The African Leadership Academy is designed to provide young Africans with the opportunity to better themselves, and reach their full potential. It has been very successful in this regard, with many of its students going on to establish their own entrepreneurial projects. This is why many people, including Tunde Folawiyo, continue to offer their support to this academy; the achievements of its students serve as irrefutable evidence of the effectiveness of the ALA’s approach.

In order to be accepted, candidates must first demonstrate that they are ambitious, compassionate and eager to improve the world in which they live. Laetitia Mukungu, a 17 year old girl who attends the ALA, is a prime example of the type of person the academy is looking for.

At the age of 14, Laetitia was forced to leave her secondary school, because she could not afford to pay the fees. She and her mother moved in with her grandparents, and she decided to offer her services as a tutor to young children at the local primary school.  At this point in time, she became aware of the popularity of rabbit meat, noting that there was a particularly strong demand for it in the hotels and restaurants of Nairobi. Identifying this as a business opportunity, she decided to launch a rabbit co-op, and began to run it with the help of her family.

Encouraged by the success of her enterprise, she then applied to the African Leadership Academy; due to the initiative and ingenuity which she had shown by creating a business and working as a tutor, she was immediately accepted. She is now in her final year of study at the ALA. In addition to completing her academic work, she continues to manage the rabbit co-op. The confidence which she has gained, and the skills which she has acquired during her time with the ALA have now inspired her to expand her business and empower women in her local village, by offering them training, and helping them to set up their own small rabbit farms. Her work has led to her becoming an Anzisha Prize finalist, and provided her with opportunities to speak at various international conferences.

Many people, including Tunde Folawiyo are aware of the value of these events. In the context of the ALA, conferences enable students like Laetitia to not only share their own projects with the world, but also to meet like-minded individuals, with whom they can discuss the continent’s most pressing issues. Not too long ago, the ALA established an annual conference of its own, which it named the Modern African Union conference. The primary goal of this event is to bring together a large number of intelligent, driven young people, and give them the space and the time to discuss, and potentially resolve, the continent’s most serious issues.