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.
Across the world, 1 June marks International Children’s Day. The September 20 Foundation, which was started by 2017 Fellow Abayomi Awobokun, celebrated the day with 450 displaced children at the Kuchigoro Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Abuja, Nigeria. Children were given food and party packs. An inflatable climbing wall gave the children a challenge they'd not had before and along with toys that were provided, a day of fun was had by all. Many of the people living in these camps have been displaced by the conflict with Boko Haram. Several million people across Nigeria are living in IDP camps with inadequate food and in poor living conditions that impact the children the most.
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.
On Africa Day, 2017, an open letter to African Heads of State from Archbishop Tutu Fellows, appealing for the South Sudan Peace Agreement to be rescued.
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.
Following the 10th anniversary celebration, it is encouraging to see how the sense of fellowship amongst the Fellows is developing and growing stronger. To give you a sense of this, we celebrate the fellowship through the obligatory WhatsApp pics that are always posted whenever two or more Fellows gather and ‘check-in’ with the broader community. It is only through greater networking and connectedness that we will harness the collective potential of the network.
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.
As an ardent student of history, the subject of leadership has fascinated me for years. In particular, I look for insights into what makes great leaders so great - Mandela, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr. to name but a few.
For me, more than anything the pattern that emerges amongst all exceptional leaders is the ability to have the courage of their convictions.
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 Leades. 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.
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.
