The African Leadership Academy community mourns the passing of Jackie Bezos, beloved philanthropist and co-founder of the Bezos Family Foundation, who died on August 14, 2025. Her extraordinary legacy of generosity, vision, and unwavering faith in young people will continue to inspire a generation of African leaders.
A Foundation Built on Belief
From ALA’s earliest days, Jackie and the Bezos Family Foundation stood as pillars of support, serving among our very first donors and playing a decisive role in establishing the Academy. Their partnership proved transformational: sponsoring dozens of students, mentoring emerging leaders, and supporting efforts to scale quality education across Africa by backing entrepreneurs and innovators working to expand access to learning. A transformational gift from the foundation helped ALA purchase its campus in the early days. Ten years later the foundation gave the first gift to establish ALA’s endowment, which will soon fund half of ALA’s scholarship need into perpetuity.
Jackie’s early belief in ALA ensured that Africa’s most promising young leaders would have access to this transformational opportunity regardless of their background. Yet her contribution extended far beyond financial investment; she became an integral part of our community, bringing characteristic warmth and genuine care to every interaction.
Living Our Values
Chris Bradford, ALA’s Co-Founder, reflects on Jackie’s life as a living embodiment of the values that guide the Academy:
“African Leadership Academy has six values: integrity, humility, curiosity, compassion, diversity, and excellence. In Jackie Bezos, I saw a model of each of these values. But more importantly, I saw a blueprint for how I hoped to live my life and engage our young leaders. Jackie met each person who crossed her path with the kind of care and genuine interest typically reserved for family members… Her interest in ALA students wasn’t about the accolades they might earn, but about the humans they would become.”
For Bradford, Jackie was both a mentor and a model: someone who not only supported ALA but showed what it meant to live well, to lead, and to always keep young people at the center of our work.
Building Pathways for Leaders
Fred Swaniker, Founder of the African Leadership Group (ALA, ALU, ALX), also reflected on Jackie’s impact. For him, Jackie was not only a partner in building institutions but also a personal source of inspiration:
“From the very beginning, Jackie’s warmth, kindness, and humility left an indelible mark on me. What truly set Jackie apart was her fierce passion for uplifting others. Her vision gave birth to the Bezos Scholars Program, an initiative that has been life-changing for dozens of ALA students and whose ripple effects will be felt for generations to come. Jackie’s imagination was vast—it stretched far beyond her home and community, catalyzing opportunities for thousands of young people across Africa and beyond. She and Mike were instrumental in the growth of African Leadership Academy and African Leadership University, enabling thousands of young Africans to access world-class education and go on to build schools, businesses, and transformative ventures of their own. Jackie will be sorely missed across the AL community, yet her legacy will live on in every young leader she believed in and in the generations of changemakers her vision continues to inspire.”
Creating Transformational Experiences
Jackie’s vision took shape through groundbreaking programs like the Bezos Scholars Program (BSP) and the South African Ideas Festival (SAIF). Each year, she and her husband Mike welcomed Scholars to the Aspen Ideas Festival, creating unforgettable moments of mentorship and connection. These experiences exposed students to global leaders and ideas while providing personal guidance that shaped their worldview.
The ripple effects stretched far beyond Aspen. Inspired by their time there, ALA’s 2011 Bezos Scholars launched SAIF—an entirely student-run incubator for social innovation that has continued annually for over a decade and remains active today. Through SAIF, hundreds of young Africans have been empowered to design solutions to their communities’ most pressing challenges, embodying Jackie’s belief in the power of youth to lead change.
A Gift for Connection
For students, Jackie was more than a benefactor; she was family. She had a gift for making each young person feel seen, valued, and inspired.
“Jackie and I instantly bonded over our love for books and how they allow us to escape into different worlds,” remembers Deepshikha Parmessur, a 2013 ALA alumna and Bezos Scholar from Mauritius, now ALA’s Head of Entrepreneurial Leadership. “Her inviting hugs, encouraging words, and ability to make everyone feel seen and valued left an imprint on my heart.”
Her influence extended beyond students to staff as well. Josh Adler, ALA’s Chief Program Officer, recalls her calm during a crisis: “My call with Jackie was that rare combination of supportive and directive. She was great in a pinch and created moments of homeliness and comfort while enabling exposure and wonder.”
A Lasting Impact
The impact of Jackie’s life and work resonates across a generation of ALA alumni and Bezos Scholars. Her approach to philanthropy was deeply personal, treating each scholar as if they were part of her own family.
“Jackie Bezos was more than the co-founder of the Bezos Scholars Program. She was its soul,” says Mohamed Elfaisal Ahmed, 2021 ALA alumnus and Bezos Scholar from Sudan. “Despite being the recipients of such incredible generosity, Jackie never tired of thanking us for being there and for being part of her life. This humility and grace were who she was.”
Others echo this sense of gratitude. Amani Tumusiime, a 2023 ALA alumna and Bezos Scholar from Uganda, reflects: “I am very grateful for everything this family has done for scholars. Jackie Bezos’s kindness lives on through her impact on me and many other youth.”
For Maged Hassan, a 2019 ALA alumnus and Bezos Scholar from Egypt, Jackie’s influence was about community as much as opportunity: “What has always stood out to me about her was the genuine care she showed for each scholar and the way she invested in building a supportive community. BSP has been instrumental in giving me the compass of passion towards education and community action, and the legacy of being a Bezos Scholar is a fundamental part of who I am today.”
From Mozambique, Estela Naula, a 2014 ALA alumna and 2015 Bezos Scholar, remembers Jackie’s generosity and solidarity: “Jackie’s warmth and kindness supported me as I navigated the 2015 Aspen Ideas Festival with little English… I carry deep gratitude for her support during Cyclone Idai in 2019, a gesture that showed how much she cared for others near and far. Jackie’s compassion and belief in people will continue to inspire us as we walk the path of giving back.”
The 2025 cohort of ALA alumni and Bezos Scholars—Lubanzi Tsabedze (Eswatini), Marwa Kriraa (Morocco), Elvis Chacha (Kenya), Abigail Maina (Kenya), Anotidaishe Chinyadza (Zimbabwe), and Catherine Delight (Kenya)—summed up her enduring influence:
“Her impact is like a seed that has grown into many trees, nurturing and empowering young leaders across Africa and beyond. We carry her belief in us as we continue with SAIF, working to build the better future she envisioned.”
A Continuing Legacy
For African Leadership Academy, Jackie’s legacy will endure in the lives of the many Bezos Scholars who have walked our campus and in the generation of young leaders her vision made possible. Her belief in the transformative power of education and the potential of young people to change the world continues to guide our mission.
As we remember Jackie Bezos, we celebrate not just her generous spirit and philanthropic impact, but her profound understanding that investing in young people is investing in hope itself. Her memory will continue to inspire us to believe in the power of youth to change the world, just as she always did.
Our deepest condolences go to Mike, Jeff, Christina, Mark, the entire Bezos family, and the staff of the Bezos Family Foundation. Jackie’s legacy of love, leadership, and limitless belief in young people will live on through every life she touched — and through a generation of leaders she helped shape.
