African Leadership Academy celebrated members of our inaugural class who are graduating from colleges and universities around the world in 2014 by hosting an event in their honour on Thursday April 10 and Friday April 11, 2014. The event, tagged ‘ALA Rising’ was held at the New York Public Library, with participants engaging in meaningful discussion on the future of education and leadership in Africa, connecting as an ALA community of graduates, supporters, and staff, and celebrating the accomplishments of our young leaders and African Leadership Academy.
The audience heard from an exciting group of speakers, including Association for Educational Development in Africa Chairman Dzingai Mutumbuka, MasterCard Foundation President and CEO Reeta Roy, and Former Time magazine Managing Editor Rick Stengel, who spoke about his collaboration with Nelson Mandela on Long Walk to Freedom. These special guests were joined by 30 members of the ALA inaugural class attending universities all across the United States. These young leaders are poised to start the next chapter of their leadership journeys by beginning careers in Africa at renowned firms like Bain, IBM, and McKinsey, pursuing graduate studies at Cornell and Yale in order to prepare for their work on the continent, and launching ventures in agriculture and e-commerce in Uganda and Cote d’Ivoire. This is an inflection point for ALA, and we look forward to continuing this tradition in the years to come.
We are very grateful for the ongoing support by many partners of our mission to transform the African continent by developing and connecting Africa’s future leaders.
