This episode is a fantastic overview of all of the amazing work happening at African Leadership Academy to build the next generation of young African leaders, innovators, laureates, and artists.

I had the pleasure of meeting with Ayira Katlejo, Muhammad Fatima, and Maimuna Regina to hear all about the CORE program and their broader approach to nurturing passionate Africanist autodidax.

You can also find a link to a previous episode I had with Hatim Al Tayeb, who's the CEO of African Leadership Academy.

Lovely to meet you all and thank you so much for taking the time to have this conversation.

Could I perhaps start by asking 1 of you to give a little bit of an overview of the Ala experience?

Let's say we are going to talk specifically about some particular courses, but I would it would be interesting for people who have never, perhaps never heard about African Leadership Academy to just hear about how does the experience come together?

How do the courses fit together into the the broader whole experience?

Hi, my name is Catlio.

I am a current year two student at African Leadership Academy and I'm from the Soto.

I think 1 aspect I'd like to talk about is just the Ala experience.

And I can say summed up in a word, Ala is a place of growth.

Like no one who comes to Ala leaves as they were through the various programming, either through academics or the residential activities or many of the events that happened on campus.

Ala students are given countless opportunities to grow, and I've been so grateful for the amount of growth I have gone through because of Ala.

Amazing.

That's great.

Hello, my name is Aura Brown.

I'm from Kenya and I'm a year two student at the African Leadership Academy.

So how the Academy works is essentially talk speaking about academics.

It has two parts to it.

It has the core subjects and Cambridge subjects.

So to begin with Cambridge subjects, that's just the international Cambridge curriculum and it has a range of different options from the sciences and STEM like youth science to humanities like history and English literature.

And then the core subjects consist of African Studies, entrepreneurial leadership and writing and rhetoric.

So I may go into a bit of detail on the core subjects because that's what really makes the economy unique.

But something that I find really special about the core subjects is that when you first come, you don't necessarily take African Studies and writing electric in the first term of year 1.

You do something called Oman and it's really centered on finding belonging community and just discussing ways in which you can apply certain principles from across the continent and fostering a very close knit community that's.

Great.

Thanks.

Hi, my name is Maimuna Regina Joe.

I'm from Senegal and I'm a.

Youthful at AA.

One aspect I wanted to touch on is what we post Seminole reading.

So it's a week long academic program, but there's no great deal or anything.

It's actually just a program used that happens to challenge our thinking poster collaboration in terms of thinking towards a question.

For example, we had a Seminole reading.

The theme was, I think what defines a good society and we had to analyse in small groups texts and written by people like Martin, Jack King, very interesting, also like that marked the world by their presence.

So we analysed those texts and then we challenged them and we discussed to actually come to common responses to defining questions for our societies.

Fantastic.

Thank you, Mohammed.

Yeah, since everybody touched on the academics, I can probably speak on the social life here, which is probably my favorite part of being here at Ali.

I mean, you come in here or you live in with students from all over the continent, from northeast, southwest, and some of these students are your roommates.

You're playing sports with these students, you're in class with some of these students.

I feel like this is a very unique and amazing experience where you get to learn so much about other countries.

I mean, me personally, I knew nothing about, for example, Lesotho before I came and eventually met Kathleen where we had a couple classes together and I got to, I think we even had a monk together where I could even learn about Lesotho and, and, and the culture there.

So I feel like that's really something that's unique to LA and genuinely, generally amazing.

Brilliant Fatima, you'd like to?

Oh, hello.

My name is Fukamazzara Vilad, I'm from Morocco and I'm a year youth student at the African Leadership Academy.

So I will talk about entrepreneurial leadership here at the African Leadership Academy, which is a two years course where we learn to think like a problem solver.

It's not just like as a student, we also look at the world around us, our communities, our habits, our assumptions and we learn how to we design things to make them better.

Also throughout these two years we studied the basics of running like a student or enterprising and business, and we learn how to implement our ideas in ways that create meaningful change in our communities.

Also this course which is entrepreneurial leadership which us to understand people and also to test our ideas, to reflect on our leadership journey and to collaborate student as Mohammed said from all over the continent and who thinks completely different from us.

And also I can say the best way that I can speak about this course is it teach us how to make a change feel possible.

And can I ask you, Fatima, could you just say a little bit about how so Ayra talked about the core courses, How much of your time is taken by the core courses and within that, how much of your time is taken by entrepreneurial leadership?

Entrepreneurial leadership, we study five hours each week.

It's quite a lot.

And for African Studies and Writing and Tricks, we study three or four hours each subject each week.

OK, So what, 12 hours maybe?

Yes, 12 hours.

12 hours per week for the core courses and then the.

Rest is.

Yes, some, then, then academics.

Time, yes.

OK.

Interesting academics.

We study four hours each week for each course.

We take 3A levels with entrepreneurial leadership, African Studies, and Russian engine works.

Perfect.

That's great.

Thank you, Ayura.

Just to expand a bit more on the entrepreneurial leadership part of things.

So I'd say one thing that really makes the African Leadership Academy unique is the sort of mini economy it's created within the campus.

And most of that, if not all of that is blown from the entrepreneurial leadership department.

So we have student enterprises which every year 2 is required to be in, which is roughly 5 or 6 students together to run an enterprise targeted at a specific area.

So there's enterprises that the community facing like a Sunday and cultural events, which runs cultural events assemblies or Aviada, which does sports, which Muhammad could talk about more.

And then we also have things like agro innovation, which managed like agriculture and ways that school can implement sustainable like new foods that can be grown in South Africa, things like that.

And then we have independent enterprises, which students can start themselves or with a group of students that's also academics because student enterprises within the actual course and you do them in those like four or five hours stipulated.

But independent enterprises are purely your own business.

And I find it fascinating how like you can create this sort of like smaller simulation of the larger economy and society outside.

And I find it like to be helpful in preparing us, if just a tiny bit, for what we'll experience once we graduate.

That's super interesting.

Thank you.

And can I ask how much does Ala feel like a kind of like a community itself and how much then also is it interacting with the local economy in the place that it exists in?

So you've got some kind of a family community space together and then obviously you are in a in a particular place.

So how do the relationships happen there?

So community, I say, is one of the things that the Academy really puts emphasis on.

And I would say that it's not possible to have what one could call a perfect community, but I would say that the African Academy really strives to make sure that we bond in very many different aspects of our lives.

So we have advisory families.

We have like boarding hall congregations every single week just to make sure that if not here and there, you find strong friendships and bronze that are last beyond the walls.

But in terms of local economies, like beyond the school itself, I would say that varies from personal group to personal group.

So there's a student enterprise called African Leadership Academy, Model African Union, and they contribute to like one could call like an international economy because they get students from different countries to come and simulate the Model African Union.

But then there's certain student enterprises that are only specific to Ala students.

But it really varies.

OK, interesting.

And Kaleo.

Yeah, I wanted to add more on the relations of Ala and the external environment.

I can say 1 there's an initiative called Ala Gives Back.

So that's where that's an initiative that goes out to volunteer in different places, donating all sorts of things like clothes, pads.

And that's one way sort of engages with the local community, but another way is through student enterprises.

Like as much as the El department is trying to create this ecosystem within the school, they also understand that that in itself it's not going to be fully sustainable as Ana doesn't have everything.

So another way Ana engages with external people is to partnerships with like SES on campus will partner with external bodies for different things.

For example, even SE wants to create an event on campus, they can acquire an external caterer or an external person to print materials or stuff like that.

So I'd say those are the 2 main ways, at least those I know of, that Ala engages with the local community.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

And could I ask one of you to speak to the African Studies and the other two parts of the core?

That would be great.

Yeah, please.

OK, so African Studies in writing and rhetoric are two different subjects.

So African Studies like the name suggests, we have classes that develop the Ali trade Africanist.

So we learn about the history of Africa.

We participate in class discussions like the classes are very interactive and assessments often look like, it's like assignments and like you would write maybe a single source analysis, you'll be asked to analyze a text.

We also had assignments like creative historiography.

That was the name of it.

So it was a very, let's say, out-of-the-box assignment, like you had to be creative because you would have to, I think, interview an elder in your community and then maybe craft a whole story from that.

Like it was really a way to dive into African past and beyond that.

So writing and rhetoric is a subject where we learn to write to express ourselves.

For example at Ala we are very diverse community so actually some people come not speaking English.

Me for example I come from Senegal so I came to Ala knowing French and well of my mother tongue.

So I we learn to speak English in an efficient way and actually write advanced texts and be able to analyse advanced texts as well.

So that's mainly the goal of writing and rhetoric, to develop us into leaders that can express themselves and make impact through words.

Yeah, fantastic.

Thanks.

And do the three core elements interact with each other as courses?

I would say like as disciplines, they don't really interact that much.

But what I can see, what connects them is their goals.

Because The thing is every Ala subject, whether it's a Cambridge subject or a core subject, they must all go through a criterion where they list all of the Ala trades that they are instilling in their students.

So what I can say is what connects them is the times of trades they all try to instill in the students.

So maybe African Studies can nurture the Africanist trait, but writing and rhetoric, depending on the test can also do the same.

So I'd say as disciplines, they're very separate, or what connects them is their main goal, what they're striving towards, and that is defined through the early traits.

Beautiful.

Yeah, very interesting.

Thank you.

And do any of you have any strong feelings about the way in which because a couple of you have mentioned this Africanist trait idea like how do you see what Ala is doing in terms of developing African leaders?

I mean and obviously you being some of them is clearly part of the mission of the organization.

And so how do you experience that or how do you, how do you feel about that in terms of when you look perhaps into your own future?

OK.

I think a very prominent example of how they're developing as we leave is the Africa Career Network and the source of web of opportunities they provide as an alumni.

And I feel as though Ala is very intentional as to how they make sure we stay connected to the mission even after we graduate, because quite a few people do leave the continent.

It's important to them as well as to us that we're still over there, that our goal is to help Africa in one way or another.

So through the Africa Career Networks, they really keep students involved in the going ONS of this economy itself, as well as providing people with jobs if they wish to on the continent and externally, like off the continent.

And just making sure that everybody stays grounded in the mission itself.

Interesting, Mohammed.

Yeah, please.

Maybe just to add on to what you're saying about maybe the effect of Ala and how we see it making a change, we very frequently get visits from alumni that come back to this campus.

I really get to see some of the great people and some of the great things Ala has produced, from members of parliaments to businessmen to just people who have really just left Ala, went back to their countries and done great things and then came back to us to showcase us that.

So I feel like it really shows you that by being through Ala, you get a chance at really being able to create a change in your country or the continent as a whole.

So I guess that speaks to it.

Amazing.

Yeah, it really does.

Thank you.

Yeah.

All right.

I wanted to add on.

So I think we developed many skills throughout these two years.

You learn to do business models.

You also learn to express yourself well, many soft skills.

Like I can say that every Alias student has had more than five opportunities to actually practice public speaking.

Like it's something that that's just like a thing we do here because you're always doing presentations, whether it's in African Studies class or in computer science class.

Also, you learn to be an autodidactic person as well.

And beyond that, also Ely really empowers you, I would say, to make impact in your community.

For example, I want to talk about building a box.

Building a box is something that's facilitated by the entrepreneurial leadership department.

And there's like 30 plus camps, I think all across Africa.

So during summer, Ali students and or Ali alumni will organize those camps, like where we teach young people, 40 plus participants, something like that.

They're taught entrepreneurship, they're taught leadership, how to make a business model come to life, basically a crash course on project management and really making businesses.

So I've got to do building a box when I finished my year 1.

And it's a crazy opportunity to actually be teaching people that are the same age as you.

But it's a form of empowerment because we are just translating and giving back to our communities what Ailey has given us.

Amazing, so just to clarify, you having experienced the course yourself, you then go and teach it to others who may not but have access to it?

Exactly.

That's it.

Yeah, amazing.

Thank you so much.

Anybody else have any, any reflections on that point about what kinds of skills or competencies you are?

May not be leadership or entrepreneurship, but it could be other things.

Yeah.

Any other reflections on that?

What have you?

How do you feel you've grown?

OK.

Maybe to just add on to what they're saying, I'd say Ala really gives you a head start to start what it is that you want to do like the impact back of your country.

So all of us here will be coming.

We come to Ala, we kind of have an idea of what sort of impact you want to have on our nation's or what sort of problems we'd like to tackle.

Maybe to speak again about the entrepreneurial leadership program here.

I mean, as the name suggests, it is about entrepreneurial leadership and about enterprise and study your enterprise.

And you do eventually join an enterprise.

But what we get here, we start by sort of reflecting on our own mission and the reason behind why we're at Ali and what mission we have being here.

So right before you join enterprise, you kind of get to envision an idea of your own enterprise.

So you start thinking of if I were to start my own enterprise, what would it be about?

And eventually you get to make your own enterprise tackling this issue and maybe get a chance at this enterprise, even becoming a full on student enterprise here at Ali that other students can join.

I mean, to speak about myself personally, the issue I really wanted to tackle when I came here was they show sports opportunities.

I mean, I'm an athlete myself and where I came from Sudan, there really wasn't any sports opportunities.

And although they had a lot of talented athletes, none of them really got a shot or an opportunity at becoming successful at what that is.

So coming to El or entrepreneurial leadership, I mentioned that as my mission statement and I eventually went on to create my own enterprise in something called the team OID here where you and other students join together.

You make an enterprise and then you go and present it in front of judges where now you get judged and your enterprise has a chance into becoming an enterprise.

Unfortunately, my enterprise didn't get a chance to become a mean it's own enterprise, but I did end up joining a student enterprise here on campus called Riada, which is a student enterprise that's all about sports.

And I'm still getting to chase this mission of my, of giving us each an opportunity.

And we've been working towards that as the reality team this year here on the student campus.

So I feel like for me, that has been my favorite part of being at La and something that's very, I'd say practical because you can speak about change.

You can speak about change all day, but for you to actually get a chance and make it a change, I feel like that's very unique to LA and one of its its best treats.

Beautiful.

Yeah, very well said.

Thank you very much.

I just would love to ask you about your relationships with the teachers or educators or mentors or coaches.

I don't know exactly what you call them as such, but that feels to be an important part of some of these more innovative approaches that the traditional relationship between a teacher and a student is perhaps disrupted a bit.

So does anybody have any reflections on in terms of that community question?

But also just yeah, the the relationship with your educators and and mentors on the staff.

I think you probably noticed that my smile just came alive.

I I show your.

Smile.

I did, yeah.

Because I think, you know, in high school, there's usually that one teacher that just goes above and beyond, just like they're the favorite.

But The funny thing about Ala is every teacher is like that.

So every single teacher is super dedicated about their job.

And they're not just dedicated on learning outcomes, they're also very focused on your growth as a person, as a student.

So it differs depending on the subjects.

So I'd say when looking at my academics, I would say the teachers would teach my electives.

They're really focused on helping me grow as a student.

But then when it comes to core, because the core is really much focused on like educational points is more focused on personal growth, I would say each conversation with a teacher is not just about the assignment or anything.

We also get to talk about me as a person, how I've grown, the confidence I now show in class.

And maybe this one might be on a side note.

I just say the teachers here are super friendly.

I don't feel like it's a privilege that most people get to have, especially at these higher institutions.

The teachers are people you can just smile with, sit down with, have a talk with, and there's no level of awkwardness at all.

And I think that's a great privilege of being here at Ali.

Beautiful.

Wow.

Sounds like an amazing place.

Anyone else?

Yeah.

Please mind me now, Regina.

So I also wanted to add on to what Kat Leo said.

So in our state enterprises, we also have coaches.

So there's one member of the entrepreneur leadership faculty that's closely following what you do.

And they're here always here for advice, for support, everything.

It's like they don't do the work for us and they'll actually put you in a situation where you will have to grow, but they will be there like watching you from afar and really seeing how things are going and, and it's like you can feel the care.

Like a Teo said.

They're here when you need to talk.

Like it's actually beyond a teacher student thing.

It's like some, they're very friendly and they live with us because this is a boarding school as well.

Not all teachers live on campus, but some of them do.

So you can see them and it can be a, a person who can give you advice and stuff like that because this is a very close knit community as well.

Also, I wanted to talk about how teachers are really here, like beyond just getting their paycheck, if I may say.

Like for example, we have board meetings in our student enterprises.

So many faculty members, it can be a physical teacher, a computer science, math.

They will volunteer to be in our board to be able to advise us on our enterprises growth and progress and all that.

Also there's a great relationship of trust with teachers.

Like we are often given what we call SDLSDL is self-directed learning.

So a teacher can just be like, OK, today's SDL time and they would give us the time because they actually trust us to use it well.

And that's a way of actually challenging us to be responsible teenagers and actually get our work done without somebody having to follow after us, like every minute.

Yeah, fantastic.

That's amazing, Aya.

Yeah, I'd just like to say something similar to the Catholic hall.

Well, I believe that the alien like teachers who want relationship is quite orthodox on people and like, it's nothing totally ordinary.

But where the special part comes in is the characters that alien chooses to be the teachers.

I feel as though they're very intentional with who they hire, if I can say it that way.

They make sure that the people they bring into the community embody the values and the characteristics that they wish to see and they recognize if there's like perhaps a gap in a certain area and try and like encourage teachers to mirror that like value that is missing.

So in the same way as writing in rhetoric and African Studies sometimes coincide, I say that with teachers somehow like seamlessly fit into the community because like they are Africanists.

They are like autodidacts and they are a critical thinkers.

And so they're able to really adapt to different situations.

That's why a teacher can be like an advisor and on a board meeting and also like a physics teacher.

It comes naturally to them because Ala is very specific with who they bring in, and I'm very grateful for that.

Amazing.

Can I just just out of curiosity, 2 of you now have mentioned this phrase autodidact and it's not I mean, I know what it means, but it's not the very common term.

Does that get used in the community at Ala is that it's a familiar term.

It's.

Yes, it's an extremely familiar phrase.

You hear it every day in almost every class.

It's just one of the things that Ala thrive towards is we don't really link our learning to a teacher.

Obviously we do have a teacher that's there to support this and explain things, but we take control of our own learning and that's really something that they want us to do.

Autodidact, meaning we learn on our own.

We go, we study, we strive to learn more.

I mean, sometimes, for example, before we even go to classes, in most classes, a lot of the students already know what's going on.

So the classes are just a chance for us to go there and to discuss with the teacher to maybe even gain a further understanding about the subject or whatever it is we're doing.

So autodite that it's 100% afraid to be here every day.

I love that.

That's so good.

Yeah, interesting.

Does anybody have just one final thing just to maybe to end the segment?

If you had a recommendation to other people around the world who are listening to this, who don't get this special chance of experiencing the community, Like, what would you say to other educators around the world that if they could bring some of the magic of Ala into their community in Bolivia or New Orleans or wherever, Fatima.

I think I will tell them that they should come with an open mind and don't be afraid to bring their story because especially here at the African Leadership Academy, all of us like we are honest about where we come from, where the challenges we've been facing and the dreams that we have.

And this is what make the African Leadership Academy special for us, that it make us like living in ourselves and our impact to the communities where we can.

From.

Beautiful Hey rah to go for.

It just like a general statement.

I would say that like change in growth, as Catholic Hall had mentioned, the beginning is uncomfortable and like it shouldn't be comfortable.

So if you want to develop, if you want to become a better version of yourself, like don't expect to be placed in a situation that you've already encountered before or that you know everything about.

And if you find yourself in such a situation, then push yourself so that you feel that discomfort, because that's what really like creates.

Growth.

Love it.

Beautiful.

Last one, I wanted to address this to the educators.

As you said, I would advise them do not be someone your students have to depend on.

Really teach, but also empower and give them the agency to craft their own stories and beliefs.

We hope you've enjoyed this episode.

Please feel free to continue the dialogues with our guests, with us at Good Impact Labs, on our blog, or on social media, or within your own networks.