Fellows in the News

The development finance institution’s board announced ALI Fellow Leslie Maasdorp as its new chief executive. ALI Fellow Leslie Maasdorp will be taking the reins later this year at British International Investments (BII) as its new Chief Executive Officer. BII – the UK government’s primary vehicle for delivering climate finance in emerging markets – invests about £1 billio...

Top editor and class XIV ALI SA Fellow Nwabisa Makunga has stepped up to become the head of one of South Africa’s largest journalism bodies. The Africa Leadership Initiative South Africa (ALI SA) is ecstatic to congratulate our Fellow, Nwabisa Makunga, on her appointment as chair of the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF). Nwabisa is a class XIV ALI SA Fellow. She has been a...

I met Keith Berwick in 2002 while attending the Henry Crown Fellowship Programme in Aspen. I was inspired by his moderation style—his openness, kindness, inclusivity, and no-nonsense approach. It was that experience that motivated me to explore the formation of the Africa Leadership Initiative. In partnership with Ken Ofori-Atta, the late Ali Mufuruki, Romeo Rodrigues, and with the unwavering ...

Anglo American aims for green with Bambili’s hydrogen fuel cell power Class XIII Akani Fellow Zanele Mavuso Mbatha’s Bambili Energy has embarked on a groundbreaking venture, partnering with Anglo American, independent power producer Engie and the South African government. Their shared vision involves conducting techno-economic analyses for hydrogen fuel cell-related projects, a novel ...

  Fellow Jabulani Sikhakhane voices his opinion on Godongwana’s mammoth task Finance Minister Enoch Gondongwana and his cabinet must take government finances more seriously. This is the opinion of Fellow Jabulani Sikhakhane (Class V Mayihlome) in an article that was published on budget speech day on businesslive.co.za, where he wrote: “These little Dutch boy approaches to running...

When ALI Fellow Reza Daniels (Class IX Tariro) took on the role of Director at the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) last month, he did not waste time to share his vision for the unit. Reza plans to lead with determination – as a Fellow should – and he published his thoughts in the opening article of SALDRU’s January newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dytya3tX Befor...

Entries are now open for the 2023 FNF GreenPitch Challenge!  Innovators and entrepreneurs, this is your chance. Get ready to share your business idea and network with potential investors and important decision-makers.  CEO Mike Mulcahy (ALI Fellow Class XII: Isilimela) and his company GreenCape, in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), invite innovators and entrepreneurs wi...

Janade du Plessis (ALI Fellow Class XIII: Mahube) is the co-managing partner of Africa Launch Ventures and Five35 Ventures. His ventures are implementing serious initiatives to see exponential tech growth in South Africa. His ventures are currently involved as: a Gitex investor at the first ever GITEX Conference in Africa, and partners in the WomHub Women in Tech (South Africa) to accelerate, sc...

Nomfundo Mogapi, ALI fellow from Class XII: Isilimela and CEO at the Centre for Mental Wellness and Leadership, shares the findings of the centre’s study on the mental health impact of COVID19 on education. Covid restrictions may have been lifted, but the psychological scars obtained in that period, are still impacting our learners. A decrease in social skills as a result of isolation durin...

We are overjoyed (and a bit speechless) to announce that ALL of our learners have passed Matric at Bulungula College! This is the first time in the history of Elliotdale to achieve a 100% pass rate. A big congratulations to our second-ever graduating class, who have proven that with focus, hard work and grit, anything is possible. To be the first school in our community to ever pass 100% of its l...

Anton Cartwright – Fellow from Class Akani and Director at Econologic & Credible Carbon comments on The Gaurdian article that suggested Verra’s avoided deforestation carbon (known as REDD+ in the carbon industry) to be “worthless”. The Guardian, who worked with Die Zeit’s and the privately-funded SourceMaterial, claims come amidst rising carbon market activity from the p...

Desnei Leaf-Camp, also a Class Akani fellow, is senior financial adviser at Xina Solar One. This solar power station has a 100 megawatt solar power capacity and they sell the solar energy they generate directly back to ESKOM. Xina Solar One’s efforts to support education in the four rural communities in its immediate vicinity, are truly commendable. The company published their first newslet...

By Fred Swaniker.  Ready for a sneak peek into the week we had? I always say that the African Leadership Group’s culture is our secret sauce, but experiencing it in person? One word: magical! Day 1 On Day 1 of our staff retreat in Kigali, we’ve managed to bring almost 200 members of our team to Rwanda to meet for the first time since 2020. We enjoyed taking the team to see a bit of our ...

By Dr Ntuthuko Bhengu This article highlights the complexities of healthcare service delivery. The UK National Health System is widely regarded as one of the most successful healthcare systems globally. It is also a huge source of pride and social cohesion for citizens. But an article in the Observer recently revealed the NHS trusts tell patients they can go private and jump hospital queues. Ob...

San Diego forms part of the boundary between Mexico and the USA. With its close proximity to another country, it is clear that diverse cultural realities have a deep impact on the true heartbeat of this city.  Our excursion to Chicano Park – known for its murals and seen as the emotional melting pot of Barrio Logan, San Diego’s oldest Mexican-American neighbourhood – revealed both the arti...

By Oscar van Heerden This past weekend, I attended the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation (KMF) Inclusive Growth Forum in the Drakensberg, and boy, was it filled with excellent inputs from across the spectrum. The overall theme of the gathering, which meets every year, was “dialogue among equals”. The point of the dialogue is to see whether a cross-section of South Africans can not only iden...

In 30 years from now, around 2050, it is predicted that 50% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population will be under the age of 25. According to Dr Mothomang Diaho, if we do not address individual well-being through an intergenerational lens, we would only continue to see further health declines. To take on the leadership roles of the future, Dr Diaho proposed that the cadre of future leaders would nee...

There’s no way around the facts, at their current rate of decline, African penguins are going to be functionally extinct in the wild within 20 years. By 2035, some colonies which have thrived on the South African coastline for hundreds of years will be no more. Without immediate action, a future without African penguins in the wild is certain. We can prevent this – we can say #NotOnOu...

On 6 October 2021 President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the inaugural WECONA where private sector, civil society and women’s organisations, businesswomen and government have partnered to form the Women Economic Assembly – an initiative to facilitate  the participation of women-owned businesses in core areas of the economy. www.wecona.co.za was excited about this year’s theme that revolved ...

Casablanca, Morocco, was the host city to The World Bank’s FASE Round Table from 11 to 12 October 2022, aiming to develop more accounting technicians in Africa to support  growth, accountability, and efficiency in the public and private sectors in Africa. ALI Fellow Patrick Kabuya (Class Mayihlome) and Lefaria Kinimi, both from the World Bank, shared the platform with Turkish accountant Be...

Earlier this month (April 2022), the Constitutional Court handed down a precedent-setting judgement that has shaken the law-enforcement community of South Africa, and beyond.The woman who drove it, over a period of a decade, is Andy Kawa (Class VII: Mahube). The judgement in question relates to police treatment of victims of abuse. It confirms that the South African Police Service (SAPS) has duti...

Akona Matsau will assume the role of Chief Executive, Bidvest Services South Africa, on 1 April 2022. This is a newly-formed Group division that will focus on the continued growth of Bidvest’s services operations in South Africa. Akona has been a part of the Bidvest Group since 2013, when she was appointed as COO for Customised Solutions at Bidvest Facilities Management. She was later promo...

Roboticist Prof Arthur G.O. Mutambara who is an author, chartered engineer, and academic has been appointed as the executive director and full professor of the Institute for the Future of Knowledge (IFK) at the University of Johannesburg. The IFK is a cross-disciplinary ecosystem – an epistemological interface between the fourth Industrial Revolution and the Humanities. He will be establishing ...

Just under a year ago, in the first week of July 2020, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy gazetted the procurement of 2 000 MW of energy “from a range of energy source technologies”.   This month, a consortium including H1 Holdings, of which Reyburn Hendricks is Chief Executive, was given Preferred Bidder status. Through their ambitious solar hybrid storage projects, H1 Holdings (...

There is a fascinating concept at work in Like Water Is For Fish, a non-fiction book detailing the effectiveness of storytelling in communicating important messages and doing so in a mixture of memoir-style flashbacks and combinations of the perspectives of other individuals author Garth Japhet has met along the way. If it sounds like a hodge-podge, it doesn’t read like one, rather coming a...

In the early 2000s, ALI Fellow (Class IV: Kalipha) and South Africa’s “First Lady of Song”, Sibongile Khumalo, released her hit single, Mayihlome (https://bit.ly/2L7vsy3). It would go on to be amongst the most loved songs within her illustrious discography of globally-acclaimed hits. Yet there was more to that particular song than poetic lyrics sung in her matchless voice. It was more than j...

Written by Dr Zoe Lees It’s all very well talking about these lofty ideals of a new order for Africa, but in sub-Saharan Africa we are facing serious human rights abuses and chaos in Zimbabwe with deepening poverty and desperation, Mozambique is facing an ISIS incursion, Zambia is defaulting on its debt, Ethiopia… Tanzania….the list goes on. We can’t even agree on a common vision ...

What a year it has been. It started well. From February 26-29, we had the rare joy of spending four days together at the second Africa Impact Forum. More than 100 Fellows from nine countries came together in Accra, Ghana, around the theme “Building to Last: Leadership vs Systems”. In the group there were 25 from ALI-SA; as always when we engage with our ALI colleagues from across the continen...

Class VII: Dinatla fellow, Tsakani Maluleke continues to make history as the first woman to occupy a senior position in the office of the Auditor-General (AG) South Africa. On October 20, 2020, she was unanimously recommended by Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee to take over from the outgoing Auditor-General, Kimi Makwetu, whose seven-year term ends at the end of November. Since the Mbeki admini...

The Solidarity Fund has appointed Fellow Tandi Nzimande as Fund CEO. Nzimande was recommended as the CEO at a Board meeting held on October 22, 2020. It is her work in the development and empowerment fields which makes her the ideal candidate to lead the Fund especially now, as it enters a new phase that requires strong leadership to ensure mandates are met with efficiency, integrity, and passio...

The numbers of those in South Africa who are thought to now need food relief vary, depending on who you talk to [1]. Gift of the Givers director Dr Imtiaz Sooliman says maybe about 20-million. Andy du Plessis, manager of FoodForward, says it could be 30-million including those who were previously below the poverty line, those who lost their jobs during the pandemic lockdown, and those who lost ac...

The Karl Flowers Trust launched this June, 10 years to the month since our friend passed away. A member of the Kilimanjaro class, Karl was passionate about ALI and our work. He assisted as a moderator and was integral in helping to build our community. Karl’s will stated that a significant portion of his estate should be placed in a trust to assist “young people between 16-25 years, who are u...

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has elected ALI Fellow and former Safika Holdings CFO Babalwa Ngonyama (Class VIII: Mahube) as the new chair of its council. Nazeema Mohamed will serve as deputy chair. In the words of UCT’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, the appointment is “historic” because it is the first time in 100 years that a woman chair serves on UCT’s Council. It i...

ALI would like to congratulate YALI Fellow Phathutshedzo Madima for his appointment as the new non-executive director and advisor of the Young African Entrepreneurs Institute (YAEI). The non-profit youth development organisation focuses on well-rounded career development by integrating employability, entrepreneurship and mentorship for diversified post-schooling opportunities in South Africa. Wit...

ALI Fellow Konehali Gugushe (Class X: XSeed) has been appointed as CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Trust. Her tenure started on the 4th of March 2020. She joins the Fund in the year of its 25th anniversary. Konehali’s responsibilities will include strengthening Madiba’s vision for his legacy organisations for children (the Fund, the Trust and NMCH) by promoting synergies, ...

Free mobile and web-based COVID-19 pre-screening symptom checker launched to help flatten the curve  YALI Fellows Jessica Chivinge, Rhobhi Matinyi Farai Chikumbu and their business associate Farai Chikumbu have founded a healthtech start-up called epione.net. epione.net is an end-to-end healthcare platform that seamlessly connects all stakeholders in the healthcare value chain for improved patie...

Mr Sabelo Dumezweni, Lomso’ Father; Mr Khulile Qamata, Nyanga SSS Principal; Dr Futhi Mtoba; Lomso Dumezweni; Lerato Mathenjwa; and Jethro Leshaba, TEACH Ambassador. TEACH South Africa (TEACH) attended the announcement of the 2019 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination results at Vodacom on 06 January 2020. TEACH Ambassador Mr Jethro Leshaba and the principal from Nyanga Senior Secondary ...

We are honoured to announce that veteran financial journalist and ALI Media Fellow Sikonathi Mantshantsha is the new spokesperson for Eskom. The appointment was officially announced on Wednesday, the 22nd of January 2020. Sikonathi, who has spent over 15 years writing about the power utility, will be leading its media liaison team; a role he will take up on the 1st of February 2020. Speaking on t...

Remgro-controlled telecoms group Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH), the parent company of Dark Fibre Africa and Vumatel, has appointed ALI Fellow Raymond Ndlovu as CEO. CIVH has ambitious growth plans, and Ndlovu’s primary role is to drive a diversified wholesale, open-access ICT infrastructure business. He knows the business well, as he has been investment executive and a manageme...

In October, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) announced its new board, after a scrupulous review of its governance structures. ALI Fellow Tsakani Maluleke (Class VII: Dinatla) has been appointed to serve as the new chairperson of the board. SAICA’s mandate is to serve the interests of the chartered accountancy profession by upholding professional standards and integr...

South Africa has lost a literary disrupter, political activist and an ardent beacon of love, power, hope and truth. Sandile Dikeni passed away on Sunday, 10 November 2019. He was celebrated for being a prominent storyteller whose familiarity with racism, poverty and exclusion enabled him to use his words as ammunition to speak against the behemoth that was the apartheid regime.  Born in Victoria...

ALI Fellow Lesego Sennelo (Class X: Seed) is a qualified chartered accountant with a passion for human resource development and economic empowerment. Many of the roles that she has taken up in her career have focused on the empowerment and advancement of African women, particularly in the finance sector. Lesego served as the president of the African Women Chartered Accountants (AWCA) Forum from 2...

With over 15 years of experience in the financial services and investment space, ALI Fellow Refilwe Moloto (Class XI: Tekano) is making great strides in the media and broadcasting industry. A financial analyst turned media doyenne, Refilwe started her journey with radio as a business and finance news contributor on the Afternoon Drive with John Maythamon CapeTalk. Thereafter, she landed her own a...

ALI Fellow Linda Mateza (Class IX: Tariro) has been appointed as the new chief executive and principal officer of the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF). The appointment comes as no surprise considering her wealth of experience and knowledge in managing pensions and investments across asset classes, including equities, bonds, property and money market investments. Linda holds a Master’...

Media freedom is under attack across the world, and the World Editors Forum (WEF) – the leading global network for print and digital editors – is a critical defender of both press freedom and editorial excellence. This month, ALI-WA member and head of BBC West Africa, Toyisi Ogunseye, was elected vice-president of the WEF. The new president, Warren Fernandez, is editor of the Straits Times a...

“Three bankers who are shaping how banking will look in the next five years,”reads an article in the latest issue of the Forbes Africa magazine. “One runs the new kid on the block; the other a bank that has risen from the ashes; the third is spearheading a traditional bank’s transformation in 11 African countries. A glimpse into the future of banking…” The banker who is running th...

Television, film production and broadcasting executive Zanele Mthembu is one of a trio of top media people appointed to head South Africa’s new 24-hour news channel, Newzroom Afrika. It broadcasts on DStv channel 405, replacing the former Gupta-owned ANN7, which was taken off air last year. The channel launched just before the national election earlier this month after a competitive bidding pro...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the reinstatement of an advisory unit, known as Policy and Research Services, in the Office of the Presidency. Fellow Busani Ngcaweni, a long-standing veteran of the Office of the Presidency, is to take up the critical lead role. The unit is tasked with giving the President clear oversight of the way economic and investment policies are implemented. Its man...

You may know her as the weekly finance and business contributor to the Afternoon Drive with John Maytham Show, or from her various stand-ins on other programmes, including Breakfast and The Money Show. Now she is joining talk radio station Cape Talk permanently as the voice behind their new daytime show, Upfront with Refilwe Moloto, on weekdays from 9am till 12 noon. The blurb on Cape Talk’s we...

RéjaneWoodroffe, member of the ALI Board and founder of Bulungula Incubator, has been presented with the British Council’s 2019 Social Impact Award. The British Council award series has a dual function: to celebrate Britain’s own tertiary education institutions (Réjanehas an MSc in Development Economics from the University of Sussex), and, importantly, to celebrate the impact of the best of...