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The ALA Admissions Team

Ms. Tinuade Awe joined ALA in June 2007 as an Associate Director of Admissions covering Anglophone West Africa. She was previously a senior litigation attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, a leading law firm in New York City, where her pro-bono clients included a New York City-based not-for-profit dedicated to reform and improvement of the US public school system. Prior to Simpson Thacher, Tinuade worked as an attorney with the United Nations in the Hague and Geneva. Tinuade is a board member and treasurer of the Nigeria Higher Education Foundation, a U.S.-based not-for-profit working to promote excellence in higher education in Nigeria. Tinuade holds law degrees from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, the London School of Economics and Political Science ("LSE") and Harvard University. She was a British Council Scholar at the LSE and a Landon H. Gammon Fellow at Harvard Law School.

Ms. Beverly Lien joined African Leadership Academy in August 2006 and is an Assistant Director of Admissions Based in Johannesburg. A graduate of Princeton University, she is a Fellow with the Princeton-in-Africa program, which affords graduates of the University the opportunity to contribute to the development of Africa. Beverly studied education policy at the prestigious Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, where she served as Senior Commissioner for the Task Force on Child Health and Nutrition in South Africa and wrote her senior thesis on Human Trafficking in Developing Countries. She has volunteered as a mentor and tutor and continues to do similar work in the township of Soweto.

Ms. Bineta Mbacké joined African Leadership Academy in June 2007 as Associate Director of Admissions in Francophone West and Central Africa. She is based in Dakar, Senegal. In 2006, Bineta finished an MBA at the Paris Graduate School of Management in France. She has eight years experience in marketing and sales in her native Senegal, working with firms including the technology giant Hewlett-Packard and the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather. She has most recently worked as an independent consultant to Senegal's Ministry of Health.

Ms. Ivy Mwai joined African Leadership Academy in May 2007 as Associate Director of Admissions covering the East Africa region. Now based in Nairobi, Kenya, she previously co-owned and ran a marketing and promotional company that published a widely distributed regional children’s magazine. She also ran promotional and Corporate Social Responsibility activities for corporations in Kenyan and Ugandan secondary schools. Ivy is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University in the United States and has held positions in both the corporate world and public sector across Africa. She is actively involved in The Old Limuru Girls’ Association at her former secondary school and worked with the fund raising committee to establish Starehe Girls’ Centre, sister school of the famous Starehe Boys' Centre in Kenya.

Mr. Elmahdi Oummih joined African Leadership Academy in July 2007 as an Admissions Consultant in North Africa. He is based out of Rabat, Morocco. Elmahdi previously spent ten years in the telecommunications sector in the United States, where he was most recently a manager with AT&T Wireless in New York City. Since returning to Morocco in 2006, Elmahdi has taught at the American Language Center and has given lectures at the Moroccan English Teacher’s Association and published papers on leadership and government. He has also served as Group Leader for the LINC program and has worked extensively with AMIDEAST. An International Relations Major at Fordham University, where he won the Alpha Phi Delta scholarship, Elmahdi went on to attend Washburn Law School where he volunteered as a court-appointed Advocate for Children.

Ms. Angela Zaeh joined African Leadership Academy in May 2007 as an Academy Fellow and supported the Admissions Team until September 2007. Angela previously worked for The Boston Consulting Group where she advised clients in Europe, Asia, and the United States. She was also involved in the firm’s recruiting efforts and a business plan competition for secondary school students. Now based in Johannesburg, Angela has also worked in East Africa with GTZ (German Agency for Technical Cooperation).