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A final celebratory dinner hosted by Investec in their London offices on 15th September brought to an end a six-month tumultuous journey of learning, of exploration, of self-reflection and establishing bonds of friendship and collaboration amongst 28 of Africa’s highest-potential emerging leaders, that will pertain across thousands of kilometres and for many many years. The Tutu Fellowship awards were presented at the dinner to those who had met the exacting standards required by the Fellowship and the 2017 class of newly-awarded Tutu Fellows dispersed to fulfil their potential and commitment as young leaders to make Africa a better place for all to live in.

Each of the 2017 Tutu Fellows were required to submit an essay on leadership in Africa. There were a number of excellent essays written, as can be expected from a specially-selected group of Africa’s finest emerging leaders. This essay by Sam Ngcolomba is the first of several we will publish over the next few months. She starts with an amazing story of courage and leadership by a young girl, and goes on to challenge the foundations of established leadership on the continent.

The first workshop of the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme was held at Mont Fleur Conference Centre from the 22nd to the 29th of April. The 26 Fellowship candidates, selected from more than 300 nominees, were from 11 African countries such as Equitorial Guinea, Sierra Leone and Egypt. 

The intensive leadership learning activities at the retreat in the Stellenbosch mountains provided space for introspection and time for friendships to develop among the cohort. This will serve them in good stead when they return home, ready to tackle and make a difference in the challenges of leadership in Africa.

The African Leadership Institute has a strong cohort of candidates for the prestigious Tutu Leadership Fellowship.  Amongst nearly 300 nominees from over 30 African countries, 26 of Africa’s highest potential young leaders were selected to take part in the programme. Spanning various industries, representing eleven African countries and ranging from 29 to 39 years of age, the selected candidates demonstrate the wealth and breadth of leadership talent that exists in Africa’s youth.  The biographies of the 2017 candidates follows:

There were 283 nominations of Africa’s finest young leaders from over 30 countries for the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship, which starts on 22nd April. Applications closed on 15th January 2017.  Since then, a selection panel of past Fellows and AFLI Board Members have been working tirelessly to draw up a short list of candidates for final evaluation by the selection panel. The short list of 52 candidates was finalised on 7th February, and the plan is for the final selection of the 2017 Tutu Fellows to be agreed upon by the AFLI Board at the end of February. Only 17 candidates are finally selected.

The Tutu Fellowship Programme requires each participant to write an essay on leadership in Africa. Each year, some of the best are selected for publishing by the African Leadership Institute. This is the third of the essays to be published from the 2016 Fellows. It is by Andre Ross and it is a deeply personal account of his views on leadership.  It presents ideas on what Africa has to offer the world, along with some thoughts on what it could do to sow the seeds of improvement.

When the 2016 Tutu Fellows convened for their first workshop at Mont Fleur in April, they were asked, for their Group project, to develop scenarios of the future of Africa, but were given 3 different global scenario frameworks within which Africa’s future should be considered. Their preferred scenario - both globally and in Africa - was one based on “Sustainable Transitions” – a world where global action is agreed and transnational issues implemented to secure global sustainability.

The Tutu Fellowship Programme requires each participant to write an essay on leadership in Africa. Each year, some of the best are selected for publishing by the African Leadership Institute. The quality of submissions is very high as demonstrated by this challenging and thought provoking piece by 2016 Fellow Neema Ndunguru, about the challenges of being a leader in Africa and making a difference to its peoples. She examines how Africans must guard their freedoms to both think as well as to act to ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated again and again.

The Tutu Fellowship Programme requires each participant to write an essay on leadership in Africa. The quality of submissions is very high as demonstrated by this challenging and thought provoking piece by 2016 Fellow Jon Kornik,  where he posits that we are decades too late for leading by looking in the rear view mirror when faced with a dynamic and disrupted future. New values, new mindsets and approaches are needed in leaders for positive outcomes for the people of Africa.

The African Leadership Institute will have a new Chief Executive Officer starting 1 October 2016.  The Board of the African Leadership Institute in South Africa has appointed Dr. Jacqueline Chimhanzi as CEO. Jackie Chimhanzi is a 2010 Tutu Fellow and has been a member of AFLI's Board for several years. Her involvement at Board level and being a Tutu Leadership Fellow enables her to enter the post with considerable knowledge and understanding of the various dimensions of the job.

Twenty three dynamic young leaders were awarded their Tutu Leadership Fellowship certificates last month at a farewell dinner hosted by Lord Hacking at his home in London, having completed the six-month, part-time programme with an intensive but richly rewarding ten-day workshop in Oxford and London.  This immensely rich and varied programme has made a deep impression on the graduating Fellows. A couple of comments illustrate the impact:

The first workshop of the 2016 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme was held at Mont Fleur Conference Centre from 23 to 30 April. The 23 Fellowship candidates, selected from over 250 top quality applicants, came from 11 different African countries as far afield as South Sudan, Chad and Somaliland. However, after 8 days of intensive leadership learning activities at this beautiful retreat in the Stellenbosch mountains, they left as a cohesive and enthusiastic body ready to tackle and make a difference in the challenges of leadership in Africa. Further work awaits them before the second workshop in Oxford and London in early September, but the Mont Fleur experience was a very memorable one, as it has been for the 10 previous Fellowship classes. The candidates were not only encouraged to reflect on the leadership challenges of Africa by renowned African business and civil society leaders, and by political leaders such as Trevor Manuel and Jay Naidoo, but they were also enticed to reflect on their own leadership through carefully structured experiential learning exercises, which teased out some thought provoking self-reflection. The attached photos capture some of spirit of the week at Mont Fleur.

The 2016 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme will be taking place near Cape Town soon. The 2016 candidates make up a strong cohort that bodes well for the future leadership of Africa. The biographies of the 2016 group follows.

AFLI is pleased to announce the 24 candidates selected for the 2016 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme, including the 5 candidates nominated by our sponsoring organisations – AGCO, Centum Investments, GSK, Investec and Rio Tinto – without whose generous support this incredible programme would not exist. There were 305 top-quality nominations from 32 countries for a slot in this prestigious programme, and inevitably there will be many disappointed, excellent candidates. The programme has developed a reputation as the foremost leadership programme designed specifically for Africa’s next-generation leaders, and as such is attracting Africa’s highest-calibre emerging leaders from all sectors. Competition is fierce for a place on the programme. It is evident from reviewing the applications that Africa is blessed with a very rich set of top-quality young leaders who have the potential to lead the continent to a bright future, and who are already doing amazing things.

This is a reminder that the applications for consideration for the 2016 African Leadership Programme must have been received by AFLI by 15 January 2016, a strict deadline.