The Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme was a yearly program that began in 2006 through the African Leadership Institute (AfLI) with the support of Desmond Tutu. It helps social entrepreneurs address social problems in Africa. It was created in order to give a select group of young Africans the leadership skills necessary to create social programs or businesses that would benefit Africa as a whole. Usually, about 20 Africans are selected each year, coming from all sectors of Africa; environmental, political, community, and more. These Africans are given the skills they need to make a change, and the past few years have shown that this change certainly is occurring thanks to Desmond Tutu’s program.
‘Gbenga Sesan represents one of the 2007 graduates of the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme. Since then, he has started a program titled Ajegungle that focuses on unemployed, high-skilled individuals in Nigeria, and gives them employment training. He improves these unemployment peoples’ skills in IT and communication, and then links them to employment and internship opportunities. He has helped over 13,000 Nigerians to date.
Shane Immelman is a 2008 graduate that builds and distributes desks to schoolchildren in South Africa. Over a million desks have been distributed since his graduation. These desks are called Tutudesks. He sends these desks to the needy through his non-profit organization.
Finally, Tracey Webster graduated the program in 2007, and currently runs Branson’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, which is located in South Africa. This centre encourages to use business for good, and to spread good to Africa. Before running this program, Webster founded a charity to support at-risk children that have or are affected by HIV/Aids, which has helped over 22,000 children.
Overall, these social entrepreneurs address social problems in Africa, and they only represent three individuals of a much larger group that has completed Desmond Tutu’s Leadership Fellowship Programme. Certainly, many more have contributed to Africa, and will continue to do so in the future.
– Corina Balsamo
Sources: The Guardian, African Leadership Institute
Photo: Church Two Point Zero