Chinery-Hesse named Texas State Distinguished Alumnus

SAN MARCOS – Herman Kojo Chinery-Hesse of Accra, Ghana, founder of theSOFTtribe Ltd., has been named a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2006 from Texas State University-San Marcos.

Chinery-Hesse, who received his B.S. in industrial technology from Texas State in 1988, received the award at a ceremony Oct. 21 during Homecoming festivities.

Dubbed by the BBC as the “Bill Gates of Africa,” Chinery-Hesse co-founded theSOFTtribe in his bedroom in 1991 while he worked for the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority Computerization Project, at a time when few saw any business potential in the west African nation. From such humble beginnings, theSOFTtribe quickly grew into one of the most influential technology firms in Africa, employing more than 70 people and striking software development and marketing deals with such industry heavyweights as Microsoft.

“I really can’t say I was surprised by our success, though I was definitely thrilled about it,” Chinery-Hesse said. “I always knew it was possible and simply focused on it.

“I essentially set out to prove to skeptical friends what I had always believed in: That Ghana was a land of opportunity waiting for entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas,” he said. “We see ourselves having a global reach beyond Africa 10 years from now.”

Others being recognized as Distinguished Alumni at the Oct. 21 ceremony will be Dale Bulkley of New Braunfels, Texas, founder of Prevention Dimension International; James Bogard, researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Jerry Fields of Houston, founder of J.D. Fields Inc.; teacher Jody Hodges of Aledo, Texas; and Charlotte Tate of Chicago, dean of the College of Applied Health Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago.