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| Speaker's Profile |
| Name: |
T. Sylvester John |
| Title: |
Managing Director |
| Company: |
Students In Free Enterprise, Inc. (SIFE) Africa |
| Industry: |
Non-Profit/NGO |
| Profile |
Theodore ‘Sylvester’ John is the Managing Director for Africa at Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) and brings to the organization a significant amount of experience in dealing with Africa.
At SIFE, Sylvester is responsible for the development of SIFE programs in Africa. His directive as the head of SIFE Africa is to build self-sustaining SIFE organizations in Africa. He is responsible for developing and implementing the SIFE Africa expansion strategy, fundraising, recruiting universities, training faculty and providing leadership training for SIFE students. With the potential for establishing SIFE programs in thirty countries, Sylvester focuses on putting together an infrastructure for each country, recruiting board members and gaining sufficient funding for each program to be self-sustaining. A significant part of this done through the training and supervision of national Presidents. He overseas the SIFE programs already operating in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, South Africa and works with the national Presidents to expand them.
A native of Sierra Leone, Sylvester attended the Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School in Accra, Ghana. He left West Africa in 1996 to further his education in the Untied States. He joined the SIFE Team at the University of North Florida when it was established in 1997, and served as the Team’s Director of International Affairs for three years. In May 2000 he wrote a proposal and executed a successful feasibility study on the establishment of a Center for Education, Free Enterprise and International Trade in Ghana with the collaboration of the University of North Florida, SIFE and Enterprise Florida. Six months later, as President of SIFE Ghana, he officially established SIFE Teams and the SIFE Ghana organization, developed and executed SIFE students and faculty leadership training programs for Ghanaian universities and organized the first SIFE Ghana National Competition, raising funds locally to support the event.
Sylvester graduated from the University of North Florida with Bachelors of Business Administration in both Marketing and Management and will soon be commencing an MBA program in Global Management. Previously he held the position of Human Resources Recruiter/Interviewer for United Parcel Services (UPS) North Florida, hiring employees for the company’s second largest hub; In March 2001 he transferred to the UPS Marketing department as a Marketing Specialist. He founded and was Director of Sankofa Productionz, a non-profit organization aimed at promoting African culture educational outreach programs, music / entertainment, forums / lectures and various other means of education. In addition he was Co-Owner and Vice President of Marketing for Pineapple Records and Café in Jacksonville. He has a command of four languages including French - for which he holds an Advanced Level Certificate (WAEC).
Sylvester is a member of Springfield Rotaract and serves on the Board of Directors of SIFE Ghana and SIFE South Africa. He has accepted invitations to speak at numerous international conferences and summits including the World Economic Forum’s 2002 and 2003 Africa Economic Summits.
Sylvester and his wife Jocelyne live in Springfield, Missouri and have a daughter: Malaika.
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