Latest News

Two Fellows, Aderonke Onadeko of the Class of 2006 and 2007 Fellow Mezuo Nwuneli have partnered together to launch Nourishing Africa, a hub for entrepreneurs to accelerate their work, connect with funders, markets, talent, and celebrate their successes.

It connects agtech and digital innovators to ensure that Africa nourishes itself and becomes a net exporter of food by 2050.  On the site, they explain the simple math: by 2050, 2.4 billion people will live in Africa. If they spend $1 a day on food, this represents a $876 billion annual market. If they spend $10, its an $8.76 trillion annual market. A key goal is to empower Africans to sustainably grow and supply this massive market, reaping the benefits of local jobs.

2014 Fellow Zeinab Camara has run for office for her first time in the Guinean elections and won her seat in the National Assembly.  She stood for election in Boffa as a candidate for the governing party, Rassemblement du Peuple Guinéen or RPG, and won her seat with 62.4% of the vote. She ran against Abdoul Aziz Keita, the UDG candidate. 

The elections took place on March 22nd - along with a constitutional referendum - after being postponed four times from the original date in January 2019. As of March 26th, the country was waiting for judicial validation of the results. 

2017 Tutu Fellow Yap Boum II has written a post titled Coronavirus: Amid the global pandemic, lessons for Africa which was published by the Brookings Institution on 20 March 2020.  Yap, who is a microbiologist and epidemiologist and the regional representative for Epicenter Africa, the research arm of Doctors Without Borders, started the article by saying that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is unprecedented in modern times, bringing enormous human, social, and economic disruption. It's been a busy time for Yap, with the Coronavirus pandemic following the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he was on the frontline in a Phase III trial ebola vaccine to reduce the numbers of people infected by the disease.

In the article, Yap says that for Africa, where most countries have relatively weak health systems, the relatively slow arrival of COVID-19 bought Africa time to prepare.

2018 Tutu Fellow Nozipho Mbanjwa took part in the TEDxGreshamPlace session in Durban, South Africa in March 2020. She begins her talk by saying that she is a 'Conversation Strategist'. 

For those unfamiliar with the term, she is in demand for her ability to moderate global conversations - often difficult conversations - with insight, courage, depth and breadth. These have been for global and African institutions, leading listed and unlisted multinational corporations, business schools, and civil society organisations seeking to leverage conversations for change.

So the topic of her TED talk is entirely fitting.  Listen loudly with your whole heart, she says. 

2007 Fellow and Medical Scientist, Tariro Makadzange has been appointed as board member at Population Services International (PSI).

Tariro is a highly-qualified medical scientist, doctor and infectious diseases physician scientist who has degrees from Zimbabwe, Harvard and Oxford Universities and is a senior manager at the global biotechnology research multinational, Gilead Sciences.  She told AFLI that she had PSI had confirmed her appointment in January.

2018 Fellow Edzai Zvobwo has been featured in the AUDA-NEPAD Comic Series as one of the Agenda 2063 Champions. Edzai is the Founder of the MathsGenius Leadership Institute and has been a keen proponent of empowering Africans through mathematics and problem-solving techniques.

He is a maths evangelist to young people and it was this focus that led him to be selected for the comic series. The comic is based on the five youth champions who were recognised by AUDA-NEPAD for their entrepreneurial actions, resilience and activities.

2018 Tutu Fellow Lynette Ntuli posted a thread on Twitter on International Women's Day 2020 that speaks directly to the reasons why the day is still needed. The powerful account highlights why Gender Based Violence (GBV) has no bounds: no age, demeanor, class, access, education, public standing, or colour will protect women from it. She says that for most women, it’s not a matter of if, but when it will affect them directly. It’s waiting at the supermarket, in the boardroom, in Direct Messages.

The thread begins in January 2020, when Lynette joined the legions of women in South Africa whose right to safety and justice had to be upheld by a court of law. Why? She did not respond to WhatsApp messages on her phone from a stranger.

Fast Company has named its top 10 most innovative companies in Africa for 2020, and 2010 Fellow Bright Simons’ company, mPedigree, was listed at number two for its innovative idea of using SMS text messages to root out fake prescriptions.

mPedigree works with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies to reduce the prevalence of counterfeit medicines being sold.  It also uses similar technology for traceability of seeds and other agricultural products within Africa.

2019 Fellow Issam Chleuh, has been appointed as Mastercard Advisors, Director of West Africa (English and French speaking).

Issam is the Co-Founder and Managing Director at Suguba, a regional platform with a focus on enterprise development for “missing middle" entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs led by youth and women. He co-founded Suguba with another Tutu Fellow, Fayelle Ouane, from the Class of 2017.

2007 Fellow Tracey Webster has been selected to sit on the investment committee for Grand Challenges Canada, where she will be driving their investment of 100 million CAD into Africa, particularly on health innovations.  Tracey is the CEO of The Enterpriseroom, a specialist consultancy that helps companies with sustainability, their supply chains, economic inclusion and community outreach. Grand Challenges Canada is funded by the Canadian government, and in turn, funds innovators in low- and middle-income countries and in Canada itself.

2016 Tutu Fellow Dorothy Ghettuba has been busy in her new role as Manager of International Originals at Netflix since she took the post in 2019. She has been working with African creatives and in February 2020, Netflix released worldwide its first African original series, Queen Sono.

It's a series created entirely by Africans, with a majority African cast and produced on a Netflix budget. As such, Queen Sono is already different from the streaming channel's more typical fare, and its freshness has been drawing audiences in markets in which Netflix seeks to grow. Rumors are already circulating that the landmark spy drama will see a second season. The series taps into South Africa's divided history for Pearl Thusi's backstory as the title character and the plot unfolds against the backdrop of a South Africa still trying to find its footing in the world, 30 years removed from Apartheid.

2015 Fellow and doctor/novelist, Dr. Kopano Matlwa Mabaso, has been featured in Bill Gates' blog, Gates Notes, for her contribution in tackling malnutrition through her Grow Great Campaign. The campaign seeks to galvanise South Africa to achieve zero stunting in children by 2030.

Using data to mobilise policy makers, stories to inspire the public, support for Community Health Workers, and mom and baby classes for parents, her campaign has the goal of moving South Africa towards a future where no child is unjustly denied the opportunity to reach their full potential.  It is a sophisticated effort to eliminate child stunting from South Africa over the next decade.

2009 Fellow Paulino Dias is running for office in the local elections in Cape Verde as an independent. The eighth municipal elections in Cape Verde will take place this year (2020) and political and independent parties have already launched their campaigns.  A date for the elections has not yet been set. Paulino, who is an economist, is part of Grupo Independente, a group of independents running in opposition to the government.

2013 Fellow Ify Malo has been named as one of the African Power & Energy Elites 2020 Projects and Leaders in their annual industry journal. Those selected were named by their industry peers. In a collaborative effort, the African Power & Energy Elites publication and the 2020 African Power, Energy and Water Industry Awards worked together in a unified nomination and selection process.

The journal said that these were people who were leaders in their industry at a time in which the world was entering a Peak Decade that would disrupt business and investment across all sectors. At the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, this decade was described as including Peak Globalisation; Peak Capitalism; Peak Inequality; Peak Youth; Peak Climate Change; Peak Oil Demand; Peak Cars - all of which were directly or indirectly connected to the modern power and energy network.

2017 Fellow Onyinye Ibeneche has been appointed as one of two new partners at Bain & Company in its South African office. At Bain, Onyinye helps leading African companies become globally competitive by collaborating with them to develop a growth strategy and improve the operating performance of critical organization functions.