Joining Africa Leadership Initiative (EA) Fellows in Retreat & Conversation

There is something quietly powerful about sitting under open skies with people who have walked roads you are only beginning to find. That was the feeling that settled over the grounds of Mr. Fredrick Kitaka's country home in Bwerenga, off Entebbe Road, on the morning of Saturday, 7th March 2026. A feeling that something meaningful was unfolding.

It was here, at this warm and beautiful retreat nestled away from the city's hum, that members of the LéO Africa Institute gathered with senior alumni and newly inaugurated fellows of the Africa Leadership Initiative – East Africa (ALI-EA). The occasion was a fellowship, not the formal, agenda-heavy kind, but the kind that breathes.

The gathering carried a particular resonance, because the LéO Africa Institute is itself a living testament to what these networks can produce. Awel Uwihanganye and Magnus Mchinguzi, the Institute’s co-founders, are both fellows of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) and the Africa Leadership Initiative. It was through these fellowships that their paths converged, and it was as they completed the fellowship journeys that they made a commitment to each other and to the continent: to build something together.

The LéO Africa Institute was born from that pledge. It stands today as a joint leadership project across geography, sector, and background, and as one of the most compelling demonstrations of what fellowship networks can make possible, bringing people from different spheres of work, different parts of the continent, and different life experiences into a shared purpose, and trusting that something enduring will grow from the encounter.

The day opened gently, with breakfast and the easy rhythm of people getting to know one another. Then, in a deliberate and thoughtful move, those attending the gathering were put into small circles, but not by organisation or seniority. Younger LéO fellows were folded into circles alongside ALI alumni and the incoming ALI cohort, seated as equals around a shared table of ideas. It was an intentional mixing, the kind that says: wisdom does not flow in one direction.

The centrepiece of the morning was a seminar reading of Walter Paepcke's timeless letter, Human Freedom, a text that has quietly shaped leadership conversations for decades. Written by the founder of the Aspen Institute, Paepcke's letter is a meditation on what it means to live a full life, one not merely defined by professional achievement, but by inner richness, service, and the relentless pursuit of meaning.

The groups discussed it openly and vulnerably, reflecting on the toll sometimes success can come with, the journeys of success and faliure and what they were still reaching for. Themes of values-based leadership surfaced again and again, the idea that the truest form of success is not found in titles or earnings, but in how deeply we serve others and how honestly we inhabit our own lives.

Then came a moment that anchored the entire gathering. Mariam Luyombo, one of ALI-EA's leaders, stepped forward to offer a short but stirring reflection on the power of good leadership. She spoke not in abstract terms, but with the conviction of someone who has seen lives changed by the presence or absence of intentional leaders.

She reminded those gathered that fellowships like this one are not just personal privileges. They are investments in a larger story, and those who have benefited carry a responsibility to hold the door open for those coming next. She invited everyone to actively support the new cohort of ALI fellows, to mentor, to engage, to give of their time and experience.

It was the kind of call to action that does not pressure you. It simply reminds you of what you already know: that we are, each of us, part of a chain.

The afternoon softened into something equally nourishing. The Kitaka family, gracious and generous hosts, laid out a sumptuous lunch, and as the sun began its descent, the evening gave way to cocktails, laughter, and the kind of conversations that do not fit neatly into any agenda. Old friendships were deepened. New ones began. Business cards were exchanged, but more importantly, so were stories.

By the time the day ended, something had shifted, subtly but surely, in the way many of those present thought about their journeys. Not because of any single speech or idea, but because of the accumulation of it all: the shared readings, the honest conversations, the generosity of a host who opened his home, and the reminder that leadership is not a destination. It is a daily practice, lived out in community, sustained across generations.

Bwerenga, it turns out, is more than an address off Entebbe Road. On that Saturday morning, it was a room where the past and future of African leadership sat down together, listened, and through honest conversation, agreed on a set of actions to carry the commitment to a better Africa forward.