Executive Summary

There seems to be no end to the alarming reports in the Western news media about Africa Be they on poverty, corruption, HIV/AIDS, war, drugs or crime, it is easy to conclude that Africa is a basket case.  Yet, those of us that work in or are from the continent know, there is also great wave of development and progress, much of it being led by Africans themselves.  Each country is unique with its own challenges and opportunities, but what is common is Africans on and off the continent are investing, building companies, and finding solutions to the problems that must be addressed.  They were doing so even before “Brangelina”, Bono and others returned the spotlight on Africa.  These successful and entrepreneurial leaders are the vanguard of progress for Africa’s future, but they need support.  They are often alone in a fight against overwhelming challenges and great obstacles.  Investment in the new wave of effective and enlightened leaders is the best hope for Africa’s future. 
  
The Africa Leadership Initiative (ALI) is a collaborative effort of seven partner organizations in Africa and the United States – The Aspen Institute (United States), CETA Construction Services (Mozambique), the Databank Foundation (Ghana), Infotech Investments (Tanzania), LEAP Africa (Nigeria), The Letsema Foundation (South Africa), and TechnoServe (Africa and United States) – to foster values-based, action-oriented leadership in Africa.  ALI Fellows are highly successful, entrepreneurial individuals from business, government and civil society.  There are currently some 120 African Fellows from all of the countries above including Kenya and Uganda.

ALI was designed to capture the energy, the talent and the resolve of an emerging generation of leaders in Africa -- leaders who have already realized a certain level of success -- and to inspire them to move from success to significance by engaging in the foremost challenges of their countries and their times with support and confidence.

At present, there are Africa Leadership programs in five locations – Ghana, East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda) Mozambique, Nigeria and South Africa. From 2005-2015, the Initiative aims to identify, strengthen and motivate 360 more “Fellows” with fifteen classes of 24 Fellows each. Rwanda was recently added to the East Africa programme.