Founder’s Letter to the Network

A warm welcome to our friends, network, and partners,

Nine years later, it is a delight to once again present our most recent report on the continued work of the LéO Africa Institute and a demonstrated commitment of continued investments in communities, and in young and emerging leaders to drive the agenda of attainment of social equity and building a “good society”.

Every time I seat to write these notes, to accompany our annual reporting on the impact of our work, I am reminded of the privilege to do the work that we do at the LéO Africa Institute. I am also reminded of the power of ideas, relationships in changing society, and the goodness in our world, that manifests itself when our souls are inspired and challenged to do good.

This goodness and generosity of humans to each other sometimes remains beneath the surface, but most times, it reveals itself in extraordinary ways during times of crisis, as we have experienced with the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. It is also what underpins the story of the LéO Africa Institute.

As the lead champion for the Institute and the causes we promote, I witness this “unwarranted love”, and generosity in encouragement to keep our work going forward first hand, every day.

I have over time, come to strongly believe that we have more well-intentioned people in our midst than we care to know.

As the Institute community continues to grow, with the induction of more fellows and co-opting new members of faculty, and board members, I am more convinced that what we set out to do, deliberately building a community conscious of the collective role of building good and inclusive communities, is the most important thing to be committed to at this point.

To succeed in this pursuit (of building a “good society”), it is imperative to invest more effort and resources in building resilient individuals and society champions, to confront any challenges imagined or not, that will collaborate in identifying and addressing society’s challenges.

At the core of this is the insistence on principled & values-based leadership, that is conscious of uplifting the condition of the average citizen to be better.

There is no doubt that if the average citizen’s contribution to the well-being of the larger society remains negligible, it shall be impossible to achieve the “good society” we aspire to.

May we use the lessons from the CVID-19 pandemic to strengthen our systems, our resolve, networks and keep the collective conscious mindset for everyone’s well-being to continue guiding us to the next stage of our growth.

Our commitment; “keep empowering young people to succeed, live fulfilled lives, and guiding them to become significant members of a society that reflects their hopes and dreams”.

This Letter was first published in the LéO Africa Institute 2020 Annual Report

Awel Uwihanganye is the Founder & Senior Director of the LéO Africa Institute. Follow @Uwihanganye_A