Grace Nkansa

Biography

Dr Grace Nkansa describes herself as a Future of Work Strategist supporting the transformation of education systems into talent pipelines. She has a PhD in Comparative and International Development and Education from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; and over 25 years experience working at the intersection of education reform, workforce development, and economic inclusion - across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Development partners she's worked with have included ministries of education, multilateral agencies such as USAID, UNICEF, private foundations like Carnegie, Jobs for the Future, industry leaders, and the communities whose futures depend on getting education right.

Most recently, as Senior Director for Employability and Partnerships at Honoris United Universities - Africa's largest pan-African private higher education network, she led the employability agenda across 16 institutions, building the employer partnerships and graduate pathways that connect young Africans to the future of work. That experience sits at the heart of her expertise in: system-level thinking, cross-sector partnership, and a relentless focus on outcomes that matter for young people and the economies they inhabit.

She has operated in some of the world's most demanding environments - developing and conflict-affected contexts where resources are constrained and the stakes are high. She brings both the technical rigor and the operational experience to design solutions that work in the real world: managing large, geographically dispersed teams, navigating complex donor and government relationships, and adapting strategies when the ground shifts. She is now the Founder of Resilient Futures Network, an education strategy and consulting firm that focuses on helping students, education systems, institutions, and organisations build what the next generation truly needs: future-ready skills ecosystems, school-to-work transition models that actually transition, and the public-private partnerships that make workforce development scalable. Recognising that although the challenge is global, Africa is where her passion is deepest.