Professor Diane Kellogg of Bentley University is the first recipient of the Friend of Africa Award, presented at the annual African Women of Excellence Awards Gala in New York City.

Kellogg was recognized for creating the “Partners in Learning” initiative with Ghanaian-led organizations that use a business model to address social issues.  After initially partnering with the Mmofra Trom Education Center near Somanya as part of The Ghana Project, the initiative has grown under Kellogg’s leadership to include relationships with more than 15 organizations, addressing issues such as healthcare, microfinance, agriculture, water and sanitation, recycling, solar energy and women’s savings groups.

The African Women of Excellence Awards are sponsored by the African Union/ Diaspora Africa Forum and supported by the United Nations Global Compact. This year, awards to fourteen African women of distinction who have made “unique contributions in their fields of expertise” were announced in advance; honorees included the female presidents of Liberia and Malawi and Nigeria’s female ambassador to the UN.   

The Friend of Africa Award was not announced in advance, and came as a “humbling surprise” to Kellogg, who had gone to the gala to honor African women leaders.  Kellogg’s efforts were lauded for “introducing students to the potential for private business to address social problems.” Kellogg accepted the award on behalf of Bentley University, whose support made her work possible, and she observed that the award itself is shaped like a bridge, “much like the bridge Bentley has built to Africa.”   She has been asked to attend next year’s gala to present the next Friend of Africa award.

Bentley Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Mike Page, in a statement to the Bentley community, thanked Kellogg for her “passion and commitment in leading Bentley’s commitment to Ghana over the years.”

Kellogg, an associate professor of Management, is a member of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance, a member of the Board of Directors of Hope for Africa, and a Strategic Advisor to the Project Bead Foundation. She has written successful grants to increase the number of household toilets in poor urban homes in Accra, Ghana and works with a company that offers “pay-as-you-go” solar power to rural villages.  Her research focuses on the qualities that make public-private partnerships (PPPs) effective.