About Heriot-Watt

A fine ambassador

By the time Norman Chipakupaku enrolled on his MSc in Business Management with International Marketing at Heriot-Watt in 2004, he already had a lifetime of experience under his belt.

Now he is returning to the University to put his extensive skills to use as the Watt Club’s first Ambassador for Africa.

African beginnings

Norman is a passionate advocate of economic and social improvement in Africa.

Born in Zambia and raised in Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia), Norman Chipakupaku became a social and political activist at an early age, later joining the Zambian Army to fight for the liberation of the Southern African region. He went on to become an instructor in Zambia’s National Service. He left the army in 1986 after almost 15 years’ service, and drew on his previous agricultural experience, growing crops and bananas, to become a full-time farmer.

But it wasn’t long before he was invited to become involved in the political life of Zambia’s single party state, working his way up from provincial district leader to become Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Co-operatives.

It was during this time that Norman, through his work with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), met the British “VSO girl” who would later become his wife. “I tried to avoid her,” jokes Norman, “but she tracked me down, and that marked the beginning of this second part of my life story.”

Continental shift

A holiday travelling around Scotland in 1997 soon turned into a permanent move for Norman and his wife, but despite having such a breadth of knowledge and experience, he found it difficult to find employment in his adopted home.

“The only British qualifications I had were my O-Levels,” explains Norman. “My wife was expecting our son and I knew that I had to start over from scratch to build us a secure future. So I enrolled at Borders College for an HND in Business Administration and was then encouraged to pursue my studies in business further at Heriot-Watt.”

Before starting his studies at Heriot-Watt, Norman undertook a couple of projects to keep busy. With his wife and three other friends, he established the Scottish Borders Africa Aids Group to support projects in Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, Botswana and Kenya. Also, seeing the need to help local Borders people manage their debt, he helped set up the Borders Credit Union.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, he also volunteered with Jubilee Scotland from 1997, which culminated in Norman launching the Scottish part of the Make Poverty History campaign to alleviate the economic plight of Africa.

Norman remembers the day when all of his hard work on the Make Poverty History campaign paid off: “I went to the Meadows in Edinburgh on the morning of 2 July 2005 and knelt down to pray to God to bring us 60,000 people,” he says.

“In the end, more than 200,000 people flocked to the rally, all dressed in white t-shirts, to take our message to the then Chancellor Gordon Brown.”

Contributing to communities

Norman is looking forward to tackling with gusto his new voluntary post as the first African Ambassador for the Watt Club. “I’m very excited about the role,” says Norman. “From the Cape to Cairo, the African group will be very active. When I looked at the statistics, I couldn’t believe how many African people had been educated by Heriot-Watt, whether through its distance learning programme or on campus.

“There are around 1,500 Heriot- Watt graduates in Africa and I will be encouraging current students to consider joining the alumni group in the future. It’s time for us to say thank you to the University for our education and to give something back to our African communities, whether our skills are in business management, brewing, textiles or engineering.

By pooling our knowledge and connections we can change lives and contribute hugely to Africa’s economic growth.”

Supporting scholarships

Norman would also like to see a special scholarship established for African students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford the tuition fees to attend Heriot-Watt.

“Each graduate, based in Africa, might be asked to contribute to the scholarship fund and to support fundraising events held in Africa,” he says.

“As well as raising enough money to support one or two students each year to study in Scotland, these initiatives would help to elevate the profile of Heriot-Watt overseas.”

A Fair Trade future

Never one to run out of steam, Norman’s plans don’t stop at his vision for the African Watt Club.

Norman is also the Speaker for the Ethnic Minorities Congress (Scotland) and in this role he works with the UK Government’s Department for International Development to support and ensure the full implementation of the Co-op Africa Facility Project in 11 African countries.

Yet somehow he still finds time to be involved in other University initiatives too. Having helped the University of Edinburgh lead the way in becoming the UK’s first Fair Trade University, Norman would like to see Heriot-Watt follow suit in the next few years.

Not only that, he has recently been nominated to the Board of the Borders College (which shares a campus with Heriot-Watt).

“As a former student of each institution, I’m in an interesting position,” says Norman, with a characteristic twinkle in his eye. “I’ll have to be very careful which hat I wear at meetings.”