Sankore exists to cultivate courageous leadership, because systems don't change until leaders do.
A world where leaders have the intelligence, the tools, and the courage to build organizations where systems work for everyone where innovation is shared, justice is structural, and courageous leadership is the standard, not the exception.
Sankore is a cultural intelligence and Social Innovation consultancy. We build leaders who have the awareness, the tools, and the courage to create equitable organizations and we certify practitioners who carry that work forward.
Our methodology the The Sankore Simple ABCs™ moves leaders and organizations through three interconnected phases: Assess, Build, and Champion. Not three workshops. Three interconnected phases of a complete developmental arc. Every Champion starts with the basics.
We operate at the intersection of:
Cultural Intelligence,
Courageous Leadership,
Social Innovation,
the only combination that produces lasting, systemic change.
The original University of Sankore in Timbuktu, Mali stood as a revolutionary model of learning an intellectually rigorous space where knowledge flowed through partnership rather than hierarchy. Today, Sankore carries that legacy forward: our work is grounded in collaborative, justice-centered design, and our logo’s Adinkra symbol, Dame Dame: representing intelligence, ingenuity, and strategy reflects how we partner with leaders to think deeply, design wisely, and act with intention
Nonprofit CEOs and Executive Directors
Superintendents and School District Leaders
Government Agency Leaders
Higher Education Leadership
Practitioners seeking certification in the Sankore methodology
We work with leaders who are just finding their footing in equity and cultural intelligence work — and leaders who have been doing it for years but keep hitting a ceiling. Both need the same starting point: honest data about where they actually are.
Most equity work produces awareness. Sankore produces Cultural Champions.
Proprietary methodology
The Sankore Simple ABCs™ is a fully developed, assessable framework, not a collection of workshops. Leaders move through a complete developmental arc with specific tools, profiles, and outcomes at every phase.
Evidence-Based Assessment The Cultivating Courage Leadership Competencies Self-Assessment and CI Leadership Profile give every participant honest, data-driven clarity about where they are and what their growing edge requires.
Social Innovation focus
We work at the intersection of cultural intelligence and Social Innovation, the framework most likely to produce lasting, systemic change in organizations that serve communities.
Practitioner Ecosystem Sankore is building a certified practitioner network. The methodology doesn't depend on one person in one room. It scales.