Inspiring the Future Leaders of Tomorrow

Lynn Student Empowers Young Liberians through Social Enterprise

Wainright Acquoi is the co-founder and CEO of TRIBE, a social enterprise and edutech incubator inspiring and empowering the new generation of young Liberian leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators through their proprietary research and technology solutions designed to improve the efficiency and productivity of enterprises across Liberia.

Acquoi, a Liberian native, chose to come to Lynn because of the social entrepreneurship program offered through the Watson Institute. Acquoi always disliked the traditional school system and considered himself to be an unconventional learner.

“I love spending time to learn the things that are practical, experiential, and valuable to my passion,” said Acquoi, junior. “This is an experience the bachelor’s degree in social entrepreneurship offers, and I am excited to be studying such.”

TRIBE is the first Liberian youth-led social venture to use research and technology tools to create innovative educational programs to improve learning outcomes and prepare high school students for future jobs. Furthermore, TRIBE is building the ecosystems necessary to create 25, 000 jobs by 2035.

“We believe that knowledge is power, and power influences change and outcomes,” said Acquoi. “We articulate our Theory of Change in a simple equation: Insights + Innovation = Improved Outcomes.”

TRIBE works under four thematic themes; research and data, edutech and entrepreneurial leadership, media and entertainment and social impact. Map the System is the current research program used to assess youth unemployment across Liberia. The program identifies current skill gaps and limitations on access to opportunities and resources.

The research will contribute to the system in many impactful ways. It will be able to identify the link between youth unemployment and the skills that schools equip their students and come up with on-the-ground data and information about the gap between schools’ curricula framework and student career success. Furthermore, it will be able to provide policy and program recommendations to policymakers, education planners and curriculum developers about facets that need to be integrated into education planning.

Acquoi has also been involved in some of the different programs that the social impact lab offers including the Student Impact Leadership Organization (SILO) and Ambassador Corps, a two-month internship in a developing country. Acquoi went to his home country in the summer of 2019 to work with LEAD Africa – Monrovia Football Academy as an Impact Evaluation Intern.

“During the period, I co-organized and co-led interviews for over 90 students and parents at the Monrovia Football Academy to conduct an impact evaluation on the program’s sports-academics approach to students’ personal development,” said Acquoi. “I created and conducted the pilot surveys, developed a digital processing system for data collection and transitioned the research from paper-based.”

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