Francis Duahn
At age 12, Francis Duahn became a refugee, spending 15 homeless years moving from country to country, scraping out a meagre existence with his younger brother.
So when the now-39-year-old Calgarian pitched an idea in New York’s United Nations building last year, it was a surreal experience for the Liberia-born man.
“It was where the decisions were made on my life — where I slept, what I ate, what happened to me. And here I was going from a nobody to having a voice for refugees. And they were listening to me.”
Duahn and three teammates from University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business vied for the $1-million Hult Prize (after winning Dubai regionals) to launch Kwado, a job-matching web platform connecting refugee and migrant workers with West African employers.
Placing second to Rutgers University, Duahn is now working on “Plan B,” adapting existing postsecondary programs to provide skills for Africans.
Duahn and his then-five-yearold brother were separated from their parents when Liberia’s civil war erupted. His father was captured by fighting forces, another brother was shot and the pair stayed on the move as war spread.
Eventually, the brothers were sent to Windsor, Ont., among the one per cent of refugees the UN resettles. There, he picked farm vegetables, learned English, graduated from high school and got a business college diploma, launching a shipping company getting goods from Canadian immigrants to African relatives and friends.
But as he lost out on jobs to university-educated competitors, Duahn moved to Calgary, upgraded with an international relations degree and entered the executive MBA program.
University has its challenges. Some professors spoke “faster than my brain could comprehend and my hands could write.” He practised typing course notes of YouTube lectures and retook classes.
This spring, Duahn completes his MBA. No matter his career path, mentoring young people on education and perseverance will be top of mind. “You can’t give up, no matter how tough things get.”