringing the total to 15 students per cohort for capacity development within the two-year Master of Science (MSc.) in Business and the Global South. Applicants must have completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Administration to be eligible to apply. The delegation further noted that the MSc in Business and the Global South is a fully funded scholarship programme offered by Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. The scholarship covers tuition, travel, and living expenses and forms part of the Africa, Business and Society (ABS) project under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Knowledge and Innovation Programme (KIP).
Through the programme, students will acquire strong analytical, ethical, and intercultural business skills, enabling them to analyse complex issues from multiple perspectives. Upon graduation, beneficiaries are expected to contribute meaningfully to business and society in their home countries, particularly in addressing climate, sustainability, and development challenges.
Group picture taken after the engagement with students