A natural curiosity in human behaviour and a passion for working with people is the driving force behind Kelly Anne’s decision to study psychology. On campus, Kelly Anne is the technical force behind all school productions.

Kelly Anne’s Dream:

In my view a leader is someone whose goals are aligned to their passions and who take appropriate steps to achieve those goals for the betterment of society. This is the reason that I consider myself to be a leader. I have started to take small, yet meaningful steps towards achieving my goals. The first of those is attending African Leadership Academy in order to get a quality education so that I am able to improve the society that I live in.

I want to bring about change among the youth in my community in Cape Town. I have witnessed too many talented and promising teenagers lose hope, give in to the temptation of drugs and crime because their environment does not stimulate and motivate them. I plan to set up youth centers around Cape Town, focusing initially on the most poverty stricken areas. The centers will run arts-based activities such as dance, music, drawing and theatre. Teenagers will be able to attend courses and also deliver classes to other young people. By engaging young people through the arts with fun and interesting activities, the centers will provide an alternative to the drug and crime culture that is prevalent in the Cape Town area.

Daniel’s ambition to pursue a career in electronic engineering has grown out of a lifelong fascination of taking electronics apart and putting them back together again.

Daniel’s Dream:

I am Daniel Sahr Bonga, from Sierra Leone. When I was 9 years old a brutal civil war erupted in Freetown where I was living with my family. During the war, my father’s investments were lost and my mother’s house burnt to ashes, leaving them with nothing but their three children. My parents never thought that starting life all over again should prevent me and my sisters from getting an education. So they tried their best to send us to average primary schools in the city. After writing my junior secondary school entrance examination, I emerged with one of the best results in the country. Through this I was awarded a scholarship which enabled me to study at one of the most respected government schools in Sierra Leone.

At African Leadership Academy I am the Finance Manager of an original idea project called, Niquee. The aim of Niquee is to develop a lotion using milk butter that moisturizes the skin but also serves as a malaria repellant which in the long-term will help alleviate the malaria outbreak in many African countries. I dream of seeing a peaceful and interconnected Africa and plan to design projects that will enable low-income communities in Africa and the world at large to become self sustainable.

Maputi hopes to study bioinformatics to help Africa through the application of information technology to the field of molecular biology.

Maputi’s Dream:

My name is Maputi Elizabeth Botlhole, an eighteen year old girl from the township of New Brighton – a place that pulsates with the vivacious spirit of ‘ubuntu’; where the architecture of households is characterized by a series of corrugated iron roofs that symbolize the vicissitudes of life and which inject hopelessness into the minds of those hemorrhaged by the cycle of poverty. But it is also the place where I was nurtured by my family and where I was imprinted with indelible moral values which have molded me in to a ‘significant individual’. This is how the philosophical Nigerian writer, Wole Soyinka, describes a leader.

These moral values act as my guiding principles and have shaped my participation in projects which contribute towards the betterment of society. Furthermore, I have been able to fortify these values by being part of the African Leadership Academy community. I am currently working on a proposal which is aimed at curbing the spread of Tuberculosis in South African communities with a particular focus on townships and informal settlements. I was able to undertake this project with the help of Mr. Scudder, my Biology teacher who tirelessly injects life and philanthropic significance into the science. I have been equipped with a platform to realize my human capabilities and have been encouraged to believe that I will implement my work in townships and informal settlements, once I accumulate the necessary resources and establish myself as a skilled Bioinformatician.

Ngozi wants to study human rights law with the vision of transforming Sierra Leone.

Ngozi’s Dream:

“Don’t wait for flowers to be brought to you, plant your own garden”

This anonymous quote has been a constant driving force during my adolescence. I first heard it in 2003 during a guest speaker’s talk at my former school’s prize giving and was struck by how relevant it was to my life at the time. I come from Sierra Leone, a country with high dependency rates, and this quote spurred me on to find ways to improve myself and others without waiting on the government or members of family for handouts.

I don’t believe that there is a fixed set of criterion that qualifies a person as a good leader but in my view, I believe that honesty, accountability, integrity and a commitment to service are important traits in a leader. A leader is someone who is forthright, has a high sense of responsibility, and is committed and dedicated for the greater and common good.

These qualities are evident in my personality and I shall use them to make a change in Africa. I dream of becoming a human rights lawyer. I want to see a justice system that is fair to the vulnerable and the defenseless of society. I strongly believe that all humans, without reference to their background, class or social level in society, have the same right to access justice. Human rights and justice are for all, and I believe that it is high time that Africa is filled with lawyers who are passionate about equal rights and justice for the populace, especially those described as the “the masses”. With my leadership qualities, and my passion to see change happen, I believe that as a young African leader, I can indeed make a change.

Dagbedji is determined to improve infrastructure in West Africa and will begin to put theory in to practice by majoring in civil engineering.

Dagbedji’s Dream:

I have a passion for systems, especially their organization. This organization is, I think, the main factor of efficiency. Whatever the initial asset, the final value is determined by how well-assembled the parts are. Let’s use the carbon element as an example. It is the core element of graphite, the dark graphite that I waste each time I sharpen my pencils. Yet, in other circumstances, it presents itself as a precious and mysterious stone: a diamond. Looking at it closely, one discovers that the difference between the graphite and the diamond is the strength of the inter-molecular bonds. Let’s replace the molecules of carbon with the people of Africa. Imagine the graphite and the diamond represent the possible state of the continent. Consequently, the state of the continent is determined by the strength of the bonds between its people.

Personally, I have come to believe that only communication, information and exposure can strengthen peoples’ bond. This is what drove me as inaugural president of the African Leadership Academy francophone club and as co-founder and head of the African Leadership Academy agriculture club. This is what drives me as web services representative of iALA – the executive committee of the African Leadership Academy ICT support team – and as CEO of Agro-Experts, the student-run agricultural farm on campus. This is what will drive my professional career either as an engineer or a businessman, but always as an agent of positive change.

I am Dagbedji Fagnisse, Togolese by descent, Ivorian by education, African by love, Human by creation.

Anicet has an interest in scientific research and development.

Anicet’s Dream:

A very strong belief we all have in my family is to relate all the things or actions we undertake to which will make us proud. I grew up to realize that I actually enjoyed being a man of change. During the 9th grade, my school was renowned for its excellence in the city but yet couldn’t reach its dream of being the top school in the region. I came up with the idea of creating a student council committee which would share with the school its thoughts about different problems faced in the school and would then propose solutions. We implemented a system whereby each time a student performed well, he beneficiated from some financial aid support. This promoted excellence and allowed my school to be the top school in the region.

This is my definition of a leader: “an effective leader is the one who is able to see opportunities of change and improvement around him, grab them, hold them with all his strength, carefully exploit them and positively impact his people”. According to this definition, I consider myself to be a leader. African Leadership Academy provides an environment to learn all that I need to bring about change in the world around me. Ivory Coast is now the second biggest producer of cocoa worldwide. Yet, its economy is still suffering. Why? All the cocoa is sent to the west and we then buy the end product from them in return. My biggest dream is to set up a set of factories that are going to transform the cocoa at home and sell it to the entire world so that profit would be maximized.

This young Ivorian has a vision of changing Africa through scientific research.

Lou’s Dream:

My time at African Leadership Academy has given me the opportunity to think not only as a citizen of Ivory Coast, by as a citizen of the world. Here I have met people from Mali, Uganda, Libya, Morocco, Burundi and the USA. I have been exposed to many other cultures yet have learnt that many of our problems are the same.

I am passionate about Africa and I want to make Africa better through the empowerment of young people. In the future, I want to be an economist and have a microfinance enterprise that supports the young entrepreneurs of Ivory Coast to make their ideas come alive.

A global nomad before she came to ALA, Ela seeks to use her interest in paediatric medicine to have an impact in Africa and to help others see Africa in a positive light.

Ela’s Dream:

As it is said at African Leadership Academy, a leader is an agent of positive change. I believe that leaders are not simply born, but that they are nurtured. My core leadership values were shaped by a supportive family and valuable life experiences. These values include excellence, humility, integrity, courage and passion. I embody these values by being all that I can be, and through persevering with what I want to achieve.

At African Leadership Academy I am part of a student group that founded an after-school program – KWIT: Kids With Insane Talent – in a community primary school in the local township of Swartkop. The purpose of the program is to motivate students as individuals to continue with their education to a high school level, and to make them more socially bound within their student community. We developed the program which is modeled on the life orientation curriculum we study at African Leadership Academy and today students are increasingly socially bound as group and have a clearer sense of their passions for life as individuals.

In the future, I aspire to continue to make a difference to the lives of children in Africa through my interest in medical science and passion for social policy. Through this, I hope to bring about positive change in Africa.

Spencer wants to make ‘big stuff’ and dreams of helping usher Africa into an age of technical prosperity following his degree in aeronautical engineering.

Spencer’s Dream:

My name is Spencer Horne. I am from Cape Town, South Africa and my dream is to help usher Africa into an age of technological prosperity. My passion for science and technology are to me channels through which I can improve the lives of others. I learnt this through a recent community service project at a local rural primary school. I am part of a team which is building an anaerobic digester for the production of methane gas from agricultural waste. The impact it will have on the school and especially the students upon its completion is a source of hope and inspiration to me. Most importantly, it reinforces in me the idea that I can make a change and bring about a positive difference in the lives of others, through actions which may be small, but far-reaching.

I plan to study aeronautical engineering, a field of study which still amazes me. I wish to take what I learn in the future to improve the lives of many in South Africa. If I can change the lives of a few now, I am convinced of my capability to change the lives of many, once I have gained new skills and wisdom. I have seen the communities in South Africa, torn apart by poverty and prejudice, but unified in spirit and culture. I am glad to be a part of such a diverse community and I delight in the thought of building its future.

An enthusiastic economist and voracious reader, Ability dreams of designing economic policies that will transform his home country of Tanzania.

Ability’s Dream:

I was born in a northwestern Tanzania, in a district bordering Rwanda and Uganda. My childhood interactions with refugees from Rwanda sparked my interest in diplomacy. I am the founder of a charity club that raises financial and material support to assist those in need in the villages surrounding the Yovi river valley in Kilosa, Tanzania. Through this project, I was exposed to the world of international development and I came across the aid versus trade debate. After much consideration, I became a proponent of the trade approach as I believe it will more effectively promote development. It also inspired me to think about young people and entrepreneurship.

Earlier this year I co-founded an entrepreneurial youth initiative known as DARECHA which seeks to develop an entrepreneurial outlook among the young people of Tanzania. I am an aspiring economist and a young entrepreneur and I can’t wait to get out there and offer my services towards building a better Africa.