News
The latest news from the African Leadership Institute and its Fellows. AFLI Fellows are leaders and change-makers, so this section has a lot of news. All text in all of the posts is fully searchable.
- Written by: Norman Smit
- Category: News
- Published:
2009 Tutu Fellow James Mwangi is one of the recipients of the 2022 Climate Breakthrough Award, the largest climate action award for individuals. James shares this year’s award is with Isabel Cavelier Adarve, a former Colombian climate diplomat; and a trio of ground-breaking campaigners in India: Brikesh Singh, Sanjiv Gopal and Vinuta Gopal. The award provides a $3 million multi-year flexible grant to 'extraordinary changemakers to pursue ambitious climate-change mitigation ideas that have the potential to transform entire industries or countries and materially change the lives of millions of people.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
- Category: News
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Three Fellows have been selected for the MIPAD Global Top 100 2022 list. MIPAD is short for Most Influential People of African Descent. The three Fellows honored by this selection are 2018 Fellow Hassanatu Mansaray Phd; 2019 Fellow Marcia Ashong; and, 2020 Fellow Olamide 'Kola' Aina.
The list, which is published every year and dates back to 2017, honors influential Africans under the age of 40. The lists began being developed following the UN's General Assembly Resolution in support of the International Decade for People of African Descent and are usually published to coincide with the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York in September and October.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
- Category: News
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2014 Tutu Fellow Aua Balde has been elected Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. She was appointed to the Group in November 2020 by the UN Human Rights Council.
Enforced disappearance has become a global problem and is not restricted to a specific region of the world. A disappearance has a doubly paralysing impact: on the victims, frequently tortured and in constant fear for their lives, and on their families, ignorant of the fate of their loved ones, their emotions alternating between hope and despair, wondering and waiting, sometimes for years, for news that may never come.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
- Category: News
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Seven Tutu Fellows have been selected for the prestigious 2022 Choiseul 100 Africa Economic Leaders of Tomorrow list and a further 11 the Top 200 list. The Choiseul 100 Africa is an annual study independently carried out by the Institut Choiseul.
It identifies and ranks the young African leaders of 40 years old and younger, who will play a major role in the continent’s economic development in the near future. It includes business leaders, successful entrepreneurs, investors, and more who embody the dynamism and renewal of the continent.
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- Written by: Jackie Chimhanzi PhD
- Category: News
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The African Leadership Institute received more than 300 nominations for a slot in the Class of 2023 Tutu Fellowship Programme. As of writing this, the application phase just closed and nominees have completed submitting their applications for the leadership programme. A rigorous selection process is now underway.
Africa is blessed with outstanding young leaders, and the Tutu Fellowship Programme is attracting the best of the best of Africa's emerging leaders.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
- Category: News
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2013 Tutu Fellow Danladi Verheijen has been appointed to the Advisory Board of the Atlantic Council’s new Freedom and Prosperity Center. The Atlantic Council is an international affairs think tank that favours a close relationship between North America and Europe on political, economic and defense issues. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosperity.
The news of the appointment was shared by Danladi on his Linkedin page.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
- Category: News
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2013 Tutu Fellow Danladi Verheijen has shared that oil giant Shell has bought the Daystar Power Group, a company backed by Verod in 2019. Verod Capital Management is a private equity firm that 2022 Fellow, Eric Idiahi co-founded with Danladi. As a result of their collaboration, Daystar Power has evolved to become the leading solar player in Nigeria.
Daystar provides off-grid power to commercial and industrial clients in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo, offering solar and hybrid power solutions with battery storage. It has 300 power installations with solar capacity of 32 megawatts.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
- Category: News
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2014 Tutu Fellow Sello Hatang rang the Opening Bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Friday 23 September at 9:30 AM.
Sello, who is the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, rang the bell to honor the legacy of former President Nelson Mandela, who had also rung the NYSE bell twenty years previously and was welcomed by the NYSE.
After the bell, Sello sat down for an interview about the work of the foundation and some of the ambitious goals it has.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
- Category: News
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2022 Tutu Fellow Bilha Ndirangu has been named to the inaugural cohort of young climate practitioners of the Yale Emerging Climate Leaders Fellowship program.
This eight-month program offers an opportunity for 16 young climate and clean energy practitioners from across the Global South to broaden their technical skills, deepen their professional networks, and exchange views with top global clean energy and climate change leaders.
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- Written by: Judy Malan
- Category: News
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14 September this year marked the graduation of the Tutu Class of 2022 - in a historic year when two classes graduated in one year as a result of the COVID-delayed Class of 2020.
A remarkable group of accomplished leaders, the Class of 2022 chose a momentous week to be in the UK, as their Oxford-London retreat coincided with the death of Queen Elizabeth II. While this had some unfortunate implications - including missing out on time with Baroness Amos and being unable to visit the Houses of Parliament, which closed for a week of mourning - it did give us a front row seat to a truly historic moment.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
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2014 Tutu Fellow Isaac Fokuo and 2006 Tutu Associate Ndidi Nwuneli have been appointed members of the 2022-2023 Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee at the US EXIM Bank. Isaac was appointed to represent Banking and Finance and Ndidi for Trade/Commerce.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) is the nation’s official export credit agency with the mission of supporting American jobs by facilitating U.S. exports.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
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In this Tutu Talk, 2012 Tutu Fellow and Ivory Coast entrepreneur Swaady Martin says: "What drives me is how do I contribute to make the world a more compassionate and loving place with all the gifts that I have. But also the gifts that I acquire along my journey. How else could we bring more peace?"
TutuTalks are a series collaboration between the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the African Leadership Institute, and it is a platform for African leaders who embody the values and ethics displayed by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu throughout his life of service.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
- Category: News
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2015 Tutu Fellow Dr Kopano Matlwa Mabaso has started a new role as Senior Program Officer, Health, Africa at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Kopano is a public health physician and novelist and the Founding Executive Director of the Grow Great Campaign, which seeks to achieve the goal of zero stunted growth among children in South Africa by 2030.
At the Gates Foundation, Kopano says that together with colleagues in the Africa team she hopes to strengthen and advance the Foundation's regional and continental health portfolio, with a focus on primary health care and health systems strengthening.
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- Written by: Norman Smit
- Category: News
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In her Tutu Talk, titled The Activist-Scholar: Navigating the promises and pitfalls of policy-making, 2010 Tutu Fellow Robtel Neajai Pailey PhD speaks about her commitment to building progressive politics in her country and influencing public discourse and policy-making processes.
TutuTalks are a series collaboration between the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the African Leadership Institute, and it is a platform for African leaders who embody the values and ethics displayed by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu throughout his life of service.
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- Written by: Jackie Chimhanzi PhD
- Category: 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 5th.
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- Tutu Talks: From child of war to man of peace
- Fellow on AU Tech Panel for economic development
- New president starts with energy
- Ed Mabaya to head Cornell's Humphrey Fellowship programme
- Tutu Talks: The quiet enabler - trusting your truth
- Essay - Nigeria needs a 2nd Independence
- Africa's Great Carbon Valley
- Ambassador Elsie Kanza meets President Joe Biden
- 2015 Fellow to Chair the board of York Timbers
- Tutu Talks: Mimi Kalinda on being an Afro-Optimist
