Mr. Franklin Cudjoe
Franklin is the Founding President and Chief Executive Officer of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, a think tank of global repute dedicated to the promotion of the institutions of a free society across Africa. IMANI has been consistently ranked among the top 5 most influential think tanks in sub- Saharan Africa and among the top 100 worldwide.
In 2010 Franklin was consulted by the U. K’s Prime Minister’s office on how to make effective use of British aid in Africa. Franklin has hosted and shared panels with former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minster, Anwar Ibrahim, Swiss President, Doris Leuthard, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and debated former Tanzanian President, Benjamin Mkapa when he was president in 2005.
In 2010, Franklin was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He was named a fellow of the Africa Leadership Network in 2012, and the only named Think Tank Leader in “Top 50 Africans” List of the respected Africa Report Magazine in 2012. Franklin was hosted as a ‘Special Visitor’ by the Australian government in 2015, touring five cities and interacting with business leaders, politicians, think tank leaders, cultural leaders and the leadership of the foreign and trade department. In 2015, Franklin was one of nine global leaders selected by the UK government to participate in its Future Leaders Programme. Franklin was one of three global leaders hosted by the European Union Visitors Programme in 2016. In 2017, Franklin was one of three gkobal alumi of the University of St. Gallen’s International Students Symposium to be honoured in Switzerland for their impactful initiatives since the founding of the programme.
Franklin is a member of Ghana’s Finance Ministry’s Foreign Exchange Development Committee to advise on issues of currency flows. He was a member of DANIDA’s Sounding Board for Private Sector initiatives in Ghana.
Franklin has several appearances in both print and broadcast media, shared insightful perspectives about Africa development issues on the BBC, CBC, Swiss and Swedish National TV, Austrian National Radio and varied local Ghanaian media and been published (sometimes quoted) in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, UK Daily Telegraph, San Francisco Chronicle, Ottawa Citizen, Bangkok Post, Japan Times, South African Star, Cape Times, and Business Day, influential Nigerian, Kenyan, Rwandan, Ugandan, Zimbabwean and Zambia media. Franklin’s views on the damaging effects of corruption in Africa was cited in a 2006 UK’s Parliament debate on aid and corruption in Africa. A South African High Court Judge cited Franklin’s views on patents in his ruling.
Franklin is one of nine African think tank leaders and Commissioners of “The Zimbabwe Papers”, a blueprint which examines the causes of Zimbabwe’s social and economic problems and offers urgent and practical reform that will enable the country to become a thriving, peaceful and prosperous country. He is a co-author of Fighting the Diseases of Poverty, The Reality of Water Provision in Urban Africa, The Water Revolution: Practical Solutions to Water Scarcity,: and Hobbled Trade: Trade Barriers within Africa. Franklin is a co-author of The State of Education in Ghana.
Franklin is still pursuing part-time doctoral studies( needs a lot of faith, time and courage ?) at Buckingham University (UK). He is an alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation’s Think Tank MBA programme and the Montreal Economic Institute’s Think Tank Training Programme. He has a B.Sc. in Land Economy from KNUST.
