ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sangu Delle - Entrepreneur
Sangu Delle is an entrepreneur and clean water activist. A TED Fellow who hails from Ghana, he sees incredible potential in the African economy.

Why you should listen

Born in Ghana, Sangu Delle's childhood home was a refuge for victims of torture and violence from neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone. Delle graduated from Harvard College with highest honors in African Studies and Economics. He was awarded the Soros Fellowship and pursued a Juris Doctor of Law and MBA at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, respectively.

At Harvard, enrolling in the Social Engagement Initiative program that bridged the academic study and practical service gap, Delle co-founded cleanacwa (formerly the African Development Initiative) in 2007, which today is currently working to bring clean water and sanitation to over 200,000 people in 160 villages in the Ayensuano, Suhum and Nandom districts in Ghana. Delle is also passionate about mental health and wellness, and was a founding member of Harvard University’s Mental Health Alumni Special Interest Group. 

Delle has previously worked at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Valiant Capital Partners. Convinced that the real needs of communities can best be met through entrepreneurship, in 2008 he founded an investment holding company, Golden Palm Investments(GPI) to fund promising start-ups that can have social impact and generate jobs. GPI has backed technology startups such as Andela, Flutterwave and mPharma.  GPI has also built a portfolio of greenfield companies in healthcare, agriculture and financial services. Delle serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GPI.

Delle has received several international accolades including being named a 2016 finalist for “Young CEO of the Year” by the Africa CEO Forum, Africa’s “Young Person of the Year” in 2014 by the Future Africa Awards, selected as a 2014 TEDGlobal Fellow, Forbes’ top 30 most promising entrepreneurs in Africa and Euromoney’s “Africa’s Rising Stars” award. Institut Choiseul and Forbes Afrique named Delle as one of the top “100 Economic Leaders in Africa” in 2015. Mic named Delle as one of 9 entrepreneurs in the millennial generation making a difference. 

Delle is a Trustee of the Peddie School in NJ and serves on the Advisory Board and chairs the Leadership Council of Harvard University’s Center for African Studies. He also serves on the inaugural West Africa Advisory Group of the Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University.

Delle loves the outdoors and trekked Mount Everest in 2013 and summited Kilimanjaro during the summer of 2015.

More profile about the speaker
Sangu Delle | Speaker | TED.com
TEDLagos Ideas Search

Sangu Delle: There's no shame in taking care of your mental health

Filmed:
2,271,856 views

When stress got to be too much for TED Fellow Sangu Delle, he had to confront his own deep prejudice: that men shouldn't take care of their mental health. In a personal talk, Delle shares how he learned to handle anxiety in a society that's uncomfortable with emotions. As he says: "Being honest about how we feel doesn't make us weak -- it makes us human."
- Entrepreneur
Sangu Delle is an entrepreneur and clean water activist. A TED Fellow who hails from Ghana, he sees incredible potential in the African economy. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
Last year ...
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was hell.
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(Laughter)
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It was my first time eating
Nigerian "jollof."
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(Laughter)
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Actually, in all seriousness,
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I was going through a lot
of personal turmoil.
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Faced with enormous stress,
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I suffered an anxiety attack.
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On some days, I could do no work.
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On other days,
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I just wanted to lay in my bed and cry.
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My doctor asked if I'd like to speak
with a mental health professional
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about my stress and anxiety.
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Mental health?
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I clammed up and violently
shook my head in protest.
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I felt a profound sense of a shame.
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I felt the weight of stigma.
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I have a loving, supportive family
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and incredibly loyal friends,
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yet I could not entertain
the idea of speaking to anyone
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about my feeling of pain.
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I felt suffocated
by the rigid architecture
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of our African masculinity.
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"People have real problems, Sangu.
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Get over yourself!"
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The first time I heard "mental health,"
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I was a boarding school student
fresh off the boat from Ghana,
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at the Peddie School in New Jersey.
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I had just gone through
the brutal experience
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of losing seven loved ones
in the same month.
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The school nurse,
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concerned about what I'd gone
through -- God bless her soul --
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she inquired about my mental health.
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"Is she mental?" I thought.
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Does she not know I'm an African man?
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(Laughter)
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Like Okonkwo in "Things Fall Apart,"
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we African men neither process
nor express our emotions.
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We deal with our problems.
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(Applause)
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We deal with our problems.
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I called my brother and laughed
about "Oyibo" people -- white people --
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and their strange diseases --
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depression, ADD and those "weird things."
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Growing up in West Africa,
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when people used the term "mental,"
what came to mind was a madman
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with dirty, dread-locked hair,
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bumbling around half-naked on the streets.
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We all know this man.
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Our parents warned us about him.
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"Mommy, mommy, why is he mad?"
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"Drugs!
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If you even look at drugs,
you end up like him."
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(Laughter)
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Come down with pneumonia,
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and your mother will rush you
to the nearest hospital
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for medical treatment.
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But dare to declare depression,
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and your local pastor
will be driving out demons
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and blaming witches in your village.
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According to the World
Health Organization,
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mental health is about being able to cope
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with the normal stressors of life;
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to work productively and fruitfully;
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and to be able to make
a contribution to your community.
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Mental health includes our emotional,
psychological and social well-being.
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Globally, 75 percent
of all mental illness cases
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can be found in low-income countries.
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Yet most African governments
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invest less than one percent
of their health care budget
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in mental health.
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Even worse,
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we have a severe shortage
of psychiatrists in Africa.
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Nigeria, for example,
is estimated to have 200 --
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in a country of almost 200 million.
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In all of Africa,
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90 percent of our people
lack access to treatment.
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As a result,
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we suffer in solitude,
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silenced by stigma.
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We as Africans often respond
to mental health with distance,
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ignorance,
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guilt,
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fear
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and anger.
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In a study conducted by Arboleda-Flórez,
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directly asking, "What is the cause
of mental illness?"
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34 percent of Nigerian respondents
cited drug misuse;
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19 percent said divine wrath
and the will of God --
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(Laughter)
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12 percent,
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witchcraft and spiritual possession.
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But few cited other known
causes of mental illness,
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like genetics,
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socioeconomic status,
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war,
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conflict
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or the loss of a loved one.
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The stigmatization against mental illness
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often results in the ostracizing
and demonizing of sufferers.
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Photojournalist Robin Hammond
has documented some of these abuses ...
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in Uganda,
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in Somalia,
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and here in Nigeria.
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For me,
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the stigma is personal.
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In 2009,
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I received a frantic call
in the middle of the night.
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My best friend in the world --
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a brilliant, philosophical,
charming, hip young man --
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was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
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I witnessed some of the friends
we'd grown up with recoil.
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I heard the snickers.
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I heard the whispers.
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"Did you hear he has gone mad?"
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"He start torch o!"
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Derogatory, demeaning commentary
about his condition --
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words we would never say
about someone with cancer
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or someone with malaria.
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Somehow, when it comes to mental illness,
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our ignorance eviscerates all empathy.
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I stood by his side
as his community isolated him,
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but our love never wavered.
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Tacitly, I became passionate
about mental health.
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Inspired by his plight,
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I helped found the mental health
special interest alumni group
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at my college.
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And during my tenure as a resident
tutor in graduate school,
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I supported many undergraduates
with their mental health challenges.
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I saw African students struggle
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and unable to speak to anyone.
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Even with this knowledge
and with their stories in tow,
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I, in turn, struggled,
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and could not speak to anyone
when I faced my own anxiety,
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so deep is our fear of being the madman.
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All of us --
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but we Africans especially --
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need to realize that our mental struggles
do not detract from our virility,
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nor does our trauma taint our strength.
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We need to see mental health
as important as physical health.
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We need to stop suffering in silence.
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We must stop stigmatizing disease
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and traumatizing the afflicted.
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Talk to your friends.
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Talk to your loved ones.
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Talk to health professionals.
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Be vulnerable.
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Do so with the confidence
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that you are not alone.
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Speak up if you're struggling.
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Being honest about how we feel
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does not make us weak;
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it makes us human.
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It is time to end the stigma
associated with mental illness.
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So the next time your hear "mental,"
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do not just think of the madman.
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Think of me.
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(Applause)
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sangu Delle - Entrepreneur
Sangu Delle is an entrepreneur and clean water activist. A TED Fellow who hails from Ghana, he sees incredible potential in the African economy.

Why you should listen

Born in Ghana, Sangu Delle's childhood home was a refuge for victims of torture and violence from neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone. Delle graduated from Harvard College with highest honors in African Studies and Economics. He was awarded the Soros Fellowship and pursued a Juris Doctor of Law and MBA at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, respectively.

At Harvard, enrolling in the Social Engagement Initiative program that bridged the academic study and practical service gap, Delle co-founded cleanacwa (formerly the African Development Initiative) in 2007, which today is currently working to bring clean water and sanitation to over 200,000 people in 160 villages in the Ayensuano, Suhum and Nandom districts in Ghana. Delle is also passionate about mental health and wellness, and was a founding member of Harvard University’s Mental Health Alumni Special Interest Group. 

Delle has previously worked at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Valiant Capital Partners. Convinced that the real needs of communities can best be met through entrepreneurship, in 2008 he founded an investment holding company, Golden Palm Investments(GPI) to fund promising start-ups that can have social impact and generate jobs. GPI has backed technology startups such as Andela, Flutterwave and mPharma.  GPI has also built a portfolio of greenfield companies in healthcare, agriculture and financial services. Delle serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GPI.

Delle has received several international accolades including being named a 2016 finalist for “Young CEO of the Year” by the Africa CEO Forum, Africa’s “Young Person of the Year” in 2014 by the Future Africa Awards, selected as a 2014 TEDGlobal Fellow, Forbes’ top 30 most promising entrepreneurs in Africa and Euromoney’s “Africa’s Rising Stars” award. Institut Choiseul and Forbes Afrique named Delle as one of the top “100 Economic Leaders in Africa” in 2015. Mic named Delle as one of 9 entrepreneurs in the millennial generation making a difference. 

Delle is a Trustee of the Peddie School in NJ and serves on the Advisory Board and chairs the Leadership Council of Harvard University’s Center for African Studies. He also serves on the inaugural West Africa Advisory Group of the Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University.

Delle loves the outdoors and trekked Mount Everest in 2013 and summited Kilimanjaro during the summer of 2015.

More profile about the speaker
Sangu Delle | Speaker | TED.com