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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In her TED talk, 2018 Tutu Fellow Zoë Karl-Waithaka explains that marketing impacts the livelihoods of farmers in ways that are unexpected. She takes a look at campaigns promoting agricultural products like milk and avocados. Perhaps 'Got Millet' - to borrow from the campaign promoting milk - can help farmers by creating a greater market for the product.
She says marketing campaigns like "Got milk?" to "avocados from Mexico," influence what people eat more than one might realize. But despite the known power of food marketing, Zoe says farmers in Africa are more likely to receive funding for seed and fertilizer than they are for advertising geniuses.
2006 Tutu Fellow Palesa Kadi has been appointed as Chairperson of the South African Geographical Names Council at the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture. The South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) is the body that receives recommendations from provincial names committees and advises the government on new geographical names as well as the changing of existing geographical names.
Changing some of the country's many colonial or apartheid-legacy names formed part of a call made by the arts and culture minister in 2021 for an audit of offensive names and also to write black people into South Africa's history.
Today, 26 December 2021, we lost our beloved Patron, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
But even as we mourn the passing of our dear Patron, we celebrate a life of service well lived and the values and ideals he espoused and bequeathed to us - ubuntu, servant leadership, integrity, humility, compassion and courage. We remember a man who was diminutive in stature but larger than life in his boldness, always speaking truth to power when the occasion demanded.
In a Tutu Talk in December 2021, 2013 Tutu Fellow Catherine Constantinides calls on young people to be active citizens and to commit to social change.
TutuTalks is a platform for African leaders who embody the values and ethics displayed by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu throughout his life of service and is a partnership with the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the African Leadership Institute.
The Class of 2020 attended their first workshop in the Tutu Fellowship Programme at Mont Fleur in South Africa in November 2021, delayed more than a year by the COVID pandemic. It was an immersive and emotional experience for the group, with a visit to the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, now home to a permanent and poignant exhibition of our late Founding Patron.
The tour stimulated deep reflection on courage, justice, values, servant leadership and the sacrifices that leaders must make. Speakers included Monica Geingos, Trevor Manuel, Prof Carlos Lopes, and Valter Adao.
2017 Tutu Fellow Mimi Kalinda says that her company, Africa Communications Group, has been acquired by Marco. The sale to Marco, which purchased a 51% stake, happened in November 2021. Mimi is delighted with Marco’s investment in ACG, as it means the company she began can expand across other continents and make a bigger contribution to the growth of African economy.
She says ACG is the first African-owned, pan-African communications and strategic reputation management firm handling communication solutions for global clients across the entire continent. It is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with additional offices in Abidjan in Ivory Coast and Nairobi, Kenya. It also has long-standing partners in Kigali, Rwanda; Harare, Zimbabwe; and Lagos, Nigeria. There are also additional affiliated offices in 40+ additional countries across the African continent.
In March 2020, the African Leadership Institute announced the Associates who had been selected for the 2020 Class of the Tutu Fellowship programme. As has been the case with previous cohorts, the people selected were exceptional emerging African leaders. AFLI received more than 300 nominees of outstanding quality from 36 African countries, from which the cohort was selected. Before the class could begin, COVID intervened and the programme was deferred until conditions allowed for an in-person convening.
Since that initial announcement of the cohort was made, not all of the candidates were still able to participate in the programme. The names below represent the final cohort who begin the first workshop in the programme in South Africa next week.
