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.
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.
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.