The African Leadership Institute has selected 23 emerging African leaders from 12 different African countries ranging in age 25 to 39 years for the Tutu Leadership Fellowship for 2019. They were selected from 250 entries.
Amongst the 23 are 5 Nigerians namely: Debisi Araba PhD, Nneka Eze, Samson Itodo, Uzoma Nwagba and Akintunde Oyebode.
Debisi Araba is a public policy and strategy specialist. He is the Africa Region Director at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT); and a member of the CGIAR, the consortium on international agriculture research.
Nneka Eze leads Dalberg’s work in Nigeria, where she is a Partner and the Lagos Office Director. She has worked with private corporations, state governments, and foundations on strategic planning, market analysis, investment planning, and performance transformation.
Samson Itodo is the Executive Director of YIAGA AFRICA, a community of changemakers focused on building sustainable democracies in Africa anchored on the principles of inclusion, justice, accountability and constitutionalism.
The African Leadership Institute is pleased to present the 2019 Archbishop Tutu Leadership Programme cohort!https://t.co/SuO8yAEDpV pic.twitter.com/RWNnwdVECm
— TutuFellows (@TutuFellows) April 16, 2019
Uzoma Nwagba has built his expertise at the intersection of technology and finance. Today, he is the Chief Operating Officer of Nigeria’s Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), managing the world’s largest micro-credit scheme.
Akintunde Oyebode is the Special Adviser, Investment, Trade and Innovation at Ekiti State Government, Nigeria, where he is responsible for leading the state government’s efforts to make Ekiti an attractive destination for investors and innovation-driven enterprises and to create jobs for young people.
The others are: Mical Agina (Kenya), Marcia Ashong (Ghana), Edwine Barasa PhD (Kenya), Mohammed Barry (The Gambia), Issam Chleuh (Mali), Akim Daouda (Gabon), Sangu Delle JD (Ghana), Dr Angela Gichaga (Kenya), Ronak Gopaldas (South Africa), Lesego Holzapfel (South Africa), Dhiren Mansingh (South Africa), Simbarashe Mhungu (Zimbabwe), Simbarashe Mhuriro (Zimbabwe), Makgola Makololo (South Africa), Vivian Onano (Kenya), Mohamed Osman (Sudan), Lalaina Randriarimanana (Madagascar) and Emilia Siwingwa (Tanzania).
The 2019 Fellows comprise candidates selected through a competitive, open nomination and selection process, as well as candidates nominated by our sponsoring organisations – the Mastercard Foundation, GIZ, Investec, Centum and Dalberg.
Peter Wilson, the co-founder of AFLI, said: “We believe that serving one’s followers with selfless inspirational leadership based on strong values is the critical ingredient that is going to catapult Africa forward socially, politically and economically.
“The Tutu Leadership Fellowship was created in order to maximise the impact that leadership can have, whether at a country level, across the continent or even globally.”
