On the Road Robert Asante, GRD’19
After moving to the United States 26 years ago, Asante’s career took a winding path of its own. He started as a dishwasher at Denny’s and worked his way up to baker at Amoroso’s before learning computers, earning his first degree at Drexel at night while working in IT at the university during the day. He then pursued his MBA and worked in high-ranking information security jobs at Drexel and Citibank. After earning his executive doctorate in higher education management from Penn GSE, he started working at ChristianaCare, the largest hospital network in Delaware, where he was Chief Privacy Officer for more than four years and where he now serves as director of enterprise risk management and artificial intelligence compliance.
“That [GSE] program opened my eyes to the fact that I should start thinking outside my own domain,” said Asante, “and start thinking about what can I do as a leader to effect change, to impact the world around me, to help somebody, to liberate people who have, for a long time, been underserved. GSE empowered me to not be afraid to make the change.”
So when he heard that roughly 50 children in his former village were still enduring the same treacherous walk to school that he had, he was primed to act. With a small personal investment and a network of supportive colleagues and Penn GSE classmates, he set about starting a nonprofit, OurFoundations, with the aim of building a road to connect children to their education—literally.
“It was me deciding to do something radical,” he said. “It didn’t make sense, but I’m glad I did it. If I had spoken with you when I was deciding to do it, you probably would have said, ‘You’re out of your mind,’ because that’s what other people said to me.”
After years of raising money and awareness for the project, construction began in June 2021. The initial goal was to clear a path through the very hilly forest, build bridges over several stream crossings, and connect a five-mile stretch from Yareyeya to two different parts of Nyamebekyere. Given the difficulty of the terrain, this took longer than planned. But almost four years later, a three-mile version of the road opened to the public this spring. Asante named it for his father, Kwame Asante.
“My dad was one of the first people who moved to that area where we constructed the road, and he helped to name it,” said Asante. “Nyamebekyere means ‘God will provide.’ And my dad always said, the farmers over there, the students over there go through a lot of pain trying to get to their farms, to bring their products to the market, to go to school, walking through the forest. So, he always hoped that one day there would be a road. Unfortunately, he’s gone . . . but that’s why I named it after him—because it was his dream.”
That dream is now a reality. In April, Asante returned to Ghana to celebrate the opening of the road—which is safe for walkers, bikers, motorcyclists, cars, and even school buses. It’s helping students get to school, but it’s also helping farmers get their cocoa to market, allowing pregnant women to get to their midwives, and it’s even bringing customers out to the farms, effecting positive change on the whole community.
“This is the significance of infrastructure,” he said. “Something as basic as a road can provide access to transportation, education, to healthcare, to the market, to economic empowerment.”
Even though the road is finished, Asante and OurFoundations aren’t. Their next project is a community hospital on an eight-acre parcel of land that his uncle donated in the central region to support another underserved community.
“What I’ve learned from this experience is that there are a lot of people in this world who want to do good,” said Asante. “They just need a leader to give them the opportunity to help. I couldn’t have done this by myself. Generous people came together to make it happen. . . . And I have a moral obligation to do good with their generosity.”
