Governance, culture and community: African scholars share and learn at SC State
Students and faculty from Kenya and Nigeria are visiting the university for an immersive cultural exchange.
ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Jones Kimeu didn’t travel more than 7,000 miles just to sit in a classroom. He came to South Carolina State University to examine the mechanics of how government works in the United States — not just on paper, but in real time, at the state and county levels.
A Ph.D. student in strategic management at United States International University–Africa (USIU–Africa) in Nairobi, Kimeu is researching the evolution of devolved government in Kenya. While in South Carolina, he’s been analyzing the similarities between Kenya’s young county-based system and the longstanding American balance between federal, state and local governance.
“I’ve learned that South Carolina also has a devolved system through counties within the state,” Kimeu said. “I’m looking at the extension services that the state government is offering to the various counties — the innovation, research that is helping to drive efficiency in service delivery and admittedly changing the lives of the people.”
Kimeu is part of a delegation of graduate students and faculty from Kenya and Nigeria spending two weeks at SC State. The academic and cultural exchange is hosted by SC State’s College of Business & Information Systems (CBIS), and it offers more than lectures. The visiting scholars are exploring the inner wrkings of public institutions, global markets, and historic Black colleges — all while building lasting relationships across continents.
“I’m excited and looking forward to the visit … to see some of the amazing service offerings to transform life,” Kimeu said.
Academic and cultural exchange
“My goal for my students while here in the U.S. is first exposure in terms of culture, in terms of academics, to see how things are done in other places,” Namada said. “To reduce the level of cultural shock, to just make them learn more, to open their eyes to the global spectrum, and to make them see outside Africa. What else in terms of business outside Africa?”
In terms of career prospects, Namada said global exposure for doctoral students from USIU-Africa is an important part of growth.
“It exposes students to global best practices in terms of business organizations, public sector orientations, operations of nonprofit organizations and differences in cultural practices,” she said. “This type of experiential learning provides a great advantage to lifetime international jobs, consultancies and research agenda that moves beyond, national, regional and continental boundaries.”
Namada is also lecturing during the visit, highlighting the strengths and distinctiveness of African business models.
“To explain to you or to expose to you the African business practice, the business culture, and what unique values and unique attitudes and practices, business practices in Africa,” she said of what the delegation offers to SC State. “And how we can have an integration between the African business practice and the American business practice.”
Learning from the region and the nation
“By the second day of the program, they’ll begin their academic journey with a series of lectures,” Guah said. “They’ll present their research during classroom sessions, and I’ll meet with their program director, associate dean and professors.”
Guah said the program was designed not only to deliver content but to create space for meaningful peer-level collaboration.
“They bring a wealth of experience and insight,” he said. “This is not just about what they learn from us — we also learn from them. That’s why we’re also discussing future exchange opportunities — sending our students to their institutions for short-term study and collaborating on research projects as we develop our Ph.D. program.”
The itinerary includes visits to South Carolina’s State House and governor’s office in Columbia, along with travel to Georgia, where participants explore major cultural and corporate institutions including CNN, Coca-Cola, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
The group is also expected to travel to Washington, D.C., where they will meet with SC State alumni and visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Bowie State University, and possibly the Nigerian and Kenyan embassies.
“We’re trying to show them not just business education, but government, infrastructure, and what it means to be a student at South Carolina State — and, more broadly, an HBCU student,” Guah said. “We want them to feel the identity and purpose behind institutions like ours.”
From Nigeria, more connections
“Just because we value this relationship and it is important for us to be here, myself — a faculty member — and one of our students who already has a visa, had to be here to join this cohort in preparation for the November cohort,” he said.
That student is Itoro Archibong — a member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, an MBA student at the University of Lagos Business School, and the provincial treasurer for the congregation’s African province. Adebisi said her presence reflects the university’s goals for global immersion and leadership development.
“We’ve taught her a lot of things in the business school in the way the African and Nigerian ecosystem — business and entrepreneurship — works,” Adebisi said. “We are bringing her to the United States to see culturally how business works here. What are the things that really matter? Can she find the things that matter in the United States and integrate them with what matters in Africa?”
He added that her insights offer value to American audiences, as well.
“She’s here to be able to put on the table for you the statistics and the various opportunities,” Adebisi said. “The Nigerian economy is evolving. There are a lot of new opportunities.”
Finance, faith and future leadership
Archibong said her goal in joining the exchange is to deepen her financial leadership and support the younger members of her religious community across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Chad.
“I’m trying to gain experience that will help me in my work — to improve our finances and also improve the communication and how to work with the sisters and all of our collaborators,” she said.
She also plans to use the skills she’s acquiring at SC State to lead digital skills workshops and mentor new leaders in the congregation’s schools, hospitals and ministries.
“It’s a way of giving back what the society has given me,” Archibong said.
SC State’s global engagement as an institutional purpose
SC State President Alexander Conyers sees the exchange as part of a long-term vision for preparing globally competent graduates.
“It provides us an opportunity to share with the world what we know already — that South Carolina State University is a great place to learn,” Conyers said. “We recognize what international students bring — the perspective that they bring, the culture that they bring, and the experiences that they bring and share with our students and vice versa.”
He said partnerships like this one help SC State fulfill its broader mission of access, preparation, and global readiness.
“We live in a global society,” Conyers said, “and it's important that our students get to engage with students from all across the world."
He also highlighted the university’s passport initiative — a program that covers the cost of passports for students so they can take advantage of international learning opportunities.
“My goal is for every student to depart South Carolina State University with a degree and a passport,” Conyers said.
Dr. Learie B. Luke, director of SC State’s Office of Global Engagement, said the university sees international collaboration as central to its mission — not just for visitors, but for SC State’s students.
“These students from Nigeria and Kenya -- USIU and the University of Lagos -- are graduate students, and they have cultural immersion as a part of the curricula,” Luke said. “This is really critical because that means they value the experience of engaging with people across the world.”
Luke said the exchange reinforces the idea that international engagement goes both ways.
“Hosting these groups affirms our institutional role as a global participant, and it means our students, too, are gaining exposure to different ways of thinking and learning,” he said.
He added that even when physical travel isn’t possible, SC State continues its global partnerships through virtual lectures and academic exchange.
“In that way, we can take the students across the world virtually, and that really helps with the engagement that we are developing,” Luke said.
“Success for one must be success for all.”
Kimeu’s research is deeply personal. He sees the structural challenges and promises of local governance not just as an academic problem, but as a matter of equity and opportunity. While he is learning much from South Carolina’s approach to governance and service delivery, he also came prepared to offer something in return — a value system centered on shared success.
“Africa is rich, and Kenya particularly, we’re rich in very many ways,” he said. “We’re the home of champions in terms of athletics and all. We also have a very strong value system as a people.
“We are, I am because we are,” he said, quoting the African philosophy of Ubuntu, the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. “We look out for each other as a people — caring for one another, as a family unit, as a professional. My success has to be the success of everyone. It is not individual.”
He spoke from personal experience.
“I come from a family of 13,” he said. “I’ve had to take care of my parents when they were sick. I’ve had to take care of some of my relatives who are not very privileged.”
That upbringing, Kimeu said, taught him what real success should look like.
“It is not individual. I think to some extent, the Europeans and sometimes Americans, they tend to be very individualistic,” he said. “Success for one must be success for all, and ultimately that is what leads to a successful society.”
For more information about SC State’s international activities, visit the Office of Global engagement at www.scsu.edu/oinsep or contact Dr. Learie B. Luke at lluke@scsu.edu or 803-536-7903.
For more about the SC State College of Business & Information Systems, visit www.scsu.edu/academics or contact Dr. Matthew Guah, dean, at mguah@scsu.edu or 803-536-7138.