Matthew Sam Kuofie of Beverly Hills doesn't just like to be called "professor," he likes to be called "chief," too -- "chief professor," to be exact.
The professor of computer science and business management teaches at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield and at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
He's also originally from Ghana, and was named an honorary chief by a few colleagues from Nigeria last fall.
Kuofie is putting together what he hopes will be Detroit's first African-focused business conference, the USA-Africa International Business Conference.
The event is being sponsored by a company he cofounded, Global Strategic Management. It's based in Beverly Hills and the conference will take place Nov. 29-30 in Detroit.
QUESTION: How'd you come up with the idea for the conference?
ANSWER: Because of the fact that we (he and others at his company) do travel to various countries a lot -- China, India -- and finally I went to Nigeria where I was installed as a chief.
Q: What's its main purpose?
A: My main focus here in this area is to promote and address the economic stress here in Michigan, the downturn, and that's why I'm trying to promote African businesses to partner with Michigan as well as other businesses in the U.S. to look into tapping into the resources in Africa.
Q: Who are you working with to put this conference together?
A: I'm working with ... the State of Michigan, the City of Detroit and (Mayor Kwame) Kilpatrick, as well as the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce. ... We have various heads of state from Africa, as well as some of the business people, they'll come over here, and also we're inviting businesses from the U.S. The governor is going to be opening the conference.
Q: How many people are you expecting?
A: Hopefully about 100,000 people, from all over Africa as well as from here.
Q: You've got an MBA, a PhD and a master's degree in computer science; how'd you do all that?
A: It was a lot of work, and I also have a bachelor's in statistics and mathematics.
Q: You said you're originally from southern Ghana, along the Atlantic Ocean. What's better, that or Beverly Hills?
A: Well, Cape Coast, everything was there; you had the family support, and you had a good education system there. And here, you're working and working and working, but here there are opportunities of working in America that also allow you to go to school and to make money.
For more information on the conference, visit www.gsmi-usa.com/uaibc.aspx. Contact ALEX P. KELLOGG at 248-351-3693 or akellogg@freepress.com.
