The Tutu Fellowship Class of 2024

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The Tutu Fellowship Class of 2024

‍The African Leadership Institute is delighted to announce the Associates who have been selected for the 2024 Class of the Tutu Fellowship programme. It is a privilege to be welcoming this group of exceptional African leaders, who emerged from the more than 400 nominations received.
 
This year’s cohort includes associates from Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Their current endeavours span the domains of private business, public governance and civil society, and their areas of influence range from finance and technology to human rights and the arts. This rich diversity of nationalities, professions and perspectives is a defining feature of the programme’s learning experience.  These associates demonstrate the incredible wealth and breadth of Africa’s leadership talent and the programme is committed to strengthening their capacity as catalysts for positive, transformative impact across the continent.

The biographies of the 2024 programme participants follow.  You can also read them on the AFLI website.

Adenrele Sonariwo
Nigeria

Founder
Rele Gallery and Arts Foundation

Adenrele is the Founder of Rele Gallery, Lagos and Los Angeles; and the Rele Arts Foundation. As a pioneer in the contemporary African art scene, she has conceived and executed numerous prominent exhibitions in art hubs all over the world including steering the inaugural Nigerian pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. The gallery under her leadership exhibits contemporary artists from Africa while the foundation empowers artists via grants, mentorship, and residency opportunities.

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Affiong Williams
Nigeria

Founder & CEO
ReelFruit

Affiong's ReelFruit has more than 182 full time employees, with 60% of management, and 55% of the employee base, female. She is the CEO and Founder of ReelFruit, Nigeria’s largest fruit processing, packaging and marketing company. The company, which was founded in 2012, retails a range of dried fruit and nut snacks through a variety of channels, including more than a thousand supermarkets in 20+ states in Nigeria. 

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Ahmed Sheikha
Egypt

Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer
Brimore

Ahmed is the Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Brimore, the largest African social commerce and distribution platform. Ahmed leads Brimore's strategy, fundraising, and digital product roadmap, enabling emerging brand owners to access a network of over 60,000 individual sellers who market and sell their products using social media. Ahmed has helped Brimore grow more than 350 times in three years, transforming the traditional supply chain in Egypt to be more consumercentric and emerging-brand-friendly.

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Anisse Terai
Algeria

Managing Director and Head of Investment Management
Tell Group

Anisse is Managing Director & Head of Investment Management at Tell Group, an investment firm focusing on emerging markets, particularly Africa. He is also Adjunct Professor and the Scientific Advisor of the Energy & Strategy Program at ESAA Business School in Algiers. He is well versed in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), energy transition, and multilateral affairs, including BRICS, G20 and the WTO. He has held several managerial positions at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group and is the founding Managing Director and Chief Executive of ISEF, a sovereign energy fund.

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Brian Odhiambo
Nigeria

Partner
Novastar Ventures

Brian is a Partner at Novastar Ventures, one of the biggest and most experienced global VC fund managers in Africa. He built and leads Novastar’s West Africa practice. The firm has a decade’s track record of investing on the continent, over $200m of AUM and 24 portfolio companies. With offices in Lagos, London, and Nairobi, Novastar partners with transformative businesses that create lasting financial, social and environmental value for the many, not just the few, and for good.  He also cofounded Afrisolar, a last-mile solar distribution company in Zambia.

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Chernor Abdulai Bah
Sierra Leone

Minister of Information and Civic Education
Government of Sierra Leone

Chernor serves as the Minister of Information and Civic Education for Sierra Leone, overseeing civic engagement initiatives and acting as the chief government spokesperson. An unwavering women's rights leader and global activist, Chernor has notably co-founded and led Purposeful, a prominent Africa-rooted global women's rights hub that champions the rights of girls and young people, impacting over 150 countries.  Appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General on several occasions, his expertise has informed high-level panels on global education, girls rights, and youth peace and security.

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Devendri Adari
South Africa

South Africa & West East Central Africa Market Lead

PepsiCo Foundation

Devendri is the South Africa and West East Central Africa (WECA) Market Lead for the PepsiCo Foundation. She leads PepsiCo Foundation programs across South Africa and West East Central Africa, with 13,000 employees, 45 production facilities, and 70 distribution and warehouse facilities. It procures more than 1.5 million tonnes of local produce annually, with a footprint in 12 countries in this region. Previously, she was the Group Sustainability Manager, taking care of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBB-EE) National Schools Breakfast Programme, as well as the environmental sustainability portfolio.

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Emmanuel Allicious Macpherson Sam
Sierra Leone

Managing Partner
Jengo, Sam & Partners Law Firm

Emmanuel is a lawyer and the Managing Partner of Jengo, Sam, and Partners Law Firm. Emmanuel was born during the tumultuous years leading up to Sierra Leone's civil war and in the midst of that, rallied other children to form the Children's Forum Network, which later became the first Children's Parliament in Sierra Leone.  He has advocated extensively throughout Africa for women's and children's rights and youth empowerment.  In 2022, he established the Macpherson Foundation, the first autism foundation in Sierra Leone, dedicated to helping children with mental and intellectual disabilities.  Emmanuel's law firm primarily focuses on human rights and public interest litigation, and he has argued cases at both the ECOWAS Court and the African Court of Human Rights.

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Gemma Thompson
South Africa

Head of Development
Good Work Foundation

Gemma is the Head of Development at the Good Work Foundation (GWF). GWF is a non-profit education organisation that has pioneered a unique ecosystem of learning and working on the edge of rural Bushbuckridge, one of South Africa’s largest informal economies. This ecosystem delivers experiential learning programmes to children and adults in six locally-managed digital learning campuses.  Gemma was headhunted for a position at Ogilvy in Cape Town before going on to Ogilvy in London to join the global Unilever brand team. After a few years, she returned to South Africa to manage Ogilvy's Unilever brands. With 12 years of experience under her belt, she decided to switch gears to work in the philanthropic non-profit space, joining GWF.

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Hafou Toure
Cote d'Ivoire

Ministerial Adviser
Ministry of Commerce, Industry and promotion of SMEs

Hafou is a finance professional who has advised and provided financing to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) working with the African Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank and within the Ivorian government.  Prior to moving back to Côte d’Ivoire she previously was responsible for multi-billion dollar transactions in New York while at Deloitte. She founded HTS Partners, a financial advisory firm based in Abidjan, working on access to financing for SMEs with a focus on women owned enterprises.  Hafou was also the Deputy Director of Cabinet for the Minister in charge of promoting SME of Côte d’Ivoire, before becoming his technical advisor.

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Kidist Amedie
Ethiopia

Chief Executive Officer
Guaro Farms

Kidist is the CEO of Guaro Farms, which processes food directly at the farm gate using micro-factories in shipping containers that it calls 'first mile' processing. By processing spices immediately, it helps smallholder farmers - many of whom are women - comply with international requirements and eliminate contamination and food fraud adulteration. Kidist is an architect and product designer addressing rural poverty and advancing sustainable development.  She also started and managed a sustainable, integrated urban farm pilot that operates with zero waste and consistently yields bountiful produce with minimal resource input.

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Klenam Normanyo
Ghana

Head of Delivery
AfCFTA Secretariat
Klenam is a communication and international development specialist, serving as Head of Delivery at the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat. AfCFTA aims to accelerate intra-African trade and boost Africa's trading position in the global market. At AfCFTA, she crafts speeches for Secretary-General Wamkele Mene and has provided policy framework and gap analysis within the AfCFTA Agreement.  Previously, she served as the Communication Adviser to the former Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission. She also helped to develop the "Read Ghana" social franchise scheme that touched the lives of more than 20,000 children.

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Laureen Ampurire Fredah
Uganda

Attorney at Law
Al Tamimi & Company

Laureen is an attorney practicing in United Arab Emirates at Al Tamimi & Company, the largest and leading law firm in Middle East and North Africa.  She is qualified to practice law in New York and on the path to qualification in England, Wales and Uganda.  She has worked in multiple departments in the firm assisting clients in dispute resolution, transport and insurance matters, and corporate commercial transactions. Outside of work, Laureen has assisted under-privileged persons both in Uganda and UAE, providing coaching guidance on self-representation in court, as well as legal advice and is an advocate for the education of girls, specifically those facing forced displacement in Africa.

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Lungile Mahluza
Eswatini

Chief People Officer
Deloitte Africa

Lungile is an executive at Deloitte with 18 years of consulting experience. Before being appointed as Chief People Officer, Lungile was Chief of Staff to the previous Deloitte Chief Executive and led the Deloitte Africa Strategy Unit, which she established. Her work included overseeing the Africa Investment Fund, a $100m investment in capability, skills and infrastructure. Her consulting experience covers strategy, business model, and organisation design, project management, and strategic change management. Lungile is a member of the board of Enke, a non-profit leadership development organisation that generates and incubates youth-led social impact projects.

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Lydia Ndirangu
Kenya

Group Company Secretary and Head of Tax
Equity Group Holding PLC

Lydia is the Group Company Secretary and Head of Tax for Equity Group Holding PLC (EGH), a financial services conglomerate headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with a presence in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia. As the Group Head of Tax, Lydia provides tax solutions geared towards the identification and proactive management and mitigation of tax risks. As the Group Company Secretary, she oversees governance, regulatory and legal compliance in all 13 subsidiaries within the Group. She is an advocate for women's empowerment and education and serves on the board of the Murua Girl Child Education Program.

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Michel N'guessan
Cote d'Ivoire

Principal Water & Infrastructure Finance
African Development Bank Group

Michel is a Principal in the African Development Bank's Water Department. He has had an inspiring career within the bank's ranks, going from a Water and Sanitation Specialist to Principal. Prior to that, he was a Program Director for Habitat for Humanity International in the EMEA region. He helps implement a key bank priority of improving the quality of life for the people of Africa in multiple countries, negotiating and demonstrating the relevance of investing in the water sector as an enabler for change. Growing up in low-income areas of Abidjan, Michel has first-hand experience of the impact of degraded infrastructure on local communities. These experiences have led him to dedicate his career to ensuring high quality and affordable services to all in Africa while breaking new grounds for financing.

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Modupeola Fadugba
Nigeria

Artist
The Artist's Algorithm

Modupeola is a multimedia artist working in painting, drawing, and socially-engaged installations. Her works explore cultural identity, social justice and game theory within the African landscape.  She founded The Artist's Algorithm -- a game installation that fosters debate about how to improve Nigeria's education system. It was awarded El Anatsui's Outstanding Production Prize and a 2016 Dakar Biennale Grand Prize from Senegal's Minister of Communication.  In 2016, she started a mentorship program called Dear Young Artist, mentoring emerging artists with a focus on the importance of long-term strategy, as well as finance and relationship management, two things that artists often shy away from.

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Monde Nkosi
South Africa

Executive Director
Value Capital Partners

Monde is an Executive Director of Value Capital Partners (VCP), a leading activist investment firm in South Africa. He is also a non-executive director of several private and public companies, including Lesaka, which is a financial technology business listed on the Nasdaq; and ADvTECH, a private education business listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Monde also serves on the advisory board of the Centre for Development and Enterprise, a policy research and advocacy organization focused on economic growth, employment and democracy in South Africa. 

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Dr Natasha Salifyanji Kaoma
Zambia

Co-Founder and CEO
Copper Rose Zambia

Natasha is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Copper Rose Zambia (CRZ). She is an award-winning global reproductive health champion, medical doctor and epidemiologist. She co-founded CRZ at 23, while at university. The organisation seeks to build a conducive environment for young people to thrive in all aspects of their lives. CRZ is a transformative initiative, the largest youth-led NGO in Zambia, with an unwavering belief that Africa's most valuable resource lies in its youth. Through CRZ, she has created a movement of young advocates with a youth-serving platform of close to 50 full-time staff and 150+ volunteers working in 83 districts and over 400 communities nationwide. Before joining Copper Rose full-time, Natasha worked with the Ministry of Health at the University Teaching Hospitals as a Senior Resident Medical Doctor.

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Nompendulo Thobile Mkhatshwa
South Africa

Member of Parliament
South African Government

Nompendulo is a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa for the African National Congress (ANC). In 2019 she was elected to the National Assembly for the ANC, becoming one of the youngest ANC MPs elected. She serves as the Chairperson to the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology.  Nombendulo became involved in student politics while at the University of the Witwatersrand and was one of the leaders of the #FeesMustFall movement at Wits, which became a national movement and led to subsequent national shutdown of South African universities.

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Sandra Tererai
Zimbabwe

Manager Internal Audit
Oryx Energies

Sandra is the Manager Internal Audit at a Suisse multinational oil and gas company, Oryx Engergies. She has more than a decade of experience in managing strategic and operations management system projects across a range of manufacturing and engineering firms.  Sandra is also the founding executive director for Taungana Africa, a regional movement that seeks to develop future African leaders by empowering rural high school girls with access and exposure to to entrepreneurial science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) education and careers. She was responsible for designing the programmes that allowed the movement to impact thousands of rural high schoolers, and an elite group of up to 30 Taungana Ambassadors - rural high school girls - every year since 2014.

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Stephen Jadrijevich
South Africa

Regional Head of Banking
Investec

Stephen is the Head of Banking for Investec Pretoria, a position he has held since 2015, having joined Investec in 2010. In this role, he is responsible for the private banking businesses across various geographies including North Gauteng, the Free state and Mpumalanga.  Prior to 2010, Stephen spent five years in the construction and material handling industry. Stephen also serves on the Group Employment equity forum and currently chairs the Private bank transformation forum.

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Yanela Songca
South Africa

Head of Trading South Africa
Ninety One

Yanela is Head of Trading South Africa in Ninety One’s Trading team. His focus is on trade execution. Yanela initially joined the firm as a graduate on our Young Investment Professionals Programme and was then appointed as a trader in the Trading team. Before joining the firm he was a fund accountant at Kleinwort Benson.

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Yasmin Kumi
Ghana

Founder
Africa Foresight Group

Yasmin is a founder of Africa Foresight Group (AFG), a tech talent company she started in 2016. When she founded the organisation, she set out to create a disruptive business model, becoming the Uber of consultants in Africa. AFG brings top, flexible teams of African management consultants and skilled freelancers to companies through an in-house-built software platform. It has been active in more than 15 African markets with a pool of more than 250 management consultants contracting in more than 200 projects across Africa. The company keeps the revenue of their consultants in Africa, rather than jetting in Western consultants.

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