Leaders Africa 2022

The Obama Foundation Leaders Africa program seeks to build a growing network of innovative and values-based changemakers who will drive positive change in their communities, the continent, and the world.

The 2022 Leaders Africa program was a six-month, non-residential, virtual journey for 35 emerging leaders from across the continent.

The 2022 program focused on honing leadership skills, building deep relationships with fellow leaders, and exploring how to drive, scale, and make sustainable change. Upon graduation, this group of Leaders joined a continental-wide community of like-minded changemakers and became part of a lifelong Obama Foundation community with access to a deep network –  the Obama Leadership Network.

The virtual Leaders Africa program identified exceptional leaders in public, civil society, and the private sector who had a clear issue-focus and who can illustrate the impact of their work. Our objective is to build a network of values-driven leaders, who create positive, innovative change in their communities, throughout Africa, and around the world. The program ran from February 2022 through June 2022. Leaders participated in the following core elements of the program:

Weekly Virtual Calls

These live virtual sessions were the primary form of collective engagement. These connections offered a mix of new content (conversations with experts, introductions to leadership frameworks, skill-building, etc.) and interactive, small-group work in breakout rooms.

Monthly Community Groups

Leaders worked in peer learning groups that encouraged deeper relationship-building and peer-learning, and offered an opportunity to reflect on case studies of prominent African leaders, or discuss open questions from the group sessions.

Individualized Leadership Coaching

Leaders were paired with a coach to help them gain self-awareness, clarify goals, brainstorm ideas, achieve their development objectives, and unlock their potential.

Get to know the 2022 Leaders below!