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Tutu Fellow Ronald Osumba has been appointed by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta as the Chairman of the country's Youth Advisory Board.  The appointment began in March and runs for three years.  The position is key in that Osumba has the potential to make a big difference to the lives and influence of youth in Kenya. 

The following essay was submitted by Tutu Fellow Uzodinma Iweala as a thought piece for the 2015 Tutu Leadership Programme and garnered a second place.  In it, he asks what it is to be a Nigerian and what are the common threads, the common narratives - myths, if you wish - that all Nigerians need  to create and sustain a common nationality.

Tutu Fellow Lade Araba, who is a founder of the Visiola Foundation, saw a small measure of the fruits of that organisation's efforts when she accompanied two science scholars to the Next Einstein Forum for their 2016 Global Gathering in Dakar, Senegal.  It was the first time the two scholars,  Rachael Asaolu and Omolara Kassim, had been on a plane, their first time traveling outside of Nigeria, and their first time at an international conference.

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.

The world is in the midst of a refugee crisis. More than four million Syrians have fled the country since the start of the civil war in that country and more than a million migrants from Africa and the Middle East crossed into Europe in 2015. This is one of the largest movements of people since the end of World War II.  Against this backdrop, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has appointed a Tutu Fellow, Victor Ochen, as their global advisor on Gender, Forced Displacement and Protection.  The appointment of the Nobel Peace Prize nominee was made by the UNHCR in February 2016.

Three Tutu Fellows were selected for a list of leading Africans contributors to an article for up and coming entrepreneurs.  The three Fellows are Monica Musonda, Susan Mashibe,  and Swaady Martin.  The article, which is for the website Lionesses of Africa, is entitled The 50 best pieces of advice we featured in 2015 from some of Africa's leading women entrepreneurs.  The three Fellows are all active entrepreneurs in different fields.  Musonda is the founder of Zambian-based Java foods; Mashibe is the founder of VIA Aviation a Tanzanian business transport and aviation company; and Martin is the founder of YSWARA, a South African tea company.

In this TEDx talk in Johannesburg, novelist and medical doctor Kopano Matlwa Mabaso tells how she and her friend Chrystelle Wedi sought to turn the tide of preventable deaths in women at childbirth. Their idea made them winners of the first Aspen Ideas Award. Their idea was to set up mobile, ultrasound scan clinics in remote and rural parts of Africa and make lifesaving antenatal healthcare more easily accessible to pregnant women. But the deepest parts of Africa are tough places to do work. Matlwa, with humility, tells how even good ideas sometimes need self-correction during implementation.

Two Tutu Fellows are included on the 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining 2016 list.  They are Zeinab Camara and Siza Majola.

Tutu Fellow Kopano Mabaso has been featured on season three of the South African short-film series 21 Icons. The South African medical doctor, who is pursuing a PhD in public health at Oxford University is #18 in the series.

Tutu Fellow Jumoke Oduwole has been appointed as a senior economic development advisor in the Nigerian government.  She is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment in the Office of the Vice President.  The President has given the Vice President the authority to take a supervisory role on developing the Nigerian economy.  Oduwole will also be assisting the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, who is new to international trade, although he has a background in private equity.

Tutu Fellow Lanre Akinola has joined the board of the Business Council for Africa.  The council is a membership-based organisation supporting business and trade in  and with Africa.  More than 400 companies and entrepreneurs are part of the council, which was started in 1956.  The council has 33 representatives across Africa and is part of the European Business Council for Africa and a sister organization for the Mediterranean.

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.

Tutu Fellow Eunice Ajambo has received the 2015 Global Female Leadership Impact Award by the Center for Economic and Leadership Development. She was also inducted into the Global Women Leaders Hall of Fame. The award and the induction was conferred by the Center for Economic and Leadership Development (CELD) in partnership with the CEO Clubs Network Worldwide, and the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women (NOBEL Women), USA. The event took place at the the South America-Africa-Middle East-Asia Women's Summit in Dubai in November.

The Tutu Fellows and AFLI’s network of contacts across the continent have been very active over the last couple of months, seeking and identifying Africa’s highest potential emerging leaders to nominate them for the prestigious Tutu Leadership Fellowship. The Tutu Leadership programme is arguably the best leadership programme designed specifically for Africa’s emerging leaders in the age range 25-39 from all sectors of society, and as such, the all-expenses paid Fellowship is a highly sought after award. Only once candidates have been nominated may they submit an application for the Fellowship.

In less than a fortnight, South African President Jacob Zuma has fired two finance ministers from his cabinet.  The first was Nhlanhla Nene, who resisted Zuma's excesses and was replaced with little-known David van Rooyen who was expected to rubber stamp Zuma's wishes.  World markets reacted immediately, causing the Rand to fall precipitously and the stock market to tumble.