African Leadership Academy
The African continent faces many severe challenges – the spread of HIV, corrupt political elites, and recurrent civil wars are just the most prevalent. Many of these challenges are addressed by governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as international development work. Nevertheless, very few are tackled by sustainable projects that try to develop skills and capabilities within Africa.
The African Leadership Academy (ALA) fills this gap: ALA supports selected children and teenagers in getting a better education and prepares them to attend world-class international universities aiming to build true pan-African leadership for the future. Each year, 100 to 125 young people, aged 15 to 19, enroll in the Academy for a two-year program that prepares them to attend top universities and become leaders in fields relevant to the African continent.
The ALA has had a very successful start, with 1,700 students applying for admission in the inaugural class. In the first round, the ALA accepted 106 students – 53 boys and 53 girls – ensuring an average class size of 12 students. In the second year, already 2,100 applications were received from 37 countries. The ALA also hired a world-class faculty from across Africa and around the world, and continued to develop a broad range of partnerships. African Leadership Academy graduates will be attending some of the best universities in the world – be it to study law, medicine, sociology, engineering, or economics – and are all bound to return to Africa in order to use their knowledge, experiences, and international networks to make a positive difference for Africa.
McKinsey for Children currently provides financial support for five students at the African Leadership Academy: Fatoumata Binetou Fall from Senegal, Belinda Munemo from Zimbabwe, Joseph Munyambanza from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Paul Ntege from Uganda, and Mariam Sezinga from Tanzania. Each of them receives a partial scholarship of USD 10,000 to cover their room, board, and tuition at the ALA.
