Ten Years Ago, Veda Sunassee ’10 Co-Founded a University in Africa

During his time as a student, Veda Sunassee ’10 completed a Princeton in Africa Fellowship where he worked for the African Leadership Academy (ALA) in Johannesburg. Though he is a native of the tiny African island of Mauritius, it was his first time on the mainland. The ALA is a pre-college program focused on empowering and developing Africa’s youth leaders, but often these students seek higher education outside the country. Sunassee wondered what it would take to keep these talented students in Africa.

“Why not start a world class university by Africans for Africans that is proudly African, but also has a very global relevance and presence?” he asks.

He did just that, staying on with the ALA past his one-year fellowship and serving as part of the founding team of the African Leadership University (ALU) in 2015. The ALU is an expansion of the African Leadership Academy, and both were founded by Fred Swaniker. Sunassee is now the chief executive officer of the ALU, which has campuses in Mauritius and Rwanda.

Its goal is to educate the next generation of job seekers and creators in Africa with a focus on entrepreneurship. The curriculum “has a huge emphasis on leadership, ethical leadership, learning human-centered design thinking, [and] really thinking about problem solving,” he says. Every student must declare both a major and a mission — such as tackling climate change or inequality.

Sunassee didn’t see himself ending up in education. When he first came to Princeton, he wanted to be an engineer but realized that was not his true passion, ultimately graduating with a degree in politics. He also discovered that his interest lies in social entrepreneurship, where he could promote positive social change. “I want to have an impact,” he says. “I want to do something to work with people in communities.”

That’s why he said yes to this opportunity. “It was not difficult for me to rally behind this mission precisely because I saw what education did for me,” he adds.

More than 5,000 students representing 59 nationalities have enrolled at the ALU since it opened a decade ago and more than 2,000 have graduated. Of those graduates, 75% secured a job within six months of graduation and earned on average a starting salary of $10,405, which is five times higher than the salary of other college graduates in the region, according to the ALU’s 2024 Impact Report. Students have gone on to work for major companies including Google and Facebook and launch their own companies, and a few have returned to work for the ALU.

As Sunassee looks to the future, he’d like to expand access so more students can enroll. Currently, less than 10% of Africans who are college-aged are enrolled in a higher education institution. Affordability is also top of mind, so he hopes to create an endowment to secure the school’s future.

Tracing the path from his humble beginnings to leading the ALU, the impact of education on his life cannot be overstated. Through his work with the ALU, Sunassee would like to give the transformative gift of education to students in Africa. He adds, “There’s nothing more rewarding.”

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