African Leadership Academy: Leaders Who Will Transform Africa
African Leadership Academy’s core mission - to create lasting peace and prosperity in Africa by developing and connecting the continent’s future leaders - is founded on our belief that Africa’s greatest need is ethical and entrepreneurial leadership. Too often, we address the symptoms of bad leadership in Africa: we give blankets, foo
d, and medicine to those impacted by war, poverty and famine. But these efforts will not stop unless we develop political leaders who create policies that foster peace and stability, scientists who increase sustainable food production and access to healthcare and entrepreneurs who build scale enterprises to generate employment so urgently needed on the continent. ALA seeks to catalyze large-scale change in Africa by developing thousands of transformative leaders for the continent over the next few decades. Our model for change involves three steps: (1) we identify the most outstanding young leaders across Africa; (2) we develop these young leaders through an innovative,
life-long program that focuses on hands-on practice; and (3) we foster powerful, life-long networks for these leaders that position them to achieve large-scale impact in Africa. ALA believes that behind every large-scale effort for change, there are usually a few individuals who serve as the catalyst. ALA is therefore ‘mining’ the continent of Africa for such individuals and then developing and connecting them to the resources and networks they need to achieve large-scale change in Africa. We aim to develop the next Nelson Mandela, the next Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and African leaders to follow in the footsteps of Bill Gates, Aung San Suu Kyi and Jonas Salk. Today, the ALA network includes almost 400 young leaders from 42 African countries, selected from over 9,000 applicants. ALA admits those young leaders with the greatest potential to transform Africa and the world at large, and they come from a wide range of backgrounds: urban and rural; wealthy and destitute; strong families and broken homes. ALA begins with a two year pre-university program on its campus in South Africa where students, selected based on merit alone, complete a unique curriculum with a focus on leadership, entrepreneurship and African studies. At the Academy, these young leaders engage in hands-on leadership and entrepreneurial experiences, and each young leader develops a “culminating project”: either an entrepreneurial business or an innovative social venture that serves as a platform for their future leadership development. ALA continues to cultivate these leaders throughout their lives, in university and beyond, with leadership mentoring and by connecting them with career opportunities and high-impact networks of people and capital. Our Champions
ALA has received more than US$30 million of philanthropic support from individuals and organizations spanning 25 countries on six continents. Leading donors include individuals such as Scott Cook (Intuit), the Oppenheimer Family (De Beers), Irv Grousbeck (Continental Cablevision) and John Morgridge (Cisco), and institutions like The Robertson Foundation, The Bezos Family Foundation, The Mastercard Foundation, Omidyar Network, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation and The WK Kellogg Foundation. ALA’s Young Leaders
ALA’s young leaders are already demonstrating their ability to drive change on a continental scale, launching projects and realizing dreams that have the potential to transform not only Africa, but the world at large. They have built non-profit organizations to combat entrenched social issues; they have developed scalable innovations to address local nutritional challenges; they are exploring cutting-edge ideas in science and technology through their on-campus research, they have launched profitable businesses; and they have shared their ideas at various forums on the global stage. They have also been admitted to the world’s top universities – including Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Princeton – and the first two classes of graduates – 180 students in total – have been awarded over US$21 million in university scholarship support. In sum, they have coalesced into a powerful community, and as their lives progress they will work together to build greater initiatives for change. For example, William Kamkwamba, a member of ALA’s inaugural class, wrote a best-selling book detailing how he used junkyard scraps to build a windmill and bring electricity to his rural Malawian village. His book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, was named on Amazon.com’s top 10 books of 2009. William is now at Dartmouth studying engineering, having progressed from testing as a 4th-grader (at the age of 20) to the Ivy League in just 3 years due to his development through the ALA program. William has his sights set on building utility-scale wind power projects to dramatically improve the electricity infrastructure in Malawi. The following short (~5 min) documentary was made about William Kamkwamba in 2008 as he began the ALA program. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arD374MFk4w. In September 2011, the inaugural Anzisha Prize was awarded to ALA student, Joel Mwale, to recognize his entrepreneurial success. This eighteen year-old founder of Skydrop Enterprises decided to build a purified water bottling facility near his home in rural Kenya after an outbreak of dysentery hit his community. The Anzisha Prize (www.anzishaprize.com) was established jointly by ALA and the MasterCard Foundation to celebrate and inspire Africa’s young entrepreneurial leaders. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6lRxir25l8
In September 2010, National Public Radio aired a great segment about ALA on their Morning Edition program. You can listen using the following link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129742948
At the ALA Leadership Symposium in 2009, Fatoumata Binetou Fall, presented her vision for improved management of water resources in Africa. She became interested in water issues after the long water shortages in her city in 2007, when she and her younger sister had to walk long distances to fetch water for their family. Before coming to ALA, Fatoumata was the top student at Mariama Ba, an all-girls secondary school reserved for the top 30 female performers on the Senegal national primary school examinations. Fatoumata speaks six languages: Wolog, English, French, Spanish, Swahili and Arabic. She is currently attending Harvard College. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJTzOe7Kaxs&feature=related
Additional perspective on ALA's program and young leaders can be found at www.africanleadershipacademy.org and on YouTube on the ALA "channel" -- http://www.youtube.com/user/ALAvideochannel -- including video from the grand opening celebration and leadership symposium that ALA hosted in February 2009, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Graca Machel Mandela were the keynote speakers. ALA Recognition
In 2006, ALA co-founders Fred Swaniker and Chris Bradford were recognized as “two of the 15 best emerging social entrepreneurs in the world” by Echoing Green. Fred Swaniker was chosen as one of 25 TED Fellows in 2009 and is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Global Leadership Network. In August 2010, Ernst & Young recognized Fred Swaniker and Chris Bradford on behalf of ALA in the “Social Entrepreneurship” category of its 2010 World Entrepreneur Awards. Most recently, in September 2011, Fred Swaniker was recognized for his work with ALA when he was named to the Forbes list of “The 10 Youngest Power Men in Africa”.
