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Students who attended the Visiola Foundation's 2016 STEM Summer Camp for teenage girls impressed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and American ambassadors when they visited Abuja, Nigeria. One of the projects the girls had was to make a robotic forklift (see video below). The Visiola Foundation was founded by 2014 Tutu Fellow Lade Araba.  It educates high-potential girls and young women in the STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering & Math) fields to build a pipeline of leaders and innovators who will help to transform African countries.

2016 Tutu Fellow Amanda Gicharu-Kemoli has been recognized by the Anita Borg Institute, winning the 'Change Agent' category in their annual GHC ABIE awards for 2016.  The Anita Borg Institute is a nonprofit organisation focused on the advancement of women in computing.  It seeks to connect, inspire and guide women in computing and organizations that view technology innovation as a strategic imperative. Founded in 1997 by computer scientist Anita Borg, the organization is active in more than 65 countries.

2016 Tutu Fellow Succès Masra has been appointed to the Presidential Task Team team at the African Development Bank that has been tasked with delivering the New Deal on Energy in Africa. The team will be in charge of projects like Inga Hydroelectric, which will be the largest of its kind on the continent, and the African Renewable Energy Initiative.  Masra, the Principal Energy Economist at the bank, will play a pivotal role in mobilizing capital for financing of the energy projects that will be part of this project's portfolio. 

Shared working spaces are one of the ways in which startups can keep costs down while simultaneously working in an environment providing networking opportunities and a sense of community.  Tutu Fellow Zied Mhirsi co-founded a space called Cogite in Tunisia, which has been listed as one of the top ten co-worker spaces in the world. 

Forbes wrote an article on shared spaces, partnering with Coworker, a ratings and reviews platform, and Nomad List to power the "Where to Work" feature for location independent workers who have the flexibility to work from anywhere in the world. More than 3,000 participants submitted their opinions on what made a particular space the best place to work.  Founders were also questioned about their spaces.  Cogite emerged as #3 on the list.

The full article is on Forbes.

President John Pombe Magufuli has surprised and delighted many people in Tanzania and beyond, by some of the actions he has taken in his first few months as president. Together with his Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, the President swept through the port and tax authorities, uncovering widespread corruption and unpaid taxes, leaving a trail of more than 60 sacked and suspended senior officials behind them.

The president has clamped down hard on unnecessary public expenditure, dramatically reducing foreign travel, out-of-office workshops and meetings.

Dear Mr President,

Since I came to your office to tender my resignation in 2001, you and I have not had any occasion to interact or communicate. I hope, however, you will still recall one of the observations I made about your legacy. I will not repeat it here because for me that remains a privileged conversation. I will, however, observe that I think you still have an opportunity to help create a foundation Zimbabweans can use to build a cohesive and successful nation.

The book, Expert Mavericks, showcases extraordinary individuals, each one a maverick in their field. It highlights the journeys and struggles that they faced in order to achieve success. Tutu Fellow Craig Wing is one of the 13 people selected for the book, compiled by Shareen Richter. 

The 13 South Africans, who are considered mavericks in their respective fields, share their personal stories with Richter in an effort to empower other South Africans to...

Forbes has written a piece on Kisua, highlighting how the company is putting African fashion on the map.  It starts out by pointing out that even if you’re not immersed in fashion, you probably understand that most designers originate from Paris, Milan, New York, and London. Africa seems to be a fashion afterthought. But it then makes the case for the impact African fashion has had on international design and the role that Kisua is playing today.

Tutu Fellow Linda Kasonde has written a follow-up article on governance in Africa. Previously, she examined the institutions that enable a country to function effectively for all its people - or not, as is the case in so many African countries.  In this article, which was published in the Lusaka Times, Kasonde looks at how important an independent judiciary can be in reining in the excesses of a corrupt leadership and holding even heads of state accountable.

2016 Tutu Fellow Andre Hilton Ross has been nominated for the 2016 Marsh Award for peacemaking and peacekeeping. The Marsh Award recognises individuals from outside the UK who are making an innovative difference to areas of conflict and peacemaking. Ross was shortlisted as a nominee for his work as Co-Founder and Chairperson of the Jala Peo Foundation and his role in using sport for development as a catalyst for change.

Tutu Fellow Ntombenhle Khathwane has been included on the Forbes 30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa 2016 list.  The Swazi-born entrepreneur is the founder of AfroBotanics, a Johannesburg-based company that makes ethnic hair and body-care products.  The Forbes African entrepreneurs list began in 2011 and has featured several other Tutu Fellows since its inception.

The first workshop of the 2016 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme was held at Mont Fleur Conference Centre from 23 to 30 April. The 23 Fellowship candidates, selected from over 250 top quality applicants, came from 11 different African countries as far afield as South Sudan, Chad and Somaliland. However, after 8 days of intensive leadership learning activities at this beautiful retreat in the Stellenbosch mountains, they left as a cohesive and enthusiastic body ready to tackle and make a difference in the challenges of leadership in Africa. Further work awaits them before the second workshop in Oxford and London in early September, but the Mont Fleur experience was a very memorable one, as it has been for the 10 previous Fellowship classes. The candidates were not only encouraged to reflect on the leadership challenges of Africa by renowned African business and civil society leaders, and by political leaders such as Trevor Manuel and Jay Naidoo, but they were also enticed to reflect on their own leadership through carefully structured experiential learning exercises, which teased out some thought provoking self-reflection. The attached photos capture some of spirit of the week at Mont Fleur.

Linda Kasonde has been elected President of the Law Association of Zambia during the association’s fifth annual conference at Livingstone’s Avani Victoria Falls Hotel. Kasonde beat two other contenders to become the first female President of the association. She takes over from George Chisanga who had completed his term of office.

The 2016 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme will be taking place near Cape Town soon. The 2016 candidates make up a strong cohort that bodes well for the future leadership of Africa. The biographies of the 2016 group follows.

BBC News is carrying a series of letters from African journalists and recently carried a piece by novelist and writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani on Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency. Nwaubani, an AFLI Leadership for Change Fellow, travelled to the Nigerian town of  Michika and found it split on grounds of ethnic and religious lines.