Lerner graduate student Saviour Anyagri establishes an organization to provide schooling for students in Ghana
For Saviour Anyargi, earning his MBA in business analytics this spring from the University of Delaware was one more accomplishment in his quest to provide equitable educational opportunities for children across the globe or in his homeland.
Growing up in the rural community of Yabrago in Garu, Upper East Ghana, Anyagri and his three older brothers were instilled with a strong appreciation for education by their parents, Nicholas and Vida, from a young age.
When Anyagri was 5 years old, the school his father wished for him to attend was quite far from their home. Each morning, Nicholas would wake his youngest son at 5:30 a.m., and they would embark on a one-hour bike ride to the school. After dropping Anyagri off, Nicholas, a farmer, would return home to work on the farm and then make the journey back in the evening to pick up his son.
“There was no infrastructure or resources provided to communities like mine, so if you wanted to go to school, it was either up to your parents to take you or you had to wait until you were old enough to make the journey on your own,” Anyagri explained.
A year later, Anyagri’s parents decided to send him to live with a family closer to the school, allowing him to walk there. It was during this time that Anyagri started playing soccer. By the age of 11, he had become skilled enough to represent his region, eventually earning a scholarship to an academy that was a day’s travel from his family’s home.
His performance at the academy enabled him to earn a scholarship to attend The Hotchkiss School, a prestigious prep school in Salisbury, Connecticut, at age 15. It was there that Anyagri met Seidu Shamsudeen, a fellow Ghanaian who grew up in Bolgatanga in the country’s northern region and had a similar level of access to education as Anyagri. Although they had played for rival soccer clubs in Ghana and knew each other tangentially, they didn’t connect until they both joined The Hotchkiss School. In 2016, while still a high school sophomore, an idea was born.
“When we got to Connecticut, we were a little behind in terms of how we wrote and how we interpreted English,” Anyagri explained. “We could speak it relatively well in Ghana, but getting here is a whole different level. We knew if we’d had the opportunity or access to educational curriculum back in Ghana, we would’ve had a better chance of picking things up more easily. So, because we’ve always had the idea of giving back, we thought about what we could do for the people back home. We wanted something that could be sustainable.”
The plans were put on hold in 2018 when Anyagri and Shamsudeen graduated high school and began college—Anyagri at Wofford College and Shamsudeen at Villanova University. After two years at Wofford, Anyagri transferred to UD and started all five games for the Blue Hen soccer team in the 2021 spring season. Shamsudeen joined the team for the 2022 fall season after graduating from Villanova. The two reunited as teammates, with Shamsudeen scoring three goals and starting all but one match, while Anyagri made 13 reserve appearances. During their college breaks from 2016 to 2020, they returned to Ghana to host soccer tournaments and engage with local children, where Anyagri noticed the significant educational deficiencies or lack of access among the students.
“There were many challenges to address, like securing funding, staffing, and defining our vision,” Anyagri said. “We started outlining our mission, goals, and values, and gathered numerous ideas.”
They then presented these ideas to the parents in Yabrago, which led to concrete decisions. “From those discussions, we decided to bring the school to the kids rather than transporting them,” Anyagri explained. “This decision felt right.”
Shamsudeen added, “We didn’t know how big we could make it. We just knew that we had to start something and get going.”
Using a plot of land in northern Ghana donated by Anyagri’s family and funding from their own pockets along with donations from friends, they initially set up a small tent as the school’s base.
The Saviour Organization officially opened in March 2023. “We started with one teacher and a few kids, and as word spread, enrollment grew to 50,” Anyagri said. “We reached capacity and needed to complete the structure, divide the classes, and hire another teacher. That’s when we began expanding and seeking more donors.”
Currently, the school serves about 53 students, aged 5-6, in kindergarten and grades 1-2 levels, with two teachers. The organization’s website also lists a president, vice president, secretary, advisor, public relations manager and social media manager.
Right now, we’re in a good, healthy place,” Anyagri said. “We have an operational budget that can carry us on for the following year. So now we’re just thinking about ways to effectively expand.”
After the school opened, Anyagri also benefited from working in 2023 with the Summer Founders Program run by UD’s Horn Entrepreneurship, a 12-week program designed for students with early-stage startups to work on their ventures and receive a stipend, mentorship and education sessions.
“Summer Founders was a fantastic experience. It helped us refine our storytelling approach, teaching us to use statistical evidence to present our achievements and future goals clearly. We learned how to effectively communicate what we have done, what we aim to do, and what it will take,” Anyagri said. So, Summer Founders did expose us to that kind of thinking,” said Anyagri, who earned his undergraduate degree in 2022 in human relations and administration.
During their recent visit to Ghana, community elders donated five plots of land to Anyagri and Shamsudeen for future expansion. With enough capital, they can begin building infrastructure on these plots. Additionally, local parents have started providing food for school lunches, helping to reduce the organization’s expenses.
“Eventually, we hope to expand to other communities, build schools, and create local activities. Our long-term goal is to offer children opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have, including experiences abroad,” Anyagri said. “While we have other visions, such as sports programs, our current focus is on strengthening the educational system and expanding to new communities facing similar challenges.”
Anyagri, who bought 30 soccer balls to give to local teams during his last visit, wants to hold regular tournaments to bring the communities together. He hopes to be in a position where he can host monthly or quarterly tournaments in different parts of the country, separate from the schools.
“We’ll always prioritize soccer because it’s so beloved in the communities,” Shamsudeen said. “So hopefully when we are in a healthy financial situation, we can allocate resources to organizing tournaments that bring the communities together.”
Shamsudeen, who is expected to earn his master’s degree in public policy and administration from UD this summer, also has a longer-term goal for the organization. “Because we have [the children] so young, we’re hoping by the end of their transition they have achieved their educational objectives and return to their communities as ambassadors and role models. That is the ultimate goal,” he said.
To me, it’s exciting, not because we are the ones doing it, but that we can see the kids being happy,” Anyagri said. “That’s what truly matters to me. We want everyone to have the same opportunities we had and to understand that no matter where you are, you can achieve something that can transform your life.”
About Horn Entrepreneurship
At the University of Delaware, Horn Entrepreneurship stands as the driving force for fostering entrepreneurship, education, and progress. Currently ranked among the best entrepreneurship programs in the US, Horn Entrepreneurship has been established and is actively championed by accomplished entrepreneurs. This support empowers aspiring innovators as they embark on the journey of exploring new ideas for a brighter and more impactful world.
