ALI SA is taking its Fellows to a new level after solidifying the organisation’s structures and funding for the next five years.
With the world in its current state of turmoil, the need for ethical and values-based leadership is required to find solutions for a peaceful and prosperous society.
The need for leaders has never before been so stark. In South Africa, many are waiting for their chance to make real change. The Africa Leadership Initiative South Africa is in its best form to take up this challenge. “Worldwide, everyone has got to deal with issues of ethical leadership. The time is now for ethical leadership to take its moment,” says Board Chairperson Raymond Ndlovu.
Ndlovu took up his interim Board Chairperson position in October 2023, coupled with the appointment of Lynette Chen as ALI SA’s new Executive Director in November last year, there has been a major shift in the organisation’s operations. “We’ll be able to expand the fellowship’s size and reach by at least 30% in the next five years,” he said.
The ALI SA’s five-year strategy will be supported by two major sponsors, Yellowwoods and the First Rand Empowerment Foundation. These partnerships will fund seminar and operational costs for the duration period, while continuing ALI SA’s dialogues and venture workshops for leaders’ development. The support will allow ALI SA to graduate 125 new Fellows over the next five years, helping these leaders create a positive impact on South Africa’s socio-economic challenges.
Under Chen’s guidance – who is a Class IX Tariro Fellow – ALI SA has managed to create the structures it needs to build on its successes and create deeper, more expansive impact. “We are proud to have a properly constructed and constituted governance structure, with a strong board in place,” said Ndlovu.
ALI SA includes an integrity committee to make certain it holds itself and its Fellows to the same standards it expects of leaders globally. It has also begun working with volunteers from the ALI SA fellowship to work in its various committees. The Vice President of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN,) Dar Vanderbeck, now serves as a director on the ALI SA board, which will ensure direct and deeper collaboration between our parent organisation and ALI SA.
In March 2024, ALI SA launched Class XIV – the Pamoja Class, which consists of a fantastic group of leaders from various sectors. It has held two successful venture workshops, resulting in interventions that will deal with some of the biggest problems facing South Africa today. An inspiring venture called “Heal SA”, run by Mpadi Makgolo (Class X) offers free mental health services to students in university and high school. Garth Japhet (Class X) will launch “Fixlocal”, which will assist with tools and guidance for active citizens wanting to make their local neighbourhoods liveable, while holding authorities to account.
As part of its strategy to increase and re-engage the fellowship, ALI SA has a strong focus on hosting more dialogues and venture workshops to encourage increased interaction and networking between Fellows. Earlier this year, ALI SA held these exciting new events with more scheduled for 2025:
- The Good Society seminar: a newly envisioned cross-class seminar was held over a weekend on 25-27 October 2024 at De Hoek Country Estate in Magaliesberg.
- The annual ALI SA and SALDRU (Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit) Impact Leadership Dialogue on 06 November 2024 was held at The Polo Room in The Inanda Club, Johannesburg. This event and dialogue topic was a pre-cursor to the upcoming SALDRU conference in April 2025, and we will be following it up with two more such dialogues before the conference begins. ALI-SA will be co-hosting several policy dialogues with SALDRU at the conference.
- The next iteration of the Africa Impact Forum, taking place in Cape Town in October 2025.
- More dialogues, venture workshops and conversations for and between Fellows.
- Class XV’s launch in March 2025.
