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The Class of 2020 that was announced in March 2020 - and which was COVID delayed - finally graduated in London at the culmination of the second workshop at Oxford University and in London in July 2022.  They had participated in the first workshop at the historic location of Mont Fleur in Stellenbosch, South Africa in November 2021 – some 20 months after selection. 

The UK component of the programme is heavy on experiential and immersive learning exercises and the Fellows worked with real actors to learn how to communicate effectively as leaders.  In another experiential exercise, “Leadership Without Words”, they conducted a choir and learnt about non-verbal communication with their followers and, in the process, revealed their leadership styles.  They also explored their leadership archetypes and shadows through Shakespeare’s Henry the 5^th.

The African Leadership Institute is pleased to announce the Associates who have been selected for the 2022 Class of the Tutu Fellowship programme. As has been the case with previous cohorts, the people selected are exceptional emerging African leaders. AFLI received more than 330 nominations of outstanding quality from across Africa, from which the cohort was selected. They are from the following countries: Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 

A few candidates are included this year who were selected in 2020 but who could not attend that cohort due to COVID restrictions. The selected candidates demonstrate the incredible wealth and breadth of leadership talent that exists in Africa’s young people, which bodes well for Africa’s future.

Today, 26 December 2021, we lost our beloved Patron, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

But even as we mourn the passing of our dear Patron, we celebrate a life of service well lived and the values and ideals he espoused and bequeathed to us - ubuntu, servant leadership, integrity, humility, compassion and courage. We remember a man who was diminutive in stature but larger than life in his boldness, always speaking truth to power when the occasion demanded.

AFLI is pleased to announce the appointment of Nomthetho Mothejoa effective 1 April 2021, as Programme and Alumni Manager. Nomthi brings to AFLI a unique combination of skills.

She is a Leadership Coach with training in Ontological Coaching and runs a practice in Johannesburg on a part-time basis. Her passion is driving the self-actualisation of leaders and supporting them to make the shifts they desire towards their truest, highest selves.

It is with profound sadness that the African Leadership Institute announces the passing of Lorna Irungu-Macharia on 22 March, 2021 due to COVID-19 related complications. Lorna was both an Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellow of 2010 and a member of the African Leadership Institute’s board.

Lorna is remembered by the Fellows for her “amazing sense of humour, huge heart and brilliant mind”. “We are poorer today but richer to have known her and been on this life journey with her.” She is also remembered for her incredible courage and bravery. Diagnosed with lupus, she would go on to have three kidney transplants in her life.

The following is the full text of an open letter from Nigerian Tutu Fellows to President Muhammadu Buhari on the violent treatment by Nigerian security forces of #EndSARS protestors.

Open Letter to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

October 21, 2020

President Buhari,

You appealed to Nigerians to give you a mandate in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

2007 Tutu Fellow Ipeleng Mkhari is the Founder and CEO of Motseng Investment Holdings which partnered with Malani Padayachee and Associates (MPA) to acquire 100% equity of Mott MacDonald Africa, a South African engineering entity, to create South Africa’s largest black and women owned consulting engineering company.  Ipeleng will be the Chairperson of the new entity, MPAMOT, which has the potential to become a beacon for women in an industry that continues to be male dominated.

Another Tutu Fellow, Kunyalala Maphisa,  was the Lead Advisor on the transaction. Kunya is a 2006 Tutu Fellow and the Principal Partner at Brighton Wealth as well as the President of the Black Women's Association of South Africa, BWASA.

The second workshop of the 2019 Archbishop Tutu Leadership Programme was held partly at Oxford University from 8th-15th September, and in London from the 16th to the 18th, with 22 Fellowship candidates from 11 different African countries - Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Gabon, Mali, South Africa, the Gambia, Tanzania, Ghana and Madagascar.

It was a memorable time of learning, introspection, forging deep relationships with peers, and lots of laughter!  It was also an opportunity to locate Africa within a broader global context and the Associates heard from some exceptional globally-renowned academics and leaders, including four of AFLI’s Global Advisory Board members – Dr Vivienne Cox, who is also Vice Chair of the Said Business School Oxford;  Prof Ngaire Woods, Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government; Dr Oby Ezekwesili, a Nigerian Presidential candidate and founding Director of Transparency International; and Maureen Erasmus a strategy advisor with global experience.

 This essay by Debisi Araba provides his observations on African leadership. It is one of the many excellent essays submitted by Fellows that form part of the African Leadership Institute’s annual Tutu Fellows Leadership programme.  He begins his essay by declaring that "Leadership is a verb".

He then goes on to explain how it must be exercised to obtain solutions needed by a person or group to address a difficult reality. Making leadership more challenging, the reality may not be well understood or the solution may also not be known.  

The first workshop of the 2019 Archbishop Tutu Leadership Programme was held at the Mont Fleur Conference Centre from the 27th April to the 4th of May, 2019. The 23 Fellowship candidates came from some 250 nominees of outstanding excellence from over 30 African countries, and represented 11 different African countries - Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Gabon, Mali, South Africa, the Gambia, Tanzania, Ghana and Madagascar.

It was a memorable time of learning, introspection, forging deep relationships with peers and lots of laughter!

The African Leadership Institute report, An Abundance of Young African Leaders but no Seat at the Table, will be launched at Strathmore University, Nairobi on August 28, 2018.  It is the result of funding from the Ford Foundation with AFLI as the grantee and Strathmore University as its partner.

For Africa to realise her full potential, leadership initiatives that focus on the targeted development and the continuous nurturing of young people’s leadership capacities are crucial. Whilst a plethora of leadership development offerings exist on the continent, there has not been, to date, a holistic view of what these initiatives are. This study, therefore, represents an important step towards filling gaps in extant knowledge.

The African Leadership Institute has had Archbishop Tutu as the patron of it's flagship Leadership Programme for years.  During that time, the Archbishop has lent his voice and his support to the work that AFLI has done in turning out servant leaders. Earlier this year, that arrangement was cemented when AFLI and the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Programme were selected as projects that must uphold the legacy of Archbishop Tutu. 

On Africa Day, 2017, an open letter to African Heads of State from Archbishop Tutu Fellows, appealing for the South Sudan Peace Agreement to be rescued.

Following the 10th anniversary celebration, it is encouraging to see how the sense of fellowship amongst the Fellows is developing and growing stronger.  To give you a sense of this, we celebrate the fellowship through the obligatory WhatsApp pics that are always posted whenever two or more Fellows gather and ‘check-in’ with the broader community.  It is only through greater networking and connectedness that we will harness the collective potential of the network. 

Between November 18 and 20, 2016, Tutu Fellows from all ten years in which the Tutu Leadership Programme has been offered descended upon Nirox Foundation Sculpture Park in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. They were there to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the programme under the theme, Leadership, Consciousness & Change-Making. The celebration also served as a reunion, bringing together Fellows from across the years and across the continent.  The video shows the dynamic nature of the Fellowship and pays tribute to the founders and the network of people who are changing Africa through their leadership.