About Us

Our Story

The YALI Regional Leadership Center Southern Africa in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UNISA Graduate School of Business Leadership (UNISA SBL), The MasterCard Foundation, Dow, the Trevor Noah Foundation and other private sector partners provides young African leaders between the ages of 18-35 with the necessary skills, tools and opportunities to better serve their communities and countries. The programme trained over 6 000 young African leaders across 14 Southern African countries in Business and Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership and Public Management since its inception in 2015.

sector specific programmes

RLC SA collaborated with Power Africa to build the leadership skills of young women active in Africa’s energy sector. The training joined the RLC SA’s expertise in developing leadership skills of young Africans with Power Africa’s expertise in the energy sector. The RLC SA replicated this success by approaching the private sector, and public sector organizations as potential customers. This led to the development and delivery of a successful program for the Education sector in partnership with the Trevor Noah Foundation. For the sector specific trainings, the participants immerse themselves in a 4-week in-person study. Currently the pre-selected sectors for expansion include programs such as the African Youth in Agricultural Leadership, and Young Leaders in the Water Sector programmes.

the programme offers

Intensive residential and online training where participants are exposed to business and public management tools, experiential learning, networking. Upon returning home, participants continue to build on the skills and connections developed during their training through access to ongoing development support, limited and competitive project implementation grants and networking and collaboration opportunities.

In-person/Online Training

4 - 7 weeks of intense training in Business and Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership and Public Management.

Networking

Conferences and events planned by YALI RLC SA and the Alumni community.

Mentorship

A mutually beneficial relationship between a Mentor and participant where time, talent, skills, and knowledge is shared.

Collaboration

Opportunities to collaborate across cohort, country, and sector on projects of similar interest.

Grant Funding Opportunity

Limited and competitive project implementation grants to implement innovative projects that will make a difference in communities and countries.

Tools and Resources

YALI participants and alumni have access to an array of tools, resources and networks throughout the training and beyond.

To meet the ideals of the rlc sa

The programme aims to:

· Create critical thinkers

· Solve complex and multidisciplinary problems

· Foster entrepreneurial thinking

· Encourage innovative use of information, knowledge, and opportunities

· Encourage communication and multicultural collaboration

· Create awareness of contemporary African issues