Africa Leadership Network (ALN) Annual Gathering 2023 Experience — An ALX Gold Fellow Perspective
Unlocking Africa’s potential through bold leadership: What is ALN?
The African Leadership Network is an Annual Gathering of courageous leaders dedicated to the transformation of Africa through nurturing 3 million entrepreneurial African leaders by 2035. With a group of over 30,000 leaders that reflects Africa’s diversity, the ALN community welcomes the continent’s most dynamic emerging entrepreneurs as well as prominent figures from the global realms of business, politics, and entertainment. Together, this collective shares ALG’s philosophy that leadership is the key to unlocking Africa’s potential.
ALN is a network for people who are passionate about developing 3 million leaders for Africa by 2035. The mission is to create a convening place for all those who believe in this vision to transform Africa.
The 11th ALN dubbed Beats of Boldness was hosted at Kigali, Rwanda on 8th — 12th November 2023.
I’m Kevin Tuei, a Cloud Developer and Certified Educator from Kenya. My mission is to make the world a better place through technology. How do I aim to do this? My goal is to train 100,000 young people across the African continent in Cloud Computing and Cybersecurity and not just that… I aim to lead projects that create innovative solutions for local problems by leveraging ICT. … And together we are graduates of the Africa Leadership Group
This was my 30-second Africa Leadership Group (ALG) presentation during the ALG: Power of Boldness Session on the final day of the Africa Leadership Network (ALN) Annual Gathering 2023.
But let’s rewind back to a special point in time that brought me to this moment…
On a calm evening on 24th October 2023, I received an email that I had been selected to attend the ALN Annual Gathering in Kigali. In the era of phishing and social engineering, you would forgive me for being skeptical of the email at first. It was after confirming the validity of the email sender, Samir Khan from Sand Technologies that it dawned on me that I had actually been selected and it all became surreal. I was part of three ALX Gold Fellows selected from a pool of over 60 Gold Fellows across Africa who may have applied for the ALN 2023 Experience at Kigali, Rwanda.
But let’s rewind back again some more…
You can’t be shortlisted leave alone selected for something you didn’t apply for and not just a superficial application but an application with heart and soul. An application that embodies the spirit of boldness and believing that your personal mission and vision are in sync with the goal of the African Leaders who will be converging for this intriguing event.
I saw an email from ALX & The Room, these emails have been marked as important and always appear in the Primary Tab on my mail. I read it just like many would but I took action on it almost immediately I saw it. I had this strong belief that I was cut out for this and if given the opportunity I have all the requirements in place including making the time. So I applied not just for me, but for the community and with the community in mind.
Question: Do you take action or do you start contemplating the stories we tell ourselves? What if I am not selected? I don’t have what it takes, can I just imagine how many Gold Fellows are out there with stellar careers?
Let’s rewind one final time…
Samir was kind enough to take me alongside Yaninthe from Cameroon and Amarachi from Nigeria (the two Gold Fellows whom I was selected alongside) on a journey of self-awareness to make the most of the gathering and true to his word it worked wonders. More to that, Samir invited me to an opportunity to speak at the ALN 2023 Gathering albeit for 30 seconds.
Now you understand the story behind how I got to the biggest stage in Africa (along with 6 other alumni from the Africa Leadership Academy and the Africa Leadership University: Aida, Hossam, Sibane, Eunice, Bezaleel, and Spencer) at the 11th Africa Leadership Network Gathering representing ALX students and alumni across the continent.
It was an honor to rehearse and work with the amazing team comprising Hatim Eltayeb — CEO of the African Leadership Academy, Veda Sunassee — CEO of the African Leadership University, Naima Mclean — VP of Community Experience at Sand Technologies, Aissatou Diajhate — Past Advisor and Chief of Staff to the President of Mastercard Foundation, Sharon O’Donnell — Chief Experience Officer at Sand Technologies, Mirafe Gebriel Marcos — General Manager of Sand Technologies Ethiopia, Gavin Peter — Director of Student Life, Arts and Culture at the African Leadership Academy and Fred Swaniker — the Co-Founder Africa Leadership Group & Founder/CEO of Sand Technologies.
Here is the full presentation of the Power of Boldness session by the Africa Leadership Group:
The Day I landed in Kigali, Rwanda for the first time…
It was an interesting time to be alive as I experienced an amazing Rwandair flight from JKIA, Nairobi to Kigali International Airport. The scenery and culture of Kigali, Rwanda for the first time in my life. After landing at the Kigali National Airport I took the usual selfie and got my airport transfer to Ubumwe Grand Hotel where I would be staying for the next 4 nights.
Day 1 Recap
Day 1 of ALN 2023 was super powerful! We experienced Beats of Boldness in wonderful rhythms and beats that embodied the boldness of the African people.
Thereafter, we listened to Shabaka Basij-Rasikh, founder of the School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA)- Afghanistan’s first and only boarding school for girls and were moved by a heart-wrenching performance from Danai Gurira’s award-winning play “Eclipse”. Osh Agabi, the CEO of Koniku showcased an AI Dog trained to detect over 4,000 scents for bio threats like bombs and chemicals. Yes! We have now digitized scent!
But that’s not all. Day 1 was packed with activities including site visits to witness Boldness in Action from engaging in ‘Mission Driven Leadership’ at ALU, exploring the Healthcare Intelligence Center with the Society for Family Health, to understanding how Zaria Court at BK Arena is revolutionizing Africa’s sports, entertainment, and cultural economy.
In the afternoon session, we engaged in an experiential where we developed our own rhythm by making our own Beats and sounds in a bold and unconventional manner using limited resources.
The day was capped off with a Gala Dinner and Awards that featured an amazing performance by Bien Aime from Kenya and Ghanaian singer and songwriter King Promise with his hit song “Terminator”. Prizes totalling to $50,000 went to the top three start-ups from the #DoHardThingsChallenge from ALX Ventures: Aquatrack, MediXR and Sheba Plastics.
Day 2 Recap
This day began with attendee-led breakout sessions covering a wide range of topics including Beyond ChatGPT, Innovative Africa — Still Rising, Let’s Play, Unlocking Beats of Wisdom, Unlocking Healthcare Through Technology, and Your 60-second memorable introduction session. I was also part of the team putting the final touches on an amazing Power of Boldness session that was to follow so I only got insights from Yaninthe of how awesome these sessions were.
Immediately after, the Africa Leadership Group’s transformative journey; I was part of the seven alumni who represented the thousands of ALX Graduates across the continent. We also dove deep into the failures aka learning opportunities of what actually didn’t work at ALG and how ALG adapted to the uncertainty occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The exhilarating session ended with breakout sessions on Bold Digital Transformation, Bold Hiring, Bold Investing, and Bold Parenting for the audience to take the experience to the next level by partnering with the ALG.
The afternoon was ushered in with an MOU signing between Ecobank and Sand Technologies. Yvonne Makolo, Michaella Rugwizangoga, and Belise followed by a deep dive into Rwanda’s disruptive innovations that have catalyzed growth. We also had a Needs and Leads session where participants would be given 60 seconds to pitch their Needs and anyone from the audience would give the leads.
The ALN 2023’s icing on the cake was a beautiful All-White Party littered with energy-sapping performances by Patoranking and Bruce Melodie.
On Sunday, we had a farewell brunch to make more connections and say our final goodbyes until we meet again during the next ALN.
My Key Takeaways from ALN 2023 — Beats of Boldness
As Africans, we are capable and we are resourceful enough to be disruptive in all sectors, so I will be bold and intentionally pursue collaborations and continue to build a community of like-minded and passionate leaders who are changemakers in their own right.
We need to be conscious of the stories we tell ourselves, stories that we are not good enough, not capable enough, not wealthy enough, and not educated enough. These are the stories that hinder our potential to disrupt the status quo and stifle innovation progress.
Learn from your failures and move on from them. There is no need to mourn and waste time over missed opportunities or things that didn’t work. Fail fast, fail forward. No real failures just learning opportunities.
Be a doer and not a talker. Don’t talk about how you are going to do it, be bold enough and just do it.
Finally, work hard play hard. Celebrate your wins no matter how small they may seem because that is the best way to enjoy the journey.
Photo Credits: ALN Organizers and My Powerful Camera
Special Thanks: ALX Gold Fellowship, The Room, and the Africa Leadership Network
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