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.
2018 Tutu Fellow Oluseun Onigbinde has launched his debut book The Existential Questions: Uncomfortable facts confronting Nigeria after a 60-year journey. Nigeria's 60th anniversary took place in October 2020. He asks the question 'why has the country failed to live up to its potential', and his answers lie within the 285-page softcover.
Oluseun looks at where his country is and how it got there by examining Nigerian leadership, the country's socio-economic status, its weak legal and judicial systems, and other human development systems and arrives at the conclusion that Nigeria has been grossly mismanaged. But he doesn't stop there.
2018 Tutu Fellow Temi Marcella Awogboro has written thought piece titled Blockchain: The Opportunity for the Africa Market. In it, she poses the question as to whether blockchain technology can not just open new vistas for African business and society, but go further - help developing nations leapfrog more developed economies? She points out that a lack of existing infrastructure has been used as an opportunity by developing nations in the past. An example has been the early adoption of digital technology, leading developed nations with heavily established analogue infrastructure.
She says the potential benefits for a developing economy being early adopters of blockchain are extensive. These include increased transparency, more efficient and cost-effective transactions, and growth in local technological centres to build up infrastructure and export knowledge learned.
Apolitical has published its list of 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy, a prestigious international list that honours and celebrates people working on gender policy who are making the world more equitable. They made their selection by considering people in areas that include policymaking, public service, research, philanthropy, advocacy and activism. Drawn from more than 1,100 nominations, 2018 Tutu Fellow Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg was selected in the Economic Justice and Rights category.
Apolitical is an organisation that seeks to empower public servants through education, skills training, networking and 21st century digital tools. Wanjiru is joined in the category in which she was honoured by 13 other women.
2018 Tutu Fellow Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg PhD has been appointed as Rise’s inaugural Executive Director. Rise is an initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust – the anchor program of a $1 billion philanthropic commitment by Eric and Wendy Schmidt. The website says Rise is a talent programme designed to increase opportunity for exceptional young people who need it to do more for others, together, throughout their lives. Wanjiru joined the organisation in April 2021.
Rise says that exceptional talent drives the pace and scale of global progress. But the identification and support of that talent is often ad hoc and fragmented across countries, educational institutions, and industries. As a result, some of the world’s most talented people go undiscovered, are inefficiently matched to development opportunities, or are limited in their opportunity to work in service of the public benefit as they enter the workforce. The initiative seeks to change that.
A 2009 Tutu Fellow’s Community project, Tswelopele Sisterhood and Girls Club in Alexandra, which was co-founded by Geci Karuri-Sebina PhD, recently got a boost from another Tutu Fellow. 2018 Fellow Edzai Zvobwo and his nonprofit, The Education Support Forum, have partnered with Tswelopele to facilitate the girls' skills development by donating 30 tablets to help expand virtual learning. The tablets will also help supplement tutoring and access to e-resources during this period as schools are disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In order to be awarded the Tutu Fellowship, participants are required to complete three assignments, one of which is a community project in keeping with the servant leadership tenet that underpins the programme.
Evercare Hospital Lekki, a private multispecialty tertiary care facility, was officially unveiled by the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on March 11 2021. The building is a concrete example of efforts by 2018 Tutu Fellow Temi Marcella Awogboro to bring it into being and she currently serves as an Executive Director with Evercare Hospital Lekki. The hospital is wholly owned by the Evercare Health Fund, a $ 1 billion emerging markets healthcare fund managed by The Rise Fund, the impact investment platform of global alternative asset manager TPG Capital. Temi played a key role in bringing this deal together and she was the West Africa deal lead of the fund.
Serah Makka-Ugbabe, a 2018 Tutu Fellow, has been promoted to ONE’s Executive Director for Engagement and Mobilisation. In this role, she will lead ONE’s work on global campaigning and digital strategy, as well as the coordination, growth, and engagement of ONE’s diverse and global supporter base. She was promoted to this post in March 2021.
ONE is a global nonprofit campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable disease by 2030, so that everyone, everywhere can lead a life of dignity and opportunity. ONE lobbys political leaders in world capitals and runs grassroots campaigns to pressure governments to do more to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa, and empowers citizens to hold their governments to account.
The African Climate Foundation (ACF) has elected 2018 Tutu Fellow Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg PhD to their Advisory Council. She is the Director of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), which works towards inclusive, agriculture-driven prosperity for the African continent, by strengthening the production and dissemination of more gender-responsive agricultural research and innovation.
The ACF is the first African-led, strategic, climate-change, grant-making foundation on the continent.
In October 2020, two Nigerian Tutu Fellows, Akin Oyebode and Serah Ugbabe, co-hosted a Zoom discussion, entitled, Let’s Run for Office: Spotlight on Local Government Chairman. The guest speaker for the event was Folarin Gbadebo-Smith PhD, the Director General for the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research as well as the Local Government Chairman for Lagos from 2003- 2007.
In the Zoom discussion, Folarin shared his history, personal anecedotes, and insights into working and rising through local governance in Nigeria.
2018 Tutu Fellow Adebola Williams has been appointed as a Global Champion by the United Nations Generation Unlimited. Adebola is a media entrepreneur, journalist, political activist and the co-founder and Group CEO of Red Media. He is the youngest Global Champion appointed so far by GenU.
His appointment sees him join GenU ranks that include Rwandan President Paul Kagame; Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta; the First Vice President of Costa Rica, Epsy Campbell Barr; the African Union’s Moussa Faki Mahamat. Their role is to help steer the United Nations Generation Unlimited vision.
2018 Tutu Fellow Omoni Oboli shot an informal video of the first Tutu Leadership Programme workshop at Mont Fleur and its surrounds. She edited it together afterwards and it includes a candid stream of consciousness view of the workshop. The video shows some light-hearted moments that gently poke fun at the deep moments of introspection that took place among the attendees.
The video includes the group's visit to Robben Island where political prisoners were held during the Apartheid years, sessions in the workshop, and periods when candidates were given time to think in the beautiful surroundings.
The African Leadership Institute, once again, has a very strong cohort of emerging African leaders for the prestigious Tutu Leadership Fellowship for 2018. Amongst nearly 300 nominees of outstanding quality from over 30 African countries, 18 of Africa’s highest potential young leaders were selected to take part in the programme. Including the candidates nominated by our sponsoring organisations, the candidates represent ten different African countries and various industries, and range from 30 to 39 years of age. The selected candidates demonstrate the incredible wealth and breadth of leadership talent that exists in Africa’s youth. The biographies of the 2018 candidates follow:
The African Leadership Institute (AFLI) is unique among leadership initiatives in that it focuses on building the capacity and capability of visionary and strategic leadership across the continent. Developing exceptional leaders representing all spheres of society, the Institute’s flagship programme is the prestigious Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship. Offering a multifaceted learning experience and run in partnership with Oxford University, it is awarded annually to 20-25 carefully chosen candidates, nominated from across Africa. Alumni of the African Leadership Institute form a dynamic network of Fellows passionately committed to the continent’s transformation, bridging the divide between nations and ensuring that Africa is set centre-stage in global affairs.