Two 2016 Tutu Fellows, Amanda Gicharu and Jon Kornik, have been selected for the final one thousand candidates for UNLEASH 2017. Each year, UNLEASH sets up global innovation labs in which they bring together this group and get them working on themes such as water, food, energy, sustainable consumption and production and others. The large number offers UNLEASH the ability to tap some of the best minds of a generation and obtain critical mass on social issues. 

2016 Tutu Fellow Jon Kornik has joined the ranks of the 2017 Echoing Green Fellowship.  Thirty six people were named by the global organisation as Fellows in the class of 2017.  They include people turning chicken feathers into sustainable home insulation; creating pathways for underground distributors of cannabis to enter the legal cannabis industry; and equipping communities with data on police violence.

The African Diaspora has seen some of Africa's top talent leave the continent and go abroad.  To tap into this talent and provide these scatterlings of Africa with a way to network and remain engaged with the continent, 2017 Tutu Fellow 'Bosun Tijani launched the CcHub Diaspora Challenge.  The international project offers up to $250 thousand to be made available to African diaspora businesses that provide solutions to social challenges on the continent.

An experimental Ebola vaccine may be used in the outbreak in the remote northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  2017 Tutu Fellow Yap Boum is an epidemiologist with Epicentre Africa, the organization that has helped to set up a vaccine trial protocol with the Congolese government. Trial protocols are required for approval for use of an experimental drug. If granted, the vaccine could be used within weeks. 

2015 Tutu Fellow Landry Signé has published a new book titled Innovating Development Strategies in Africa.  It looks at international, regional and national drivers that play a role in African policy and economic transformation and the shift from state-led strategies to regional economic integration.  Signe reviews and analyses postcolonial strategies for economic development and provides an explanation of policy innovations since the 1960s.  A focus is Francophone Africa, where he provides detailed case studies. 

2008 Tutu Fellow Elsie Kanza helped organise and stage the successful WEF Forum On Africa, which was held in Durban earlier this year.  For fashion watchers, they'll have noted that the Senior Director and Head of Africa at WEF was wearing Kisua, founded by Sam Mensah, another Tutu 2008 Fellow and who is becoming a global fashion force.  As colleagues from the same leadership cohort, Kanza not only looked the part, but was able to show off an outfit of his surrounded by heads of state and other African leaders.  This kind of high visibility is not out of line for Mensah's brand, which has just launched a new Kisua shop in Menlyn Mall in Pretoria. 

2007 Tutu Fellow 'Gbenga Sesan, a tech entrepreneur and educator, has a program underway in which he is turning Nigerian hackers into tech entrepreneurs.  With 43% of Nigerian youth unemployed, it is little wonder some have turned to cybercrime.   His organisation, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, is retraining them to use technology constructively.  "If you're smart enough to scam, you're smart enough to design an app", he says. One hacker he has worked with has created an app for patients to view their medical records in real time, another to help protect young people from inappropriate online content.  The work he is doing with Nigeria's 'Yahoo Boys' was highlighted by the WEF on Africa. 

2013 Tutu Fellow Jumoke Oduwole is working on reforms that should have a dramatic impact on the economy of the country. Expectations are ambitious: for Nigeria to move 20 places up in the World Bank 'Doing Business' Rankings by October 2017, and into the Top 100 by 2019.  As a senior advisor to the Nigerian Vice President on Trade & Investment, who in turn has an executive role in transforming the economy, many of the changes will make it easier for micro, small and medium sized businesses (MSMEs) to do business in the country. 

2013 Tutu Fellow Monica Musonda has won the 2017 African Agribusiness of the Year Award.  The African Agribusiness Entrepreneur of the Year Award recognizes entrepreneurs who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in agricultural input and value-added industries, serving food and fiber production in Africa. The award is conferred by Market Matters every year to an agribusiness entrepreneur whose efforts have made a outstanding positive impact on African rural communities.

Two Tutu Fellows have been selected by MIPAD for its list of the 100 Most Influential People of African Descent under 40 for 2017. Both were in the category Business & Entrepreneurship.  The other categories were Politics & Governance; Media & Culture; and, Religious & Humanitarian. The Fellows who were selected are 2014 Fellow Ntombenhle Khathwane, the Founder of AfroBotanics; and 2013 Fellow Ally Angula, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Leap Holdings.

Tutu Fellows have attended and participated in the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's Governance Weekends' for several years.  The organization and the event deals with many of the issues that Fellows grapple with in their various sectors and countries and it provides an excellent forum to network and gain feedback on developments.  This year was no exception.  The Governance Weekend was early in April this year and was held in Marrakesh, Morocco.  This year, the focus was on leadership in the 21st century.

A number of Tutu Fellows attended the 2017 World Economic Forum, which was held in Durban, South Africa, this year, as Young Global Leaders with the WEF; in their personal capacities; or as invited speakers. Thirty seven Tutu Fellows are Young Global Leaders. More than a thousand people attended the event from more than 100 countries, including many leaders and several heads of state.

The Fellows included Victor Ochen, Bright Simons, Monica Musonda, Landry Signe, and others.  2008 Tutu Fellow Elsie Kanza is also to be congratulated for the event as Senior Director and Head of Africa at WEF.

2013 Tutu Fellow Monica Musonda narrates her journey into entrepreneurship as a Zambian woman in this TEDx talk in Euston in the United Kingdom.

She tells how, working for the richest man in Africa, her former employer Dangote asked “Where are the Zambian Banks & Factories?”  Monica reflected on how Nigerians run their economy and this inspired her to actively participate in her own country’s economy.  It is a funny story about the trials and tribulations of being an entrepreneur, but also about the impact that steps such as these can have in building the African economy.

In this TEDx talk, Tutu Fellow Ed Mabaya talks about his childhood growing up in rural Zimbabwe and how it gave him the insight into the power of improved seed to provide a pathway out of poverty. He left the small family farm where he grew up. But when he returned, it was to the realisation that food security remains a problem for too many parts of rural Africa. Successful farmers are able to make enough money to invest in their children's educations. A key element to better farming outcomes is better seed.  Mabaya calls this improved seed the 'hunger buster 2.0'.  Climate smart varieties of non-GMO, conventionally-bred seed offer opportunities for bigger harvests.

African experts in finance and economics gathered in Dakar, Senegal in March 2017 to discuss growth, inequality and unemployment as part of the weeklong activities marking the Africa Development Week 2017.  A theme that emerged was a call for policies that cater to youth. The conference is organized by the UN Economic Commission for Africa.  Two Tutu Fellows who attended were Dr Geci Karuri-Sebina, a 2009 Tutu Fellow, and 2015 Fellow, Dr Wiebe Boer.