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AFRICA BUSINESS FELLOWSHIP
Launched in 2016, the Africa Business Fellowship (ABF) is a partnership between African Leadership Network (ALN), Econet Foundation, and Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). This partnership forges substantive collaborations and mobilizes the collective influence of both US and African leaders across business, government and civil society to tackle the challenges and capture promising opportunities in the future.
The program’s main objectives are:
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Exposure of future American business leaders to Africa’s business and investment landscape, making them more likely to want to do business in Africa later on in their careers
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Development of cross-cultural networks between fellows and their African colleagues that will last beyond the duration of the fellowship
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Professional growth and impact for fellows, both in Africa and the US
The program matches 10-15 young American business professionals with paid 3 or 6-month placements in Africa’s top, most successful companies. During the program, fellows are exposed to African business operations, local cultures, collaborative experiences, relationships with peers and senior African executives, and the overall business landscape in select African countries. Fellows also build meaningful relationships with one another and the broader business community especially at ALN’s Annual Gathering.
ABF has been profiled by Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal, and has been endorsed by Rwandan President, Paul Kagame; former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan; former African Development Bank President, Dr. Donald Kaberuka, and many other high-profile African and American leaders.
For more information on the program and the selection process please visit the ABF Website.
Our ABF Fellow transformed our sales team. In three months, she organized our sales process, which resulted in us onboarding several corporate clients. The new business we captured converted the team into a profitable team and more than covered the investment we made in the program. The cross-cultural interaction introduced a lot of staff to different ways of looking at things. Generally, a great experience, and certainly one to be recommended!