YELP Fellows to Re-unite at three different Seminars in 2021

Ahead of the launch of the expanded YELP 2.0 fellowship in 2022, the LéO Africa Institute is convening Fellows from the Classes of 2017, 2018, and 2019 to revisit some of the insightful sessions from the YELP experience with support from Stanbic Bank Uganda.

The three seminars will 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 Young and Emerging Leaders Project, YELP in short, is an initiative of the LéO Africa Institute, implemented with financial support from Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Stanbic Bank Uganda.

Due to the prevailing pandemic, the structure of the seminars will be hybrid (a mix of in-person and virtual sessions). The insights from the sessions will serve a secondary purpose of informing the YELP 2.0 curriculum design process currently underway led by the Institute faculty.

The seminars are divided into three broad themes on leadership: Shaping Personal Leadership, Achieving and Managing Success, and Living One’s Legacy.

In expanding the YELP leadership experience, the Institute is opening up participation to non-Fellows at the 2021 reunion seminars. Non-Fellows are either spouses of fellows or individuals invited by the Fellows themselves, who would have otherwise been a natural selection for a YELP class.

The first of three Seminars under the theme Keeping Sight of the Thread; Managing Life Transitions will be held in Nairobi, Kenya between 25 – 26 June, 2021. The seminar will evaluate progress and achievements of the individual YELP Fellows and assess levels of advancement in career growth paths, as well as the impact of their work on the communities where they live.

The second reunion Seminar themed The Urgency of Harambee (“Pulling together”): Leadership for the Times will take place in Kigali, Rwanda over the weekend of 9–10 July 2021 in Kigali, Rwanda.
The Kigali Seminar will focus on the different forms of success, help participants define their standards and definitions of success, keep focus on their personal goals, and appreciate values that underpin successful leaders with significant presence in society.

The third Alumni Seminar Shaping Personal Legacies; Guiding Leaders Towards Significance will focus on moving beyond the “self”- from achieving and managing personal success to achieving significance in society. The Kampala Seminar, to be held from 8-10 October, will also coincide with the unveiling of the newly designed YELP 2.0 Curriculum.

From the seminar, 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.

Speaking at the Institute’s Annual Leaders Gathering in November 2020, The Stanbic Uganda Chief Executive Ms. Anne Juuko affirmed the bank’s support for mentorship programmes like YELP in growing a network of values-based leaders in Uganda and across the region.

“Young leaders need to seek out platforms where they can be mentored to improve their understanding of value-based leadership in transforming, to appreciate the current challenges they face today, as well as network and learn from the best minds in leadership on how to maneuver these challenges,” said Anne Juuko.

Who are the YELP fellows? These are a network of some of the most outstanding young entrepreneurs and leaders in 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.

The 2021 YELP fellows’ reunion seminars are supported by Stanbic Bank Uganda.

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