- How did the idea for the Academy come about?
The idea for the Academy was inspired by our Founders’ personal experiences growing up all over Africa and realizing that the key bottleneck to peace and prosperity in Africa was the lack of effective leadership on the continent.
- How does the Academy define a leader?
A leader is an agent of positive change. A leader uses his or her networks, skills, and talents to improve the status quo for the broader community. Leaders exist in all professions and catalyze sweeping, positive change.
- What is the legal structure of the Academy?
African Leadership Academy is a nonprofit Section 21 public benefit organization (PBO) in South Africa. All contributions made to the Academy by individuals or corporations in South Africa are exempt from donations tax and estate tax.
African Leadership Academy has an affiliated 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the African Leadership Foundation , located in the United States. African Leadership Foundation was established to support the development of African Leadership Academy and the next generation of African leaders. All gifts made to African Leadership Foundation by individuals and donors located in the United States may be tax-deductible.
- Why is the Academy located in South Africa? Why is it located in Gauteng Province?
South Africa is an ideal location for the Academy because of its economic and political stability, world-class infrastructure, and ease of transport to and from the other nations in Africa and around the world. Gauteng province, home to Johannesburg and Pretoria, is the cosmopolitan hub of South Africa. It is fast becoming a “gathering place” for well-educated Africans from all over the continent. This makes Gauteng an ideal location for finding mentors and guest speakers for our students. Gauteng is also the commercial hub of South Africa, offering close proximity to many South African corporations and individuals interested in funding the Academy.
- What makes the Academy unique?
African Leadership Academy is the only school in Africa that will actively recruit students from all nations on the continent. It is also the only school in Africa with such an explicit emphasis on developing leaders and entrepreneurs. The Academy offers unsurpassed expertise in university and career placement, and it will uniquely admit highly talented students without regard to their economic status.
- Who will be the Academy faculty?
The African Leadership Academy faculty will include outstanding teachers from around the world. Approximately 80% of the teaching staff will come from across Africa, reflecting the pan-African composition of the student body. The remainder of the faculty will come from other continents, some of whom will be teaching on exchange from the other leading secondary schools. ALA has already established strong links with some of the most prestigious schools in the USA and England.
- Is African Leadership Academy simply another opportunity for Africa’s elite?
No. African Leadership Academy aspires to educate talented students from all walks of life. A diverse student body will be admitted to the Academy without regard to the students’ race, gender, citizenship, religious affiliation, or family wealth. The Academy seeks in particular those talented students who might not otherwise have access to an outstanding education, and we anticipate that at least 50% of our students will require financial assistance. With all students, we seek to reinforce the notion that they have been endowed with skills, networks, and talents not just for themselves but for the benefit of society as a whole. And African Leadership Academy’s outreach efforts, including teacher training and the sharing of our curriculum across the continent, will enable ALA to impact thousands of students beyond our campus.
- At which universities does the Academy intend to place its students?
African Leadership Academy seeks to place each student at a world-class university that strongly matches his or her interests and goals. These universities may be in Africa or outside the continent, but they must provide our graduates with resources – faculty, libraries, laboratories, and technology offerings – that will prepare them to lead in an increasingly competitive global arena. We expect some students to attend universities outside Africa, and we will embrace these decisions. Global exposure and cross-cultural awareness is fundamental to leadership in the twenty-first century.
- How will you find your students?
African Leadership Academy will find its students through a combination of direct outreach and partnership efforts. Our Admissions team will visit countries across the continent to meet leading students and build partnerships with NGOs, ministries of education, feeder schools, and other organizations that work with youth across the continent.
- How will you select your students?
We will be looking for outstanding students from across the continent with demonstrated leadership potential, entrepreneurial spirit, passion for Africa, passion for public service, and a strong academic record.
The candidate selection process will include recommendations from communities/teachers, essays, interviews, entrance exams, and an evaluation of academic performance to date.
- When was this project launched?
In June 2003.
- Who are your main funders?
African Leadership Academy is supported by individuals, corporations, and foundations across the world. Our supporters include Echoing Green, a foundation in New York that supports innovative social sector organizations; the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa; and a diverse group of individuals including leading businesspeople from across the continent. For information on our supporters is available on the Support Us section of this site and in our downloadable publications.
- Why will African Leadership Academy use the “Northern Hemisphere” academic calendar (September – June)?
Approximately half of African Leadership Academy’s students will come from regions near or above the Equator, including West and North Africa. These regions already have an academic calendar that begins in September. Many of our sister schools around the world have a September – June academic calendar, and many of the world’s leading universities also use such a calendar.
- What is the curriculum at the Academy?
Our academic core is an internationally recognized A-level academic curriculum. Around this is built our unique curriculum in Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and African Studies. For more information, please visit the curriculum section of this website.
- How is your curriculum being developed?
We have a full-time curriculum team that is identifying experts in Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and African Studies and surveying best practices to incorporate into our curriculum.
- Where will ALA students come from?
Approximatively 80% of our student body will come from within Africa and 20% from outside of Africa. Within Africa, ALA aims for regional balance (with students from West, East, North and Southern Africa), gender balance, religious diversity, and language diversity (Francophone, Anglophone, Lusophone). Students from abroad will include children from the African diaspora and exchange students from sister schools around the world.
- Why does African Leadership Academy seek students from outside of Africa?
African Leadership Academy is a global institution with an African focus. On our campus, future leaders from across Africa and around the world will interact. Young African leaders will recognize that Africa cannot develop in a vacuum but is instead part of an increasingly interconnected world. They will benefit from deep linkages and friendships with full-time and exchange students from other regions. We dream of a future in which a Senator from the United States who has been educated at ALA is sponsoring a trade bill that affects Africa, or an investment banker in London will rely on information and networks built at ALA to evaluate a significant investment in the continent.
- Why are you focusing on the 15-18 year age group?
We are focusing on students who are at a very special time in their lives: they are coming out from under the wings of their parents and starting to form their own views of the world. By working with young people, we have a powerful opportunity to shape how they think and build a solid foundation of ethics and values.
- How is the Academy different from other initiatives that aim to develop leaders for Africa?
African Leadership Academy has a focus on the youth across the continent, while most high-powered leadership initiatives in Africa are working with adults or in a specific country. ALA is the only institution in Africa taking such a long-term, pan-African approach to developing leaders. We are bringing best practice in leadership, entrepreneurship, and African studies to our students and teaching it in a unique manner that will truly prepare students for a lifetime of leadership on the continent. ALA will assemble a broad network of individuals, including alumni, mentors, guest speakers, and corporate partners from all over Africa. The ALA network will form the support structure for our young leaders and thereby enhance their chances of success.
- How will ALA be financially sustainable?
ALA’s operating model allows it to be financially sustainable after the third year of operations. Financial sustainability is crucial to our goal of building an African educational institution that lasts for centuries. We achieve sustainability by charging competitive boarding school fees for those students with financial means and by leading a number of fee-based summer and holiday programs on our campus.
- How will you ensure your students come back to Africa if they attend university overseas?
While students are at African Leadership Academy, we will instill in them a passion for Africa (via our African studies curriculum) and an awareness of the amazing opportunities to have impact on the continent. They will be exposed to inspirational mentors and role models - Africans who have studied overseas and have come back to lead extremely fulfilling careers - so our students recognize that they don’t need to leave Africa to have successful careers. Finally, ALA students will be encouraged to think like entrepreneurs. We believe Africa is an entrepreneur’s paradise.
We will not leave it to overseas institutions to place our graduates in careers, because few institutions have deep networks across Africa. Instead, we will actively facilitate connections between our graduates and organizations across the continent through our deep pan-African network. African Leadership Academy will bring alumni together frequently during college and beyond, keeping them connected to the mission and values of the Academy.
- How will you deal with language differences at the Academy?
African Leadership Academy’s primary language of instruction is English. Each student is also required to learn another language that is broadly spoken on the African continent during their time at the Academy. Those students who are admitted to ALA without language fluency will be given extra classes prior to and during their time at the Academy.
- How, specifically, will you develop leaders at the Academy?
We will develop leadership skills through study, role modelling, and extensive practice. Students will study and consider leadership from a variety of perspectives through case studies and texts on the subject. They will have frequent contact with role models who visit campus regularly as guest speakers and a personal mentor who is a “leadership coach.” And they will have extensive practice, most notably with the Culminating Service Project, in which each student must design and implement a project that has a lasting positive impact on an African community.
