Shaping Leadership for the Africa We Want

Session VI panel discussion at the Annual Leaders Gathering 2024

Returning to Build Africa: A Vision of Leadership and Community - Awel Uwihanganye

Awel Uwihanganye, a co-founder of the LéO Africa Institute, shared his deep passion for building communities in Africa that embody a unique way of thinking and acting. Awel reflected on his leadership journey, highlighting a strong sense of responsibility toward his homeland, Uganda, and the continent at large, despite opportunities to remain abroad in countries like Canada, the UK, and Germany.

Awel recounted how, upon leaving Uganda, well-meaning friends and family urged him not to return due to the challenging conditions back home. However, an undeniable calling drew him back. While abroad, He felt a disconnect, unable to find communities of Africans who shared his vision and identity. This absence fuelled Awel’s desire to return and contribute to creating opportunities for others.

Awel emphasized the idea that "Africa is born in us, not us in it," a sentiment that resonated deeply with his personal journey. Awel’s return to Uganda was driven by a commitment to work for societal change, particularly empowering young Africans who face limited opportunities. He described his efforts as being focused on building platforms that foster leadership, creativity, and solutions for Africa's challenges.

Through his work with the LéO Africa Institute and other roles, including serving as Chief Advancement Officer at Makerere University, Awel has dedicated himself to impacting communities on a larger scale. Makerere University, a significant educational institution in the region, offers a platform to shape the type of African leaders who can drive change across the continent.

Ultimately, Awel’s mission is centered on people, communities, and the development of Africa. By creating spaces for collaboration and empowerment, Awel aims to nurture a new generation of leaders committed to shaping the future of the continent.

Watch the full video of Awel’s presentation

Changing Faces of Financial Inclusion in Africa: The Story of Ramani - Iain Usiri

Iain Usiri, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Ramani, gave a presentation about his innovative journey in extending financial access for small businesses in Africa. Ramani is a financial technology company that's building a frictionless financial marketplace with the intent to fuel better financial inclusion and ultimately reduce poverty on the continent.

Iain painted a vivid picture of the traditional process for small businesses to secure loans from banks in Africa, describing it as arduous, inefficient, and limited in options. Entrepreneurs must visit multiple banks, establish individual relationships, and undergo repetitive processes to obtain limited offers. This inspired Ramani’s vision: a single, unified platform, the "Ramani ID," where businesses can submit all necessary documents and data. That verified data would be accessed by banks across the country, which means entrepreneurs would get loan offers from several at once to ensure better rates and services.

To realize this vision, Ramani has lent over US$200 million to small businesses in Tanzania off its balance sheet. That track record of success earned the trust of local banks, and today Ramani partners with leading institutions like Standard Group and Tanzania Commercial Bank to channel bank capital to its customers. It is no longer an idea; the financial marketplace is alive and real, changing the way financial services are provided to small businesses.

Beyond financial inclusion, Iain said, Ramani aspired to build the Africa of his dreams. This is an Africa free from poverty, where the opportunities for self-actualization and the opportunity to create wealth are within the reach of everyone, not only the privileged few. He underlined that the ownership of property, access to land, and the chance to gain wealth are given to middle and lower-class citizens, with aspirations toward an Africa typified by pragmatic leadership and economic empowerment.

Iain's determination to return to Africa after spending many years abroad is a sure indication of his belief in meaningful success realized at home. Equipping and empowering the people to address systemic challenges and to create inclusive growth, Ramani shapes a future in which every African can prosper.

You can watch the full video of Iain’s presentation

The Africa We Want: Unlocking Potential through Capital and Productivity - Reginald Tumusiime

Reginald Tumusiime, an entrepreneur and seasoned banker, gave a presentation on how to create an Africa led by its productive youth through access to capital. Drawing from his experiences as the founder of CapitalSavvy, a corporate finance institution, he explained fully the important roles that financial inclusion, productivity, and empowerment will play toward shaping the future of the continent.

CapitalSavvy is an advisory services outfit to governments, development finance institutions (DFIs), and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a trade finance platform, affording SMEs access to growth capital. Speaking on behalf of Africa's restive youth, who are expected to make up 25% of the world's workforce over the next decade, Tumusiime reflected on the continent's potential, tempered by low productivity. He pointed out that if Africa's productivity were to increase to that of countries like India, its share of global output could rise to 10%, while it accounted for 20% of global economic growth.

Reginald emphasized the need to enhance access to capital for SMEs, which employ nearly 70% of Africa's youth. The company has also raised money from institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals across the world. They attract attractive returns and, in turn, have channelled this into the SMEs, enabling their growth through debt financing.

Beyond financial solutions, Tumusiime champions technology and mentorship as ways to empower young Africans. In his work, fundraising, capital deployment, and mentorship programs highlight the importance of equipping Africa's youth with the tools to drive sustainable development.

The Africa that Reginald is envisioning is one where the youth are empowered to realize their potential, adequately equipped with the resources and skills needed to prosper. Addressing productivity and capital challenges, this is how a vision of a thriving and equitable continent can be realized.

You can watch the full video of Reginald’s presentation

Empowering Women to Build the Africa We Want - Judy Lumumba

In her presentation, Judy Lumumba, a YELP Fellow from the class of 2019, shared a very strong community-based initiative that empowers young women to take their rightful place within political, economic, and social spaces with confidence. The initiative – Scars in my Voice Initiative (SIVO), works on healing the "wounds" of gender-based violence, financial struggles, and other societal challenges faced by women. This addresses the areas needed to create a sustainable culture of empowered women.

Unique to the mission of the initiative is sewing, both as the language and skill for empowerment and connection. In this further marginalized and insecure region of Kenya, where linguistic barriers abound, the sewing is a strong unifier. Women from different ethnic groups who have never spoken one another's languages find common ground through this skill and are able to work together, learn from, and support one another.

Lumumba sees an Africa where skills know no language barrier, and thus people from different walks of life can come together and work. She extends this vision to a greater dream of reversing the narrative of migration: instead of Africans leaving to seek opportunities elsewhere, she imagines a future where people from other continents flock to Africa for its opportunities and innovations.

A critical aspect of this vision is retaining the bright minds and talents of Africa. Judy Lumumba longs for an Africa where intellectual and creative contributions remain on the continent, building local economies and strengthening communities. Instead of sending its best and brightest abroad, Africa should harness its talents to foster self-reliance and sustainable development.

Concluding, Lumumba urged the audience to take action together; every single one of us has a piece to contribute to the Africa we want. Let us go in solidarity, with the diversity of skills, to forge a future for the continent marked by empowerment, prosperity, and pride.

You can watch the full video of Judy’s presentation

About the author: Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi is the Media and Communications Officer at the LéO Africa Institute.