Fatima Yunusa ’18 (Nigeria) and Aniaba N’guessan ’18 (Côte d’Ivoire) have been selected as Rhodes Scholars Elect from West Africa. They become the third and fourth ALA alumni to earn this honor.
Fatima graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University Qatar with a degree in International Affairs and received both the Qatar Foundation Excellence Award and the Outstanding Graduate Award in her major. She currently serves as a Programs Associate at the US-Qatar Business Council in Doha, where she works across public, private and multilateral partners to strengthen trade, investment and sustainable economic development between the United States and Qatar. Her work has been shaped by a long-standing commitment to gender equality, youth empowerment and community development, reflected in her involvement in Model African Union at ALA, her leadership of the African Students Association at Georgetown and her contributions as a Senior Peer Tutor and Undergraduate TA in the university's Writing Center. She brings a deep passion for creating opportunity for marginalized communities and is eager to apply her skills to global development and policy.
Aniaba is an Ivorian storyteller, entrepreneur and scholar who is completing a Bachelor’s of Science Degree at Morehouse College as a triple major in Economics, Mathematics, and Computer Science on an Oprah Winfrey Scholarship and as a Howard Thurman Honor Student. He published his first book, Souvenirs d’Une Vie I, a reflective account of his formative years at Lycée Scientifique de Yamoussoukro, the high school he attended before joining ALA. Through this work he explores themes of youth agency, leadership and narrative power. Aniaba has built a strong academic and creative profile at Morehouse, complementing his studies with research at Stanford University’s Department of Economics on the use of multimodal large language models to simulate human decision making in economic environments. He continues to write, mentor young creators and test the potential of storytelling as a tool for social change.
Fatima and Aniaba will join the University of Oxford in October 2026 as part of a global cohort of Rhodes Scholars who receive fully funded postgraduate study within a community dedicated to learning, leadership and service. Established in 1902, the Rhodes Scholarship supports outstanding young people who demonstrate exceptional intellect, character, and a commitment to building a better world.
