Leaders Africa

Leaders Africa is an eight-month, hybrid leadership journey for 35 leaders from across the African-continent, focused on exploring values-based leadership skills and building deep relationships with fellow cohort members.
Meet the 2026 - 2027 Cohort
Get to know our newest group of Africa leaders!
How To Become A Leader
The application for the 2026-2027 Leaders program is now closed. Please check back here for updates on our 2027-2028 Obama Leaders application.
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How to Apply
A woman with a deep skin tone holds a microphone and speaks to an unseen audience. She is smiling and has short black locs. In the background, a patterned sign reads, "Leader: Africa."

Meet the 2026-2027 Africa Leaders

About

The Leaders Africa program identifies exceptional trailblazers in public, civil society, and the private sector who have a clear issue-focus and who can illustrate the impact of their work. The program helps build a network of values-based leaders, who create positive, innovative change in their communities, throughout Africa, and around the world.

  • Weekly Group Learning Sessions

    Weekly virtual group sessions offer a mix of collective engagement including conversations on leadership frameworks, engagements with regional-based individuals in relevant subject areas, and interactive, small-group work in breakout spaces.

  • Monthly Community Groups

    Leaders work in learning groups with their other program participants that encourage deeper relationship-building and peer-learning, and offer opportunities to reflect on case studies of prominent African leaders and issues.

  • Individualized Leadership and Regional Coaching

    Each Leader is supported by a cadre of coaching engagements to help them gain self-awareness, clarify goals, brainstorm ideas, achieve their development objectives, unlock their potential, and dive into more specificity on issue-based area regional challenges and opportunities.

FAQs

For more information about the Obama Foundation Leaders Africa program and answers to some of the most frequently asked questions, visit our FAQ page .

See Leaders Africa FAQs

Stories Of Our Africa Leaders

“ The program created a strong balance between structured learning and relationship-building. The diversity of perspectives within the cohort, combined with intentional space for reflection, made the experience both intellectually engaging and personally meaningful.”

–2025-2026 Leaders Africa Participant

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Former Africa Leaders

2025

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2024

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2023

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2022

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2019

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2018

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