Meet the 2024 Class of the Tutu Fellowship Programme by the African Leadership Institute

The African Leadership Institute (ALI) has announced the associates selected for the 2024 Class of the Tutu Fellowship programme. The programme, committed to strengthening the capacity of emerging leaders as catalysts for positive and transformative impact across Africa, has twenty-four associates selected from more than four hundred nominations received.

This year’s cohort includes associates of diverse nationalities and professions from Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The selected associates span various domains including private business, public governance, civil society, finance, technology, human rights and the arts.

Meet some of the 2024 programme participants:

Adenrele Sonariwo

Adenrele Sonariwo is the Founder of Rele Gallery, Lagos and Los Angeles; and the Rele Arts Foundation. As a pioneer in the contemporary African art scene, she has conceived and executed numerous prominent exhibitions in art hubs all over the world, most notably steering the inaugural Nigerian pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. The gallery under her leadership exhibits contemporary artists from Africa while the foundation empowers artists via grants, mentorship, and residency opportunities. She sits on the Advisory Council of South-South Art and the Expert Council of African Women on Board and often advises state governments and private and public institutions. Accolades include The Future Awards Africa Prize for Arts, Apollo’s 40 under 40 list, and New African’s 100 Most Influential Africans of 2022 list.

Affiong Williams

Affiong Williams’ ReelFruit has more than 182 full-time employees, with 60% of management, and 55% of employee base female. She is the CEO and Founder of ReelFruit, Nigeria’s largest fruit processing, packaging and marketing company. The company, which was founded in 2012, retails a range of dried fruit and nut snacks through a variety of channels, including more than a thousand supermarkets in 20+ states in Nigeria. Previously, she worked for Endeavor Global, a global non-profit that catalyzes economic development by supporting small to medium enterprises in developing markets. She co-founded the Small Business Network of Nigeria during the COVID-19 Pandemic, leading strategy and partnerships, including obtaining support from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Brian Odhiambo

Brian Odhiambo is a Partner at Novastar Ventures, one of the biggest and most experienced global VC fund managers in Africa. He built and leads Novastar’s West Africa practice. The firm has a decade’s track record of investing on the continent, over $200m of AUM and 24 portfolio companies. With offices in Lagos, London, and Nairobi, Novastar partners with transformative businesses that create lasting financial, social and environmental value and good for the many, not just the few and for people and planet. Brian is a serial entrepreneur having built several ventures across Africa including being in the founding team that built Jumia, the largest e-commerce platform in Africa. He also cofounded Afrisolar, a last-mile solar distribution company in Zambia.

Modupeola Fadugba

Modupeola Fadugba is a multimedia artist working in painting, drawing, and socially engaged installations. Her works explore cultural identity, social justice and game theory within the African landscape. She founded The Artist’s Algorithm – a game installation that fosters debate about how to improve Nigeria’s education system. It was awarded El Anatsui’s Outstanding Production Prize and a 2016 Dakar Biennale Grand Prize from Senegal’s Minister of Communication. She says that it asks: how can individual artists organise their ideas to impact communities and even nations at scale? Her most recent exhibition, Dream from the Deep End, depicts swimmers against the bleak backdrop of America’s racialised – and often tragic – swimming history. In 2016, she started a mentorship program called Dear Young Artist, mentoring emerging artists with a focus on the importance of long-term strategy, finance and relationship management, two things that artists often shy away from.