Deborah Ahenkorah is passionate about reading, and about bringing African children compelling stories that will encourage a life-long engagement with books and literacy.
“Imagine that of every 10 storybooks a British child reads, seven of them are from the United Arab Emirates, two are from China and just one book is by a British author about Britain. This is essentially the situation with children’s books in Africa. I know this first hand,” Ahenkorah says.
To remedy the situation, Ahenkorah co-founded Golden Baobab, a social enterprise whose vision is to present African children with a world filled with wonder and possibilities one African children’s book at a time. Golden Baobab is renowned for its annual Golden Baobab Literary Prize, which aims to inspire African writers to create stories that will captivate the imaginations of young readers.
In the past four years, this literary award has inspired the creation of over 850 childrens’ and young adult stories from 19 countries. Ahenkorah has been named by the Echoing Green Fellowship as one of twenty-two of the most “game changing social innovators in the world today.” In 2011, she was identified by Playing for Change as one of Ghana’s leading social entrepreneurs working to make the world a better place for children and youth. Deborah studied political science at Bryn Mawr College and pursued her passion for global issues by gaining experience in the European Union Parliament and The Global Fund for Children. Deborah is a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum.