Developing brighter African leaders

Justicia Shipena The African Leadership Academy (ALA) development model is extracted from three components, namely potential, practice and opportunity. Young individuals, through a two-year pre-university diploma programme and short-term global programmes that tackles critical inquiry, design thinking and experimental learning to develop a generation of entrepreneurial leaders.According to the institute, young leaders can unleash positive change in society and many great leaders start their journey at a young age, hence a pan-African approach is essential to catalysed growth and development.The institute’s curriculum combines international faculty and instructional methods to create a strong student-aligned learning experience. Students may select from a set of externally and internally designed courses in the humanities, sciences, language and creative arts. The programmes include a variety of Cambridge Advanced International Examination AS and A-level courses.The programme also features tutoring, university guidance, guest speaker programmes and external opportunities. Individuals who wish to be admitted at the institution should be between the ages of 15 to 18 and must have completed a minimum of grade 10.Other programmes such as a 10-day and 18-day global scholar programme, five-day Model African Union Conference and a semester long or yearlong catalyst term are offered. Tanatsei Gambura, a second-year student from Harare, Zimbabwe joined ALA in September 2017.During the ‘Build in a box’ camp Gambura was impressed by the philosophy and the model that ALA was presenting.“Three years down the line I was frustrated with the education system and curriculum that I was learning at the institution that I was enrolled at and I had been engaging myself with many cultural and pan-African activities and I was seeking to have that at a more academic level. I applied to ALA and I got in,” she said. She has found her experience to be great thus far because of the academics, the social diversity and the gift of having so many countries represented at one place.“I think I have developed some relationships that will be lasting and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in doing well and making a change for the African continent,” she said.A first-year student from Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire, Souleymane Diallad, said he found out about the ALA through his friend. Diallad then applied and was enrolled.“Since I came to ALA I have been impressed by the diversity at the academy as there are 46 nationalities represented and it is amazing to place learn different cultures from people and share your own culture as well,” he said.Speaking to The Zone, Dawie Fourie founder of ALI in Namibia, said the country is now moving towards being a land of prosperity, which is the legacy of current president, Dr Hage Geingob. Fourie said the challenge is, however, that peace and stability alone are not enough. “To reach prosperity we need everybody’s input. We need more people moving from passivity to productivity and more people moving from rights to responsibilities. We need more leaders!”According to Fourie, ALI exists to inspire and enable Africans to lead transformation, and in order to equip leaders with the power to achieve higher productivity and transform communities. ALI offers value-based leadership development programmes to emerging and established leaders from the business, church and government sectors. The programme consists of three full weeks of face-to-face training, spread out over an academic year, plus one weekend. Extensive pre- and post-course reading, as well as, a mentorship programme form an integral part of the leadership development process. The curriculum focuses on servanthood, influence, truth and results as four key leadership pillars to ensure that transformational leadership development takes place. “We believe that our combination of passionate facilitators, carefully selected influential teaching faculty, our tested and challenging curriculum, the transfer of skills for building teams and getting the job done and God’s grace and guidance is unique. We believe that this combination will continue to bring personal life change and sustainable community transformation,” he said. ALI is registered as a private higher education institution with the National Council for Higher Education and is accredited by the Namibian Qualifications Authority for a certificate in transformational leadership (level 5) and a diploma in transformational leadership (level 6). The training at ALI is also registered with the Namibian Training Authority (NTA). The curriculum and outcomes The curriculum of ALI can be summarised as transformation of the individual (understanding yourself and defining your purpose), transformation of relationships, transformation of character and transformation of work ethics and productivity. The outcomes of the ALI programmes will benefit the individual as well as the employer. Some of the outcomes are leaders who know themselves, their God-given calling and responsibilities, leaders with soft hearts, tough minds, upright characters and skilful hands and leaders with the confidence to lead… courageous/brave leaders who say: “Yes, I can and I will!”The training gives important leadership theory, but also the knowledge on how to apply it. Further outcomes of the training are accountability and ongoing development. Students understand the importance of relationships as well as planning and priorities, which help them to be result driven, while living a balanced lifestyle. History, partnerships and board ALI was founded in January 2005 by Fourie, former managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Namibia. Since 2006 it has hosted many highly successful leadership training programmes based on this conviction and trained thousands of leaders with stunning results. Valued partnerships were established over the years, including a partnership with Old Mutual and the education ministry to train more than 300 school principals. The partnership with FNB and ministry trains advisory teachers and inspectors of government schools. The partnership with Lithon Consulting Engineers trains leaders of municipalities. There is also a partnership with FNB and the health ministry to train leaders in public health.The partnership with Pinnacle Metropolitan trains youth leaders. The partnership with various businesses, churches and government ministries trains individual employees. The current board members are Nangula Uaandja, Fourie, Dixon Norval, Sakaria Nghikembua, Nick Klazen, Chrisna von Gericke, Tracy Eagles, Patricia Olivier and Rosalia Martins-Hausiku.It is supported by 72 highly skilled lecturers, all Namibian citizens, who teach in their area of expertise. Throughout the years ALI has built leadership in the life of young people by taking learners of Namibian government schools through a three-day leadership intervention camps at the Rock Training Centre. Since 2016 to 2018 the institute has influenced more than 10 000 youth leaders. The fingerprint of ALI, once a young Namibian has been accepted and after they have completed the programme, is that they will have a soft heart (personal humility), tough mind (professional will), an upright character and skilful hands. Fourie added that they will have skills to understand a vision, how to cast a vision, how to develop a proper strategy, how to build teams and how to get the job done. “They will leave our programme with an appointed mentor, at least two appointed mentees and an action plan for their lives to ensure that they will live lives worth living,” he said.Fourie stressed that the training is not for young people only. It is recommended for people of all ages and in all spheres of society, which includes individuals with MBAs or PhDs, since this is not just another certificate, it is a transformational intervention.Hence he urges individuals to enrol and challenge themselves to invest in human capital “Let us support our president’s drive towards prosperity, towards Vision 2030. Our Namibian dream can become true - that we are the example to the rest of Africa and Africa is the hope for the rest of the world! Come let us lead wisely, deliberately and diligently. If leaders will not address the tough issues, who will?” he said.

Developing brighter African leaders

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-10

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Developing brighter African leaders

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-10

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