LéO Africa Institute and Stanbic Bank Uganda reaffirmed their partnership at an event held in Kampala on 30th March 2022. The bank’s financial contribution of UGX 70,000,000 will go towards the convening of the Young and Emerging Leaders Project Fellowship regional alumni seminars.
Speaking at the announcement of the partnership, LéO Africa Institute Board Member David F.K Mpanga reiterated the value of building the capacity of young and emerging leaders to live high-impact and successful lives.
“The worst thing that could happen to us is to have this generation of young people drift through their youth and achieve the pinnacle of success without ever pausing to think about the value of that success,” said David F.K Mpanga.
The Young and Emerging Leaders Project (YELP) is the Institute’s flagship leadership development initiative that between 2017 and 2019 inducted 68 outstanding young and emerging leaders from various fields including social enterprise, journalism, public service, the performing arts, among others.
The YELP Fellowship network now boasts fellows from eight African countries: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, D.R Congo, Zambia and Somalia.
“The main aim of the YELP Fellowship is to shape the critical thinking and thought leadership of already outstanding young people we admit, who by the virtue of their work and positions, can influence public opinion and scale their ideas and impact to better their communities and society,” said LéO Africa Institute Founder & Senior Director.
Between 2017 and 2019, the YELP fellowship was supported by Stanbic Bank Uganda and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
“What is more impactful for us as a bank is the story and vision behind what the LéO Africa Institute is set out to do. Our partnership over the last five years simply affirms that the story and the outcome have been consistent,” said Samuel Mwogeza, the Head Consumer and High Networth at Stanbic Bank Uganda and also a Board Member of the LéO Africa Institute.
“It is an exciting opportunity for us to partner with the Institute. We look forward to seeing the richness of that impact reflect not just in the alumni but also in how the alumni impact society in a broader way,” Samuel added.
Beginning in 2021 the LéO Africa Institute has convened regional seminars for Fellows from the Young and Emerging Leaders Project (YELP) Classes of 2017, 2018, and 2019 with support from Stanbic Bank Uganda.
The three seminars—held in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kigali—feature leadership coaching sessions, a combination of text-based readings to facilitate inspiration, reference to critical thought, facilitate dialogue and debate on challenges and the promise of leadership for the fellowship’s alumni network that now spans 8 African countries.
The seminars are divided into three broad themes on leadership: Shaping Personal Leadership, Achieving and Managing Success, and Living One’s Legacy.
“We are enhancing our partnership with the LéO Africa Institute because of their potential to transform young people. As a bank, we are behind the Young and Emerging Leaders Project fellowship because we cannot continue to ignore young people’s need to become the next leaders,” said Cathy Adengo, Stanbic Bank Uganda’s Head of Sustainability.
Due to the prevailing pandemic, the structure of the seminars is hybrid (a mix of in-person and virtual sessions) and the insights from the sessions will serve a secondary purpose of extending the YELP leadership experience to non-fellows who are either spouses of fellows or individuals invited by the Fellows themselves.
From the seminars, Fellows are expected refresh their leadership commitment towards building a good society, and rediscover the sort of legacy they want to live towards, and gain new skills to help them navigate the pitfalls that come with fearless leadership, create ownership of the decisions, and sacrifices, that they have to make at different points in time.
“As a continent, this is the one time we are going to have a lot of young people growing up at the same time. We are investing in them to create real value out of them,” Diana Ondoga the Corporate Social Investments Manager at Stanbic Bank Uganda.
YELP Fellows are a network of some of the most outstanding young entrepreneurs and leaders in Eastern Africa, who are driving change in their communities and achieving success in their careers. Fellows are selected on the basis of the potential of their work, business, organizations to impact positively thousands in their communities and beyond. Upon graduation, the fellows form the core of what constitutes the LéO Africa Institute leadership network.
This article was first published by the LéO Africa Institute
