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Ants pulling: Launching Refugees, Peacebuilding, Security

Written by the WWLA Founders
Edited by Michelle Mocumbi

We Will Lead Africa, Volume Seven: Refugees, Peacebuilding, Security launches as a celebration of refugee leadership and a call to invest in peace through dignity, cooperation, equality, and collective action. We invite you to read, share, discuss, and join the movement.

The front and back covers of Refugees, Peacebuilding, Security.

In preparation for September 21, the International Day of Peace, we gathered as a community of storytellers, leaders, peacebuilders, refugees, and former refugees to celebrate the launch of Volume Seven: Refugees, Peacebuilding, Security. It was a reflection on leadership, humanity, displacement, resilience, and the collective future we are working to build together.

As we welcomed participants from across Africa and the diaspora, we were reminded of some of the principles that have guided our work from the beginning, from African and Indigenous wisdoms to the dialogic storytelling practices of the organisation development field:

At We Will Lead Africa (WWLA), our vision is that Africans will own, shape, and lead our own narratives. We are a storytelling platform that uplifts the stories of everyday African leaders doing extraordinary things against extraordinary odds. It does not matter to us whether that leadership is exercised in a board room, a refugee camp, a village, a university, a community organisation, a government office, a startup, or a movement. What matters is that people are leading, creating, building, serving, and refusing to stand on the sidelines.

This volume is a testament to that reality.

Thirty voices, one shared commitment

Too often, conversations about refugees reduce people to statistics, crises, burdens, vulnerabilities, or policy questions.

This volume does the opposite. It introduces us to leaders.

Refugees, Peacebuilding, Security brings together the stories of 25 refugee author-leaders (including the preface) and one fiction writer, artwork by a refugee artist, and reflections from three co-editors who are themselves former African refugees. It includes stories by leaders working in or for communities living in refugee camps and settlements (including urban African refugee concerns), and stories by African leaders who work on the continent outside refugee camps and/or in the diaspora with and for African refugees or peacebuilders, internally displaced persons, and immigrants. Together, these contributions represent the experiences and leadership of 30 refugee leaders whose stories illuminate both the challenges and possibilities of displacement.

The contributors represent countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Given the diverse intersectional and transnational experiences of many of the authors, it further represents experiences that span the globe.

These stories remind us that refugees are not merely recipients of aid and assistance. They are innovators, educators, entrepreneurs, peacebuilders, advocates, artists, organisers, and leaders. They are building stronger communities wherever they find themselves.

The volume invites us to see the creativity, capability, and courage that emerges even under conditions of conflict, displacement, exclusion, and uncertainty. It asks us to imagine what becomes possible when displaced people are viewed not only through a lens of need, but through a lens of human potential.

As one contributor reflected, effective peacebuilding and development emerge when people closest to a challenge are empowered to shape solutions:

The most effective solutions were those created by people who lived the problems daily.

This perspective appears repeatedly throughout the volume.

Whether discussing education, entrepreneurship, community ownership, digital literacy, peacebuilding, advocacy, or economic empowerment, contributors consistently show that sustainable change begins when local people are trusted, equipped, and given agency over their futures.

Stories create: The emergence of a manifesto of refuge

During our launch conversation, co-editor Njamba Koffi reflected on his own refugee journey from the Democratic Republic of Congo through refugee communities in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Eswatini, Germany, and eventually Canada. He reminded us that stories are not merely accounts of what happened. Stories create. Stories connect. Stories organise. Stories help people recognise themselves in each other.

While editing the volume, the editorial team was inspired by critical recurring themes. Again and again, contributors described similar aspirations for equality, cooperation, and dignity. These recurring themes inspired us to develop the REFUGE-E Manifesto, inspired by the title of Njamba’s book, Refuge-e: The Journey Much Desired. It is a manifesto of refuge for everyone, particularly refugees, internally displaced peoples, asylum seekers, and all forms of forced migrants.

A summary table of the REFUGE-E Manifesto.
Layout designed by John Fabrice Kabasha.

The deliberate emphasis on refuge shifts attention from labels to possibility. Rather than focusing only on who a refugee is, the manifesto asks what kinds of communities, systems, institutions, and relationships create refuge for all people. It offers seven enabling principles grounded for any work intended to uphold the shared humanity and human rights of refugees: Recognition, Education & Empowerment, Fairness, Universal Human Rights, Governance, and Economic Justice for Everyone.

Importantly, the manifesto is not merely a statement. It is a platform for action. It is intended to be shared, adapted, discussed, displayed, and used by leaders, organisations, educators, advocates, policymakers, and communities seeking practical ways to advance peace and human dignity.

Access and download the full manifesto resources for free here.

We Will Lead Africa 10

Next year, WWLA celebrates 10 years of storytelling, leadership, and community building. Over the last decade, contributors across the continent and diaspora have shared stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Volume Seven stands proudly within that legacy.

As we launch this volume into the world, we do so with deep gratitude.

To every contributor who trusted us with their story.

To every refugee leader who continues to serve their community.

To every reader who believes in the power of narrative to create change.

And to every person committed to building a more peaceful, just, and humane world.

This book is our celebration of your leadership.

This manifesto is our invitation to collective action.

And this moment is our reminder that lasting change rarely arrives through a single heroic act.

It comes through communities of people moving together. Like ants pulling.

One ant can carry remarkable weight, but a colony moving together can accomplish what seems impossible. Together.

So join our community next May 2027 in celebration of 10 years of WWLA, as we strategise how to continue pulling together and pulling forward!

As co-editor Adelana Gilpin-Jackson concluded in his reflection in the volume:

When we, the worker ants in this space, pull together, we will achieve Thomas Sankara’s vision and finally become a land of upright people.

About WWLA 10

Save the date:
May 21 & 22, 2027 @ Windsor Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria

Learn more: WWLA 10

RSVP: Registration form

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Building the sports ecosystem in Africa

Written by the WWLA Founders
Edited by Michelle Mocumbi

Photo provided by Champs for Change.

Every FIFA World Cup seems to surface the same contradiction. We watch players with deep African roots transform games for some of the world’s most successful national teams, and many of us cannot help but feel a tension that goes beyond sport. As one voice in our conversation reflected while watching stars like Kylian Mbappé and other players of African descent dominate on the global stage: ‘You’re on the wrong team. What are you doing?’ Yet beneath that emotional reaction lies a more profound question about opportunity, belonging, and the structures that continue to shape African talent.

This year’s World Cup has been a reminder of a much older pattern. Just as Africa’s wealth and natural resources are extracted from the continent, so too is its sporting talent. The issue is not where individual athletes choose to play. These athletes have often made the best decisions available to them and for the financial stability of their families and their futures. The deeper challenge is why those opportunities so often exist elsewhere.

The question before us is, what would it take to create the conditions for African talent to thrive on African soil? What would it mean to build sporting ecosystems strong enough that the continent’s athletes, coaches, administrators, storytellers, entrepreneurs, and innovators could fuel local communities, industries, and economies? What would change if the pathway to success did not require leaving, but could increasingly be built at home?

This is precisely why the work of Champs for Change (C4C) matters. Their vision extends far beyond developing athletes. They are focused on ‘building the sports ecosystem’ and strengthening ‘the whole value chain around sports’. They understand that sport is not only about what happens on the field or court. It is about creating an industry, an infrastructure, and a culture that can support talent at every level.

At the heart of this vision is a powerful act of reclamation. As we reflected in our conversation, building the sports ecosystem in Africa is about creating the conditions for that talent to stay here and to fuel the countries, communities, and families those people are part of. It is about shifting from a model of extraction to one of ownership. Or, as we put it, using the familiar but fitting phrase: for us, by us. The work African sports leaders are doing to build the African sports ecosystem from scratch is often thankless. But it is critical to nurturing youth capacity and talent on the continent – and not by external actors. It is also critical to the holistic rebalance of mental, physical, and spiritual well-being in our current digital age.

We are thrilled that we’re part of celebrating these leaders. The stories in our sixth volume, A Sports Volume: Purpose, Perseverance, Passion, invite us to imagine a better future. They bring into view the leaders, builders, organisers, and changemakers working every day to ensure that sport does not remain a continued avenue of extraction of Black bodies, but a source of inspiration and a platform for employment, leadership development, community well-being, and lasting transformation across the continent.

We are thrilled to be part of this ecosystem development in partnership with C4C, whose shared belief in storytelling as a vehicle for building capacity for African futures made them perfect partners. We also share the story contributors’ purpose, perseverance, and passion for Africa’s advancement. We are building on our shared vision through We Will Lead Africa (WWLA) representation on the inaugural C4C Advisory Board.

For us on the WWLA team, this volume stands out as the first to be completely delivered by another editorial team. It allowed us to test our plans for partnership and the scaling and franchising of the WWLA model for publishing volumes. It has also planted the seeds for how we must continue to grow in the next 10 years, and we are excited to see where this journey leads.

Congratulations to the C4C team on the launch of the paperback copy of A Sports Volume: Purpose, Perseverance, Passion after the initial hardcover book. You can now order the physical paperback through Amazon, Lulu, or DotDot or purchase it at the following Exclusive Books stores in South Africa:

  • Cape Town, V&A Waterfront
  • Durban, Pavilion
  • Johannesburg, Mall of Africa, Clearwater
  • Mpumalanga, Nelspruit.

Check out photos from the Johannesburg launch below.

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Riding the waves of story: Reflecting on everyday leadership in Technology, Science, Innovation

Written by the WWLA Founders
Edited by Michelle Mocumbi

The front and back covers of the TSI volume, featuring artwork by artist and story contributor Ade Adekola.

Our opening reflections in the We Will Lead Africa (WWLA) volume on technology, science, and innovation affirm:

WWLA is fuelled by a belief in the power of storytelling – that ancient technology that has been with us since the beginning of time, and that is still an inherent part of African cultures – as a tool for imagining, sparking, and driving progress, and as a way to inspire more change and shape the futures we want….

As we reflected on the remarkable journeys contained within this volume, we found ourselves returning again and again to the power of narrative. Mainstream conversations about technology, science, and innovation are often hosted as if they are driven solely by ideas, discoveries, systems, or breakthroughs. But behind every invention, every moment of progress, and every vision of the future is a story.

Technology leaders everywhere are trying to solve problems for a reason, whether they articulate those reasons or not. Those reasons may range from self-centred to societal, to everything in between. The stories we inherit, the stories we resist, the stories we embrace, and the stories we create all shape who we become and the footprints we leave behind. As one reflection from our recent conversations captured so beautifully, stories are often us ‘trying to make sense of the world’, carried forward by narratives that push us in one direction or another. Sometimes we rebel against them. Sometimes we are inspired by them. Sometimes we remake them entirely. Yet somehow, throughout our lives, we find ourselves riding the waves of story.

Ride the waves of the TSI stories

The foreword to Volume Five: Technology, Science, Innovation is a good example of this. Christian Happi – distinguished professor and Director and Principal Investigator at the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases – opens the volume by grounding us in the reason behind his drive to find a cure for malaria. After a childhood encounter with the disease and the realization that there was no cure, he vowed to solve that problem. This is an example of how stories shape us from childhood onward. Stories also help us understand what is possible. They offer a way to interpret experience, imagine futures, and locate ourselves within a larger human journey. A child hearing of someone who began life in a village much like their own and went on to ‘lead the world’ receives a spark of possibility, a new narrative through which to understand themselves and their future.

As we tell stories of technology, science, and innovation, we are not simply chronicling achievements. We are telling stories of people, their aspirations, their courage, their failures, their questions, and their hopes. In doing so, we are also protecting the stories of what it means to be human. In a rapidly changing world, where technological advances increasingly shape how we live, work, and relate to one another, it feels more important than ever to remember that, before everything and after everything, we are human.

This perspective is especially significant in the African context. As Christian reminds us in his foreword, ‘We know that Africa is the cradle of humanity. So we as Africans, as the originators of mankind, have a responsibility to make our own significant contributions to human development.’

That responsibility is not new. The story of Africa’s contributions to science and innovation stretches back through millennia: from the astronomical knowledge of ancient Egypt to the engineering achievements of the Kingdom of Benin, from centres of learning across the continent to knowledge systems that were refined and transmitted across generations. And storytelling  remains one of humanity’s most enduring innovations, carrying knowledge, values, imagination, and wisdom across generations. More than that, it helps shape what comes next. As the preface reminds us, ‘It is the storyteller that creates the future too.’ Yet many stories of technology, science, and innovation from Africa and by Africans have been forgotten, disrupted, erased, or overlooked. Highlighting them is for us, both an act of remembering and an act of future-making. We believe Africa has something unique to contribute to the world. And perhaps that contribution begins with storytelling itself – the stories we remember, the ones we tell ourselves now, and the ones we vow to co-create for the generations to come.

Top: Contributors Ruben Morgado, Angela Lungati, and Lawrence Mba showing off their TSI copies.
Bottom: Editor Sarah Owusu with contributors Geci Karuri-Sebina and Emmanuel Gamor.

Technology, Science, Innovation is, therefore, both a celebration and an invitation: a celebration of the extraordinary individuals whose stories we shared and an invitation to readers of all ages to imagine what might be possible for themselves, their communities, and the world. Every story we encounter expands the horizon of what we believe can be done. And every story we share becomes part of the wave carrying humanity forward.

Together, we’ll continue riding those waves.

Excerpt from the foreword by Christian Happi:

We Will Lead Africa: Technology, Science, Innovation is a collection of personal leadership narratives told by Africans, for Africans, that proves how far we can go when we dare to dream big and pursue our dreams with our total energy. When we meet people who encourage our pursuits, and forge alliances and communities with them. When we find the window of opportunity within each inevitable challenge that comes our way.

To the young readers, let the stories that decorate this book inspire you to dream beyond the lines, to keep your eyes on the ball and not let anyone discourage you from your dreams. Impossibility does not exist, because God created us with the ability to do things beyond our imagination. Be courageous, be committed, stay focused, and you will make the fruits of your dreams – those very ones that seem impossible – a reality.

To the older readers, let these leaders remind you that you are never too old to set big dreams. Even when you think you’re tired, don’t hesitate to set new goals, because somebody will pick them up and continue with them even when you are no longer there. You must keep working to make your immediate environment, your community, your country – our continent – a better place to be.

To all my fellow Africans, let this volume move us to come together as one people and address the challenges this continent has faced. To identify our problems and work in partnership with those who are willing to work with us. To tell our stories through our lenses and adopt new narratives that evolve our communities, countries, and continent, and, in turn, our world.

Use the slide deck below to read some inspirational quotes from Volume Five:

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Belonging, Beloving, Becoming: Reflections on We Will Lead Africa: Volume Three

Written by The WWLA Founders
Edited by Michelle Mocumbi

Last updated: 8 May 2026

Belonging
Poem created on Africa Day 2021,
at the We Will Lead Africa Annual Gathering.

We
Unique, but all the same
New Africa
We rise, we build, we cry
Bold Africa
With empathy, with compassion, and stewardship
Great Africa
We are the blueprint for the future we want
Yes, Africa
We are all
Africa

Will
I will, not because I must, but because I can
I will, not because of, but despite my challenges
I will, not because it might be, but because it’s inevitable
I will, not because I am told, but because I am

Lead
To be in service and of service to your community
From wherever you are, with whatever is in your hands and soul
Lead with love, with guidance from the heart
Multiplying what you have been given to be a blessing to others
With no hesitation and pushing the existing limits
Leading from a place of internal purpose, gift, strength, and abundance
Listening to the context in which you wade,
and dance in the complexity of being
Although scary it might be, quite rewarding it is
To Lead is not to Wait, for we are the Africans we have been waiting for!

Africa
Rising like a long day that promises so much potential that never wanes
Africa, know your worth
Show up as a partner, colourful and strong

We Will Lead Africa: Volume Three: Belonging, Beloving, Becoming was the first volume to emerge from our Griot Masterclass series. In a community of We Will Lead Africa (WWLA) leaders, the masterclass introduced Griots, from countries across the African continent and the diaspora, to the WWLA method for telling and documenting personal stories of everyday leadership. The result was a volume of 24 stories and/or poetic contributions, and 11 Oríkìs (Yoruba-inspired personal praise poetry) that make up the leadership inspirations in Volume Three.

Read the stories of Volume Three

As we reflect on this volume now, we are clear that it emerged as a living, breathing community space that met a deep need at the time. Born in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this volume was shaped through a virtual circle that became a healing, necessary, and profoundly human place to gather, tell stories, affirm each other, and keep leading in the midst of uncertainty.

At the heart of the volume is a spontaneous and striking collective theme that arose organically from the contributors’ shared poetry and responses to the leadership activities we did together: belonging, beloving, becoming. These words say everything. Belonging speaks to community and identity, to feeling held and seen within a collective. Beloving (a word that is no longer used in regular speech) perfectly captures the sense of care and vulnerability the group brought to the discussions each week. The Griots created a space that centred love as an explicit and public practice, something we rarely name so boldly in leadership spaces. And becoming invited growth, emergence, and the constant unfolding of ourselves as leaders and humans.

Volume Three feels especially intimate and sweet. Sweetness here refers to tenderness, care, and an unmistakable sense of love woven throughout the process and the pages. This was a space where we could belong without judgement, love on one another, and celebrate and practise leadership in whatever way it was expressed.

This volume also marks the first Griot process within the WWLA journey, grounding leadership in African ways of storytelling, remembrance, and praise. Through Oríkì and other narrative practices, contributors were invited to reflect, affirm their identities, and honour their ancestors and legacies. We witnessed how naming one’s story and praising oneself can be deeply empowering, how it fills people back up with themselves and reconnects them to who they are, and who and where they come from.

Griot and peer editor Sharon Attipoe-Dorcoo mirrors this in her reflection of the process:

Participating in We Will Lead Africa: Volume Three was a profound experience in honouring lineage, memory, and the power of African storytelling. Contributing to this volume invited me to step into the Griot tradition as a custodian of truth, culture, and possibility. Writing my piece required deep reflection on the people, histories, and moments that shaped my leadership journey.

Serving as a peer editor was equally meaningful. It allowed me to witness the vulnerability, brilliance, and resilience of fellow contributors and to help their stories emerge with clarity and dignity. Editing became an act of relational stewardship through listening deeply, honouring voice, and supporting each narrative’s fullest expression.

This volume reaffirmed my belief that storytelling is a form of leadership and liberation. This volume is more than a book; it is a collective archive of African wisdom and a testament to our shared future.

What stands out in this volume is how clearly it embodied everyday leadership. The stories from the Griots and other contributors that responded to the open call are largely grassroots, grounded, and accessible, not dominated by high-profile figures. It reflects everyday people leading in ordinary, but profoundly meaningful ways. Many contributors in this volume are emerging leaders – not defined by age, but by a moment of stepping into new horizons and iterations of themselves and their work. This gives the volume a relatable tone and energy that makes clear: you can lead from anywhere.

This is further reflected across the key learnings in each story. We hear simple yet profound guidance and wisdom that resonates across all contexts of leadership: Go for it before you feel ready. Don’t wait for perfection. Small actions can spark big change. Be yourself. Accept yourself. Have faith. Lift others up. Build your community. These are foundational truths, but their power lies in the act of pausing to reflect on them together, which sparks new visions and imaginations.

Poetry threads its way through the book, surfacing again and again. Collective poems for belonging, beloving, and becoming sit alongside individual Oríkìs that resonate deeply. Poetry, it seems, naturally pours out of this work, offering synthesis, emotion, and insight beyond what prose alone can hold.

Beloving
Excerpt from contributor and Griot Masterclass member, Blen Mandefro

Dear Child,
Shod your feet with skin as soft as My Petals
Clothe your skin with silk as smooth as My Fingers
Crown your head and braids with gems that gleam as My Eyes
Quench your thirst with waters as clear and sweet as My Words
Embrace your lover with pleasure as deep as My Laughter
Let children shine as bright as the rays of My Smile
Make the seeds you plant and the fruits you bear as abundant as the strands of My Hair
Protect your body and nourish it to be as succulent and delicious
as My Kisses
Work your mind to be as glorious and immaculate as the rainbow
of My Dress
Polish your intelligence to be as beautiful and brilliant as My Image
Fill your belly with nothing but the sweet Joy of My Truth
Expand your territory with a vital force as irrepressible as
My Breath
Do this My Child, so that I shall know you as mine in all time
and space
Do this My Child, so that you shall know me as yours in all time
and space
Do this for yourself My Child, and you shall be forever installed in the eternity of My Heart
And you shall become a Guiding Star –
A Shining Star to Home,
A Radiating Star to Here,
to all that behold you.
Arise. Make Africa. Lead Africa. Be Africa.

Yes, Mother. I am arranged as you command.

Finally, the volume widens its lens through voices from the African diaspora, including reflections that remind us of Africa’s rhythm, spirit, and transformative power. As Tanesha Barnes noted in her contribution, ‘Diaspora to the Continent: Reconnecting, Rebuilding, Reimagining’:

The source of humanity has a way of capturing you within its rhythm. The beat of Africa, if you allow it, will cleanse your soul and you will see it with new eyes. Most importantly, you will see yourself anew. Travelling through Africa changes you – it will change the world as we know it.

These perspectives serve as mirrors and invitations, calling us back to source, memory, and possibility.

Ultimately, Volume Three feels like an embodiment of what WWLA aspires to be and, in many ways, already is. It is authentic, healing, and rooted in storytelling that honours both individuality and community. It is a space that held us as we led through difficult times, and one that continues to invite us to belong and to build a beloved community as we keep becoming.

Becoming
We Will Lead Africa Griots 2021 Poem
A Collective Poem

We put the brave in the safe so more people can
come into their own in emergent, brave spaces.
By truth and authenticity
and by being more,
we pass the baton to generations coming.
We continue showing up and developing the story
so generations will hear of our life stories.
Showing up authentically.
To come out with a badass, kick-ass, unforgettable story.
Our commitment is to do exactly what
we have learnt and do it better, so that others can learn as well.
Offering a space of belonging, beloving, and becoming,
to love and to live, to be bold, and strong …

Use the slide deck below to read some inspirational quotes from Volume Three:

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‘Unbow your heads’: Inspirations from African Women Leaders in We Will Lead Africa: Volume Two

Written by The WWLA Founders
Edited by Michelle Mocumbi

Volume Two: Women cover design.

We Will Lead Africa: Volume Two: Women is the exemplar of what happens when members of society who are marginalised decide to take up space and lead, despite the societal hurdles in their way. It is a power-packed volume of African women leaders, standing up without apology. It is serendipitous that we are doing this reflection during Women’s Month 2026, and that the volume itself emerged at the end of the African Union’s 2010–2020 Women’s Decade.

Buy a copy of Volume Two: Women

As we revisit Volume Two, we find ourselves returning not just to a book, but to a moment of profound becoming. This volume is, at its core, a love letter to African women, honouring those who came before us, reminding us to lift up our heads, and expressing our dreams for the generations coming after us. This framing was captured in the volume’s beautiful introduction: a letter to a future daughter, written by co-founder and lead editor Sarah Owusu. The letter was a response to a creative prescription that emerged from a coaching conversation within our co-founders’ team as we brainstormed for the volume.

My Dear Child,

I write and live and breathe and work to make alchemy with the pain that we – women – have all carried, are all carrying. As I write this, I write with that knowing ache deep in my bones and my texture … and also with an optimism and hopefulness for what is emerging from the cracks of a system that seems finally to be gasping its last breaths.

You will know suffering, and pain, and sadness and anger – because it is hard to be human – but it will not be because you are a woman, nor because you are African. I do not want to protect or shelter you from the full and fraught experience of being alive, but I want you to grow in a place that makes room for you and for all that it means to be an African woman.

The wounds that we – humanity – carry, in all their varying shapes, colours and densities have guided us a long time. Undermining, undervaluing and undoing the contributions that women make has been the norm, and has harmed us all for too long … our struggles have been different, and have been defined by the variety of expressions we embody, have depended on what intersections we lived in and with, and on the specific context and challenges through which we moved.

And despite this, we were leaders, scientists, mothers, activists, soldiers, artists, doctors, home-makers, academics, carers, farmers, politicians.

I hope my stories show you that when our contribution – our full contribution – is valued then the world comes to life. Potential bubbles over and possibilities open up. I hope they show you the story of everyday women, across African countries, leading for the prosperity of their communities and contributing extraordinarily to the future Africa.

In wisdom, power and hope.

An everyday African woman, leading and loving every day.

Originally, we had conceptualised two separate volumes – governance and women. What ensued during the call for submissions told a different story: the leaders who showed up for the governance volume submissions were all women. And so the volume became what it needed to be, a unified volume showcasing African women, leading from communities to boardrooms to cities.

Notes from the Volume Two inception meeting.

When we merged the volumes, we were faced with unique challenges and decisions. The conceived governance volume was intended to follow a more structured framework, with sections aligned with the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. However, we quickly adapted, adopting an emergent approach with deep trust in the process to determine how to frame the combined volume. Leaning into our background as organisation development professionals, we adopted a Theory U posture – letting go of structure to let the volume take its own shape. What emerged was truly lovely … a volume infused with the feminine: from the invitation to write ‘My Dear Child’, to the invocation of the earth in the prologue, to the opening poem and the closing science fiction short story that each uplifted the necessity and possibility of women’s leadership.

One of our struggles was the impossibility of categorising the stories. These women leaders lived lives that spilled across traditional boundaries. They were mothers, leaders, creatives, activists, entrepreneurs, healers, fighters. Their stories demanded more than organisational neatness into industry sectors; they required archetypes that honoured their complexity, so we tried doing just that. The final sections of the book represented both sectors and the essence of their work in the categories of Influencers, Health Innovators, Entrepreneurs & Business Women, Educators, Bridge Builders, and (De)Constructors.

This volume was not only a documentation of leadership; it was liberation and joy. For one of us, it was validation of the power and strength of the powerful matriarchs and sisterhood circle whose example of bold and unapologetic leadership she emulates consciously and unconsciously. For another, it was a time to reflect on and unlearn Eurocentric scripts of women’s roles. For all of us – founders and invited co-editors (Chengetai Maruziva and Moyra Keane) – it became a site of healing, an antidote to erasure, exhaustion, and the quiet ways patriarchy teaches women to bow their heads. When we read the volume now, it calls us and insists, again and again, that we ‘unbow our heads’.

The Editorial Team (from left to right): Sarah, Chengetai, Moyra, and Yabome.

Moyra reflects this sentiment:

I find resonance and truth in Ben Okri’s claim that ‘Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.’

As someone who has mostly worked in educational institutions, I am immensely inspired by the authenticity of the WWLA team across Africa – boundaryless and brave. As part of the Editorial Team for the Women Volume, we started – as all writers do – from exactly where we found ourselves. Alongside the contributors, we were all determined, caring, collegial, and creative in our shared goal to ‘make alchemy of the pain’ that women carry. The very writing throughout this volume breathes hope in the face of frank acknowledgements that ‘you will know suffering and pain, and sadness and anger – because it’s hard to be human’ (as Sarah writes in the introduction to the book).

The prologue, Oni Aningo’s poem ‘Steel Magnolia’, sets the tone of unbending fierceness and sharpness which will take down insulting, condescending praises of a ‘pretty’ woman, as well as annihilate the most brutal of attack.

All the diverse stories of this volume inspire and fend off the desperate despondency that sometimes seeps up through global disinformation, violence, rampant greed, and stupidity. I am again immensely inspired, not only at the significance, leadership, and impact of each contributor, but the power that stories have to impart wisdom and hope. Stories make the invisible visible and sink into our legacy, our history, like ephemeral DNA. Obenga reminds us: ‘…history is the salt and leaven of human life. History is the repository whence we fetch our reason for living.’ I believe that these leaders, these women whose stories we uplift in our volume, are making history.

Similarly, Chengetai shares:

Being part of Volume Two: Women was a deeply grounding experience for me. What stays with me most was encountering women doing powerful, transformative work quietly and consistently, often without recognition, but with real impact. There was something incredibly humbling about witnessing that kind of everyday, lived leadership – the kind that happens while life is still happening.

The process of putting the book together and collaborating with the other women in the volume amplified this for me. Learning from one another and experiencing the different ways we each showed up – across sectors, across countries, across the many roles we hold as women – felt like a reflection of what the book itself stands for. It was a reminder that leadership doesn’t sit in one identity; it moves with us through all the spaces we occupy, whether as mothers, daughters, partners, or simply as ourselves.

Reflecting now, especially in a world that often feels in turmoil, what this book represents comes back to me in a very real way. It’s in the daily choices – choosing to show up, even when it’s inconvenient; choosing to lead with a sense of what could be, not just what is; choosing to hold onto a vision of who we can be, both individually and collectively. For me, that looks like showing up fully, bringing all parts of myself – bold, loud, reflective, even a little whimsical – into the spaces I’m in, and creating room for others to do the same.

Ultimately, it reminds me that change doesn’t only happen in grand moments. It happens in how we choose to live every day, how we show up for one another, and how we hold space for those who are still finding their voice.And that, in itself, is a powerful kind of leadership.

This volume invites us to stand up straight inside ourselves, to step forward with all the stubborn joy and perseverance of our foremothers.

In that way, it is not merely a collection of stories – it is a healing remedy and always an invitation to joyful practice.

We still marvel at the women who grace these pages:

  • A mayor shaping the future of her city
  • A princess preserving the soul of her community
  • Queer African women navigating identity and belonging
  • Violence against women survivors transforming pain into purpose
  • Visionaries building companies, movements, and new ways of being
  • Creatives and innovators reminding the world that African women’s contributions make a unique difference to our shared challenges.

Some of these contributors have since become our business partners and collaborators. Others have risen into continental leadership roles. Their trajectories remind us that Volume Two captured not just who they were, but who they were becoming.

[Photo of the cover]

The cover itself – Elizabeth Mwambulukutu’s luminous photography and Romy Gad el Rab’s  striking cover design – remain iconic. Both women have continued to grow as creative forces, and revisiting their work only reinforces how perfectly they channeled the spirit of this volume.

Some of Elizabeth Mwambulukutu’s photographs that were featured in the cover.

As we reread and reflect, we find ourselves asking the question this volume stirs in us every time: Who are we not to rise, when these women do?

Their stories ignite something – a clarity, a fire, and a call that we share with you now:

  • What must we now say to our daughters?
  • What must we offer them as the world shifts, as old battles persist, and as new forms of courage are demanded?

Perhaps one answer is already in these pages: Read Volume Two. See yourselves reflected. Unbow your heads. And lead.

Here are some inspirational quotes from Volume Two:

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Reflections on We Will Lead Africa: Volume One

Written by The WWLA Founders
Edited by Michelle Mocumbi

We pay tribute to the memory of Volume One Contributor Christopher Mulenga, who passed away in 2018. We never met or knew him, but the ripples of his impact reached us because he said YES to a call that resonated with this work. That even strangers like us mourn his passing is a testament to his undeniable leadership. RIP, sir. Thank you for your life of service, leadership and impact.

This blog post is a retrospective, a return to 2017 when we launched our first volume, and our reflections as We Will Lead Africa (WWLA) founders on the volume that started it all. It is the first in a series of reflections that we will publish this year, taking you on a journey through the WWLA series, volume by volume. Follow along.

The WWLA Founders at the Volume One launch in South Africa.

Who will lead Africa?

Forward, onward, fully into the land of its potential.

To the realisation of the blossoming dream of prosperity held by so many, for so long, throughout this place we call home.

Again I ask, Who Will Lead Africa?

You, for who Africa runs in your veins, your consciousness, your very being. You, in all your colours, shades and hues, whose heart beats with the drumbeat of Africa. Who find home in the intermingling sounds of earth, animals and peoples communicating all at once; who know that the sky is broader and the sun bigger when viewed from African soil. Who bursts with joy and passion when you arrive in an African country, greeted with contradictions and cohabitations. 

This is an African town crier’s call to you – yes, YOU. 

You feel the groundswell of those that want to be part of the change. You know that transformation is happening, every day, in big and small ways. You are in action, working towards the prosperity of the continent.

You, the practitioners, business and community leaders, educators and entrepreneurs … everyday leaders, in every sector. 

This town crier’s call was how we put out the call for what would become We Will Lead Africa: Volume One. The bold lines above were also how we opened the preface to the book. This was important contextualisation and signalling of what we set out to do. Our platform is storytelling through an Afrocentric lens. For that, the traditional call and response is what we naturally evoke, and it has become the backbone of all our volumes. We put out a town crier’s call to leadership, sometimes about specific topics pertinent to the future of the African continent and her peoples. We wait for the response from continental Africans and peoples of African descent in the diaspora, working towards the prosperity of Africa. This opening of Volume One serves as a powerful reminder of the call to hold on to the roots and practices that have served Africa and Africans, even as we adapt to the world as it is now and look for pathways to a better future for all.

Buy a copy of Volume One
Photos from the Volume One launch in South Africa.

As our incipient book, Volume One helped us define what we mean by We Will Lead Africa. We have told the story of how this work was launched based on our shared disconnect with the portrayal of African leadership in mainstream literature and media. The framing of WWLA was proposed by one of our co-founders, Yabome, based on her conference paper and research that articulated principles that seem to underline case studies of African leaders and leadership that are having a positive impact. Our idea was to create a platform that featured such case studies and reflected on African leadership at its best – as joyful practice and not only sacrificial. Together, the team discussed the principles and quickly found collective alignment with them. We explored how we might articulate and bring them to life through the vision and framing of WWLA. Those powerful descriptors for each word of the WWLAname became both an anchor and our promise.

We: Collaborative and accountable leaders.

Will: The leadership WILL, grit and courage to do something, anything, now and for the future, demonstrated through action-oriented and aspirational leadership.

Lead: Everyday leaders, motivated by service, in every sector, including emerging leaders from marginalised groups. They focused on a values-driven path, even if it is challenging.

Africa: A focus on a prosperous continent, where divides are bridged and leaders work across boundaries and borders to achieve broader success.

From the outset, Volume One insisted on showcasing the diversity and complexity of African experiences. In our preface, we evoked this complexity through the sights and sounds of contemporary Africa:

You, in who joy and passion bursts when you arrive at the airport of an African country and are greeted with a familiar yet always awe-inspiring scene of contradictions and cohabitations in swirls of bright colours: the Calvin Klein dresses and Dashiki tunics; a bucket on one’s head and a briefcase in another’s hand; iPhones, androids and tablets glittering in the sun while fax machines and typewriters reside on desks; children in back wraps, and suitcases in hands; local languages and imported languages; traditional greetings and hugs; a street preacher and hijabs; hip hop and soukous music; people walking into Mercedes-Benzes while a beggar child calls, and hawkers panhandle and push their wares.

Our Founders with our beautiful Volume One contributors and community friends.

Additionally, the volume set the practice we have maintained of foregrounding the multiplicity of Africa and Africans – urban and rural, traditional and contemporary, local and diasporic – reminding readers that African identities are layered, dynamic and uncontainable within narrow narratives.

In a similar vein, working on Volume One was also our opportunity to decide who the book was for and who should be included. We deliberated how to centre the ‘everyday African leader’, the meaning of ‘African’ itself, and connections to both the continent and the diaspora. We saw the decisions to hold an inclusive definition as a necessary and evolving effort to represent leadership as lived rather than merely titled. Furthermore, we confronted and took an honest view of the practical challenges. If we were looking for everyday African leaders, we were actively seeking doers who had often never seen themselves as leaders and had probably never thought of writing their stories. Our everyday leaders could also be traditional leaders who were not English speakers or writers. This meant taking the time to encourage and solicit leaders to write and making provisions that allowed someone’s story to be written and submitted, with permission, by another person. These are not challenges we have solved, but an enduring resolve that guides all our volumes and our intention to share stories that wouldn’t otherwise be told.

Volume One remains the blueprint that we are growing from. It yielded 30 leadership stories with a near-balance of 14 submissions from men and 16 submissions from women. (We saw this overrepresentation of female leadership as a positive signal of changes addressing the historical marginalisation of women in leadership in the patriarchal context of most of the continent.) Submitters represented all regions of the continent, many of whose work cuts across multiple countries on the continent from North, West, Central, East and South. There were eight submissions from leaders of Nigerian descent, which is appropriate for Africa’s most populous country.

Overall, the volume included: 

  • Eight stories on Literacy and Education
  • Eight on Social Entrepreneurship, Change and Policy
  • Five on Arts and Culture
  • Four on Healthcare and Wellness
  • Four on Media and Communications
  • One on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. (As we reflect now, it is no wonder that we have subsequently dedicated a full volume to Technology, Science and Innovation to capture more leadership narratives from this sector.)
Buy Technology, Science, Innovation

Ultimately, Volume One left us with inspirations that continue to reverberate throughout the subsequent volumes and guide us in our own work at WWLA and elsewhere. We list all 30 key leadership quotes/wisdoms (one from each chapter) for you here:

Get the WWLA Collection
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Looking ahead

Written by The WWLA Founders
Edited by Michelle Mocumbi

Photo by Ran Berkovich on Unsplash.

As We Will Lead Africa (WWLA) approaches its tenth year, we do so at a moment of profound global transition. Old centres of power are straining to maintain relevance, familiar systems are cracking, and the language of ‘the future’ is once again being spoken loudly about Africa, often by those who have only just remembered that the continent exists.

From global consultancies to innovation firms, investors, builders, business people, impact drivers and cultural tastemakers, there is renewed interest in Africa as ‘the next frontier’. Some of this attention is genuine. Much of it is not. History reminds us that waves of external enthusiasm often carry extractive intent, dressed up in new vocabulary: innovation, development, disruption, opportunity.

In this context, clarity becomes an act of resistance.

As WWLA moves into its next chapter, the moment feels both urgent and expansive. We are doubling down on our conviction that Africans must own and lead our narratives, and that WWLA is more than a series of publications—it’s a movement grounded in storytelling as a force for leadership, imagination, and transformation.

For nearly a decade, this global network has curated and shared stories of everyday African leaders—people whose work is impacting the continent whether they live in Accra, Johannesburg, Montreal, or London. These stories are not exceptional outliers; they are evidence of leadership emerging from community, resilience, creativity, and grounded action. These are the stories you do not hear about in popular media when African leadership is spoken of, and we are determined to gather and share them on our platforms.

Owning our story, anchoring our agency

One of the strongest themes emerging from our recent leadership conversations is the urgency of being deeply, unmistakably clear about who we are, what we offer, and what we want for ourselves. Not as a reaction to outside forces, but as a grounded declaration of agency.

For WWLA, this means continuing to insist that African leadership, expertise, imagination, and solutions do not need to be imported, translated, or validated elsewhere. The continent does not lack insight. It lacks platforms that consistently amplify what is already working, already emerging, already led from within.

Too often, African contexts are framed solely through crisis and deficit. Yet alongside the visible fractures are countless examples of resilience, creativity, and possibility. Our work has always been about learning to see through the mess, to notice where systems are failing, yes, but also where cracks are letting in light.

The pull of despair

The risk of this moment is not only external extraction, but also internal despair. When global instability meets long-standing local challenges, it becomes easy to disengage; to adopt a ‘what will be, will be’ posture; or to believe that the responsibility and accountability lie elsewhere and must come only from political elites, global powers, divine intervention, and fate itself.

But the future of the continent is not abstract and it is not shaped solely by those to whom we bestow power. It is shaped by the daily choices, voices, and actions of those who also choose to lead, build, and respond to local needs. It belongs to those who refuse to respond only with despair.

WWLA exists precisely to counter the quiet erosion of belief. To remind African leaders, practitioners, and thinkers that agency is not optional. That hope is not naïve. That leadership is not reserved for titles or positions, but practised through presence, intention, and courage.

Photo by Dominic I on Unsplash.

Resistance can be joy

Looking ahead, we are also making a deliberate shift in how resistance to the dominant narrative can be countered and imagined. We are engaging in our work not as struggle, but joyful practice. Not only as critique, but as creation. We want to inspire vision and agency, yes, and also pause, joy, and renewal along the way.

In the midst of uncertainty, choosing to celebrate, to gather, to imagine, and to build is itself transformational. Joy becomes a strategy for thriving in the midst. Creativity becomes a form of refusal. Community becomes infrastructure.

This is not escapism. It is sustainability.

By holding space for reflection and engaging in what brings joy, our purpose is renewed. Possibilities and energy to keep taking action are regenerated. We are working from a place of abundance rather than deficit. At WWLA, we will continue to model a leadership posture that is both sober about reality and deeply committed to possibility.

The voice we choose to be

As we move forward, the question is not whether the continent will be spoken about. It will. The real question is: what voice will we be in the midst of the noise?

Will we be a platform that reminds Africans of their own power?
Will we challenge one-sided narratives by offering grounded, lived perspectives?
Will we inspire action—even if in small, quiet, local ways?

If even one person reclaims agency, one organisation chooses collaboration over extraction, one leader sees possibility where they once saw only constraint, then the work matters.

Looking ahead

The next chapter of WWLA is not about reacting to global shifts, but about deepening roots. About being unmistakably Africa-centred. About insisting—again and again—that the continent’s future must be shaped by those who live, work, dream, and lead her.

We were never waiting to be saved.

As Greek poet Dinos Christianopoulous reminds: we were seeds all along.1

Questions for the continent

As we step into the year ahead—and toward our tenth year—we invite reflection, dialogue, and action. 

  1. What does African leadership look like when it is grounded in agency rather than reaction?
  2. Where are you already shaping the future of the continent, even if no one is applauding?
  3. What would it mean to choose joy, community, and creativity as acts of resistance and transformation?
  4. How are you contributing—however quietly—to what Africa is becoming?

Nobody else will define this future for us. And nobody else should.

As we wrote at the very start of our journey:

Africa, my Africa, no not Diop’s, mine!
An open expanse for my
learning,
love, and
life.
Yet some say, this,
my Africa,
calabash for my soul,
is only a place of strife.
And yet,
here my heart,
always free,
finds time.

Africa, our Africa,
both brash and subtle,
both bold and humble.
Carrying a legacy of story,
drumming to its heartbeat alone
Loving and loud,
too patient, proud?
Performing,
Providing,
and waiting for us to shape futures untold

Africa, your Africa,
but wait
… will you be hers?
The mother, the bride, the nurturer, life giver.
With dedication, and action, into a future of our own making.
We choose…
no longer a-waiting,
because this Africa…
She is mine, yours, ours.

1 Mina, AX, ‘On the Origins of “They Tried to Bury Us, They Didn’t Know We Were Seeds”’, Hyperallergic (3 July 2018), https://hyperallergic.com/on-the-origins-of-they-tried-to-bury-us-they-didnt-know-we-were-seeds/, accessed 26 Jan 2026.

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The emergent impact of We Will Lead Africa: A living movement of leadership and community

by the We Will Lead Africa Founders

Since its inception, the We Will Lead Africa (WWLA) platform has resulted in:

  • 180 documented leadership stories by 187 contributors and counting
  • 23 oríkìs (personal identity poems)
  • 6 volumes
  • 2 Griot Masterclass series 
  • a growing online community.

WWLA has developed into more than a platform for profiling leadership across the continent—it has become a living, breathing movement of sense-making, healing, and collective action. Beyond its numbers, the outcomes and impacts are both tangible and intangible, deeply rooted in the personal and communal transformations it has sparked.

At its core, WWLA has served as an incubator for a particular kind of leadership—one that is deeply communal, emergent, and grounded in shared values. While each contributor and leader involved was already engaged in meaningful work, the space created by the initiative has amplified and nurtured that work. And importantly, it has nurtured the storytellers themselves, situating them as transformational leaders even when many of them didn’t intuitively think of themselves that way. It has offered a way of leadership that is not only about individual achievement but about doing the work together, in community.

This collaboration among the founders and contributors has modelled what it means to lead with authenticity and relational depth. WWLA has not only showcased leadership but has also embodied it, becoming a source of strength and inspiration for those within and beyond its immediate circles.

Photo by Mario Purisic on Unsplash.

Seeing ourselves

One of the most profound impacts of WWLA lies in its ability to inspire action and to galvanise storytellers who had not seen or thought of themselves as leaders. The initiative has never been just an ideation space—it has always emphasised doing. In our story selection criteria, we look for those who ‘have recently done or are currently doing work in any African country that is already showing outcomes or making a difference’, with the impact defined by them and/or the group(s) they are working with.

Contributors and readers alike have been moved to continue, deepen, or even begin work that supports African communities and advances the continent’s development.

Becoming a contributor to WWLA Volume Three marked the beginning of a whirlwind of small but mighty steps in my advocacy journey. At the time, I was deep in the throes of my doctoral research—writing, collecting data, and navigating the intensity of academic life. Amidst it all, I joined the Griot Masterclass, a transformative space that connected me with fellow African changemakers across the continent. Every fortnight, we gathered to share our stories, poetry, and music—each session a reminder of the power of narrative and cultural memory.

Fast-forward to 2024, I organised a virtual professional development series for African educators, and in 2025, curated a book featuring 20 educators from over 10 African countries. That project was born from the inspiration and momentum I gained through WWLA. Most significantly, I discovered the power of oríkì—Yorùbá praise poetry—as a pedagogical tool. I now intentionally weave oríkì into educational spaces, affirming identity, heritage, and belonging.

WWLA gave me the shoulder to fly. It reminded me that advocacy doesn’t always begin with grand gestures—it starts with voice, with story, with community. And from there, we soar.

— Joann Anokwuru, PhD
2021 Griot and contributor to Volume Three: Belonging, Beloving, Becoming

While the full scope of its influence may never be fully known—perhaps not even in the lifetimes of its founders (Yabome, Judith, and Sarah)—the reflections contributors share surrounding the impact of their work offer glimpses into the seeds that have been planted. These personal stories and insights reveal how these everyday African leaders have touched lives, encouraged new thinking, and catalysed meaningful change for thousands of lives.

The reflections, oríkìs, sentence poems, and conversations captured in the volumes are more than documentation—they are a living archive of African leadership in motion. They hold the power of storytelling, of shared wisdom, and of collective vision. In this way, a core impact has been the clarity of positioning WWLA to inspire everyday African leaders to tell their stories.

At one of the initial launch events, a community member asked co-founder Sarah: ‘How do you know that everyone you are profiling are leaders and that they are good leaders?’ This prompted a reflection and clarification that WWLA opens its storytelling to all who consider themselves to be everyday leaders… people simply committed to the progress of Africa and doing work in its service. This was a powerful shift, the idea of the everyday leader who rises and falls, wins and loses, fails and retries, who errs but always comes back onto the path. These are not stories of perfect leaders or perfect leadership. In fact, you don’t need to be perfect. You just have to begin. Several WWLA volumes include some high-profile names; and while that’s great, the fact that it’s not only those names means that anyone can see themselves in the stories and be inspired to take ownership of the issue they want to work on.

We have specifically heard how much the stories matter to young people in terms of them seeing themselves and, therefore, the leadership possibilities around them. Co-founder Judith remembers giving a copy to a young person with a degree from a fairly good university. Afterwards, he returned and said: ‘You don’t know how much this meant to me. When we were in university, we were only reading about the folks in Silicon Valley. It would have made such a difference to have this.’

Another reader wrote to a Volume Two contributor:

Thank you for sharing your story, your calling, and the process of your journey. I actually got a bit emotional reading your story and convictions and steps towards your calling. I felt so very encouraged in my quest to return to the motherland, and more so determined in following that strong desire of my heart to serve the continent. […] Your journey summarised in those few pages means a lot to me in relation to where I am and where I am heading.

To know that the volumes could impact someone in this way has forever stuck with the team as inspiration to keep collecting everyday African leadership stories. It is the personification of everything we talk about when we say representation and role models matter. The WWLA work is about demonstrating to as many Africans as possible that, when they hear words like ‘moon shot’, ‘big, audacious goals’, and whatever else from the top business schools—that we have leaders here doing those things every day.

Photo by Vonecia Carswell on Unsplash.

Finally, perhaps one of the most meaningful aspect of this platform has been the deep connections it fosters.

In each Griot Masterclass, we hear of the power of speaking out your own story, crafting and sharing your narrative, and bearing witness to other everyday Africans as they do the same.

I ask people questions for a living. I have come to see my job as leading people to moments of reflection. For a long time, I have chased other people’s stories. The Griot Masterclass gave me the opportunity to look for my own. To interrogate myself in ways I have either avoided or simply not thought of. To ask myself the questions that I would have otherwise evaded. To seek to speak.

The masterclass also forced me to see myself in the position of leadership. I tend to avoid the tag of leader, even though I often take responsibility. I cannot shy away from leadership when my name is immortalised as an African Leader. I am grateful for that. For the opportunity to create something bigger than me and bigger than my fears and anxieties.

Finally, the masterclass gave me community. I cannot possibly overstate how important community is to me. It was a lovely experience week after week to share with this community, to learn with this community, to grow with this community.

Being a WWLA Griot was enriching in more ways than I can articulate.

— Mo Isu
2021 Griot and contributor to Volume Three: Belonging, Beloving, Becoming

Being a part of the Griot Masterclass cohort was a superb experience and a great eye-opener. The meetings and discussions were powerful as we bonded across borders. We explored cultures, histories, and realities. I realised how, despite the great diversity, we were all the same—one humanity.

Belonging… to a community, to a joint cause, to a future we all desire.

The support was endearing. We worked as a team and co-produced delightful poetry. Consistently reflecting and giving ‘feed forward’ in a space that was totally safe and loving lit the creative fires that helped us all get our stories out.

Beloving… words of encouragement, ties of friendship, empathy, and compassion.

I never thought I had a story to tell, but this journey with fellow Africans brought out the gems hidden within me, which I never knew to be so precious.

Becoming… an inspiration to myself, a force that can make a difference, a motivation to others on the continent and beyond.

— Rasheedat Sadiq
2021 Griot and contributor to Volume Three: Belonging, Beloving, Becoming

The masterclass revived in me an enduring belief that we, people of Africa, wherever we are based, have the capacity to creatively connect and achieve, for generations to come, a dream reality for a new world. Our shared history, common roots and natural resilience can be harnessed to bear for the future a new perspective based on creativity, fraternity, and understanding.

— Gregory Mwangi Ngahu
2023 Griot and contributor to Volume Four: Courage, Community, Creativity

And we experience the power of the movement, in the conversations among the founders that to us are both magical and life-giving; that recharge and reaffirm the purpose of our work, both through WWLA and beyond. These moments of connection are not just about strategy or planning; they are about remembering why the work matters and who it serves.

Looking ahead

WWLA remains an emergent force. It is like stitching together the vibrant pieces of an infinite quilt, where each square, in its own and unique way, adds to the whole. Its impacts are still unfolding, and its potential continues to expand. Whether through future volumes, voice notes, or new formats of storytelling, the movement is poised to keep inspiring, connecting, and leading.

In the end, the most meaningful impact may be this: that one more, two more, three more Africans have been moved to find their piece of the collective quilt—to make a difference for the continent and its peoples. And that, in itself, is leadership worth celebrating.

Get a copy of Volumes Three and Four here

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What are our inspirations?

by the We Will Lead Africa Founders

At We Will Lead Africa (WWLA), one of the question prompts we ask our contributors to respond to is the question: What inspired you to start or do the work you are doing? This month, our co-founders answered this question, sharing their journey with and their work beyond WWLA.

Illustration by Drop Labs on Unsplash.

Judith: The truths we carry

I’ve always lived with change—born into a life of travel, diplomacy, and culture across continents. Growing up, I didn’t just visit other countries; I lived in them, a life of contrasts. On postings attending top schools, immersed in different cultures, and absorbing the richness of being ‘global’; journeys that were always interspersed with a few years at home. With that privilege, there was always something tugging at me—a questioning of the dissonance: What does all of this mean for where I come from?

That question sat in the background until it evolved into something clearer: What am I meant to carry forward? It became a constant rhythm in my life—the urge to take the best of these global experiences and share, to both sides, as a genuine, intentional offering. I dreamed, half-seriously, of some alliance of diplomatic children, already default ambassadors of home in spaces and schools around the world—global thinkers also returning home to reinvest their insight into Africa’s future.

That dream became more urgent when I found myself working in business psychology in Europe. There, I came up against deeply entrenched ideas about leadership—ideas that ignored context, erased cultural depth, and clung tightly to Western stereotypes. I knew something was wrong when I saw Africans constantly measured against frameworks that were never made for them. It wasn’t just frustrating; it was dehumanising. So I went back to our roots. I immersed myself in African mythology, cosmology, and oral histories, building a leadership development model from those philosophies—a model rooted in who we are, not who we’ve been told to be. 

The journey on from that work led me into new spaces—the African technology renaissance, venture capital, and emerging tech. For example, when I got involved in the early days of Andela, it wasn’t just about a start-up. It was about the story they were living and telling: that African brilliance, given the right opportunity, could and would shift the global tech narrative. And they did.

Eventually, I found myself captivated by the potential of immersive technologies like VR. I saw it not just as innovation, but as a tool of liberation: a way for us to define and shape our stories, to occupy emerging digital frontiers, to be the architects this time. That belief birthed Imisi 3D, and later, the volumes we created with WWLA. Because to me, our stories, our science, our futures—they’re not optional. They’re imperative.

Sarah: The future is made, not found

Ever since I was young, I’ve been fascinated by what comes next. I didn’t always know the word for it, but I remember having conversations with my mum and her casually mentioning, ‘I think you’re a futurist.’ And she was right. I’ve always believed that the future isn’t a place we stumble into—it’s one we build.

That belief has driven every major step in my career. I’ve never been content to just watch things unfold. I’ve wanted to be part of designing what’s to come. That’s why I found myself drawn to innovation, systems thinking, and human-centred design. These aren’t just tools; they’re keys. They allow us to unlock possibilities that are more inclusive, more just, more imaginative.

When I first started working across Africa—travelling to different countries—it was like stepping into a space of collective possibility. I met people building businesses, creating platforms, designing futures that didn’t just mimic Western models but redefined them. Whether it was in Ghana, Mozambique, or Nigeria, there was this palpable creative energy. And I wanted to be close to it.

At the time, I didn’t expect to move back. I thought I was a Londoner for life, maybe even a nomadic European. But the pull was strong. The more I engaged with the continent, the more I realised this is where meaningful change was bubbling. This was where narratives weren’t yet cemented, where things could still shift, where my work could truly matter.

That’s why I stayed in Mozambique and co-founded InkDot, a consultancy that’s making innovation practical and possible, and creating space for co-creation, for intentional design of the systems we live in. And that’s why WWLA exists for me—not just to spotlight leadership, but to widen the lens entirely. To say, look at what’s possible when we stop trying to lead like them and start leading like us.

We are not just reacting to change. We are driving it. And the rest of the world could learn a thing or two from the way we’re doing it—together, intentionally, and with imagination rooted in community.

Yabome: Love letters to us

For me, inspiration has never been a lightning bolt. It’s been slow and steady, like water carving its way through rock. A lot of it started without me even realising—through my parents’ choices, their integrity, and their quiet defiance of the norms around them.

I think about my father, whose birthday and memorial fall on the same day this week, and who always said: No matter where you are, home is home. And I think of my mother, walking into the University of Alberta’s library in the 1960s, wrapped proudly in African fabric, head held high. That image sticks with me—she was unapologetic before I even knew what the word meant.

I’ve carried that with me, even when I’ve been told I didn’t belong. At five years old, I stood on a playground in Freetown and defended my identity against another child who questioned it. I was literally not afraid to throw a punch because somebody told me I didn’t belong. That fire never left, it and found a home in my writing, in advocacy, and in leadership.

We Will Lead Africa, for me, came out of that frustration—sheer exhaustion with how African leadership was constantly portrayed in academic and policy spaces. I remember seeing a call for papers for the Kwame Nkrumah International Conference and feeling an almost physical irritation. Why are we still talking about ourselves through the same tired lens? I submitted a proposal late and bluntly challenged the organisers to rethink their approach. To my surprise, they accepted it. That experience became a catalyst for everything that followed.

Since then, I’ve spoken at conferences, published papers, and written short stories, all rooted in the same motivation: to be part of changing the narrative. And it’s not abstract. I’ve heard from young African women around the world who’ve read something I wrote and found their own story in it. One PhD student told me my article gave her the strength to keep going. Another young woman hugged me after a talk and said my words had ‘saved her life’.

Those moments remind me why I do this. It’s not about fame or recognition—it’s about creating space. For us. For our wholeness. For our futures. I write as an act of love. A love letter to myself, to our communities, to anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t belong—because they deserve to see themselves not just surviving, but leading, thriving, shaping.