Latest News

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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.

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2009 Tutu Fellow James Mwangi connects the dots between climate change and climate action in his TED Talk from June 2022 in New York.  He argues that with the planet missing the IPCC emissions goals that negatively impact climate change, it will be necessary to both push harder on that front, and then also remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere at a massive scale. He says that estimates suggest that the world will need to remove 5-16 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every single year by 2050. 

The Rift Valley, he says, provides a scalable way to remove carbon from the air - and end energy poverty.

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2008 Tutu Fellow Elsie Kanza PhD, the Tanzanian Ambassador to the United States, has met US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office at the White House.  Elsie was appointed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan in May 2021 as one of 22 ambassadors, and in August of that year, assigned to the Embassy in Washington DC, one of the top postings in the diplomatic hierarchy.  She met President Biden on 24 June 2022. 

Elsie was formerly Head of Africa and Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum. She has worked in various capacities in the government of Tanzania, including in the Office of the Presidency, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank.  In her role at the Embassy, she is also responsible for diplomatic connections in Mexico.

2015 Tutu Fellow Zukie Siyotula has been appointed as a Chairperson of the Board by York Timber Holdings Limited. York Timber Holdings is a Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed company that is the largest solid wood processor producing lumber and plywood in South Africa with a wholesale distribution network as well. Their clients include truss engineering manufacturers, corporate and independent retailers, remanufacturers, furniture manufacturers and construction contractors.

Zukie serves on a number of other Boards including African Bank, Bidvest Group, Toyota, Ogilvy & Mather, Salungano Group and Conduit Capital Limited. 

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The Class of 2022 attended the first workshop of the Tutu Leadership Programme in Mont Fleur in April, returning AFLI to its normal programmatic year after a year in hiatus due to COVID. 

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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.

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Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has re-appointed 2012 Tutu Fellow James Mworia to a second term as the Chancellor of Machakos University.  James is the CEO Centum Investment Company, the largest listed investment company in East Africa, with approximately $1.8 billion USD in direct and third party assets under management. 

Machakos University was founded in 1957 as a Technical Rural Training School by the then colonial Government. It was converted into Machakos Technical and Trade School in 1958, Machakos Technical School in 1967, Machakos University College in 2013, and chartered to Machakos University in October 2016.

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2019 Tutu Fellow Ronak Gopaldas has been appointed a 'Global South African' brand ambassador by Brand South Africa.

Brand South Africa was established in 2002 to help create a positive and compelling brand image for South Africa. Its mandate is to develop and implement a proactive marketing and communication strategy for the country, promote economic competitiveness, drive trade and investment, and develop pride, patriotism, social cohesion and active citizenship among South Africans.

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2018 Tutu Fellow Adebola Williams has been appointed a Patron for Malaria No More, the UK-based charity organisation.  In a recent announcement, Malaria No More officially welcomed Adebola to its family of global spokespeople. 

In the role, he joins founding patrons Simon Fuller, Peter Chernin, and Ray Chambers, as well as Global Leadership Council members David Beckham, Andy Murray, and Eliud Kipchoge. Malaria No More has as its goal a world in which no one dies from a mosquito bite.

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2016 Tutu Fellow Dorothy Ghettuba has been promoted to Director of Africa Originals Series at Netflix. Previously, she was Manager, Africa Originals Series at Netflix.  In this new role, she will continue to build on the library of original series she has already developed for Netflix. 

It gives her greater latitude to source and bring African stories to the screen, and continue to grow an important market for the company. 

Digital TV Research, says that Netflix ended 2021 with approximately 2.61 million streaming subscribers in Africa and this is anticipated to grow to around 5.84 million by 2026.

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2017 Tutu Fellow Rosy Fynn has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of First National Bank GH.  First National Bank traces it's roots back to Eastern Province Bank, which started in 1838 in South Africa, but over time evolved and changed ownership and in 1998 started being active in Ghana. It has commercial banks in nine African countries and the Ghana bank offers a wide range of banking products with a focus on digital banking. 

Rosy has extensive experience in the technology, financial services, consulting, and insurance industries, has been a senior executive at three major telecommunications companies, and heads a leading ISP in Ghana.

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2019 Tutu Fellow Samson Itodo has joined the board of the Kofi Annan Foundation.  The Chair of the Board, Elhadj As Sy, said that at a time when half of the world’s population was younger than 30, Samson's expertise and commitment to the inclusion of young people in politics and effective leadership would bring great value to the work of the foundation. Founded in 2007 by the late former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan the foundation is an independent, nonprofit whose mission is to help build peaceful, democratic and resilient societies.

Samson is a lawyer from Nigeria and Founder of Yiaga Africa, an NGO with the mission of promoting democracy in Africa. 

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2019 Tutu Fellow Ronak Gopaldas has written a paper for the Centre for African Studies at Nanyang Technological University titled Africa walks a tightrope - Economic implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  He begins by saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has thrown global markets into disarray and threatens to derail what was an already fragile post-Covid global economic recovery. Beyond the global geopolitical and humanitarian implications his actions also have some serious ramifications for the global economy.  He continues by saying that the question for Africa is whether policymakers can tactfully navigate the crisis.

He says African countries stand to benefit enormously from surging commodity prices, but whether the windfall will be enough to stem the global currency, inflation and interest rate shocks will depend on their willingness to make bold political decisions.

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The organisation started by 2014 Tutu Fellow Linda Kasonde, Chapter One Foundation, has obtained a consent judgement against ZICTA - the Zambia Information and Communication Authority - over an illegal interruption of Zambia's internet service that occurred during Zambia's elections. At the time, President Edgar Lungu was trailing opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema.  Chapter One filed an urgent application to require the restoration of services.

Linda Kasonde, the Executive Director of Chapter One, said that it is the first case of its kind in Zambia and an enormous victory for internet freedom and freedom of expression in the country.

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The integrated vanadium producer in South Africa, Bushveld Minerals, has appointed three new independent non-executive directors to their board, one of whom is 2011 Tutu Fellow Jacqueline Musiitwa.  The other two were Kevin Alcock and Mirco Bardella.  The appointments are of immediate effect.

In a statement by the company, it said that the appointments were made to ensure the board's composition met the high standards of corporate governance expected of London-listed companies and reflected Bushveld's status as a significant producer of vanadium in South Africa.