President Obama hosts Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders

Young Nigerian Entrepreneur; Adebola Williams is one of the 2016 Mandela Fellows, who will be participating in the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Presidential Summit in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama and U.S. government, private sector, and civil society leaders will meet with nearly 1,000 of sub-Saharan Africa’s most promising young leaders from August 1-3 at the Presidential Summit of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

The summit, held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., will feature a town hall with President Obama, a Congressional Forum, and an Expo with more than 100 organizations engaged with Africa. USAID Administrator Gayle Smith, Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel, Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs Evan Ryan, and Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield will also meet with the participants.

President Barack Obama
President Barack Obama

The young African leaders are convening in Washington after six weeks of academic study and leadership training at 36 higher education institutions across the United States as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship. Alumni of the fellowship are playing a role in strengthening democratic institutions, spurring economic growth, and enhancing peace and security in Africa. The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative, President Obama’s signature effort to invest in the next generation of African leaders.

Adebola Williams is co-founder of Red Media Group whose brands include Red Media Africa, StateCraft Inc, The Future Africa Awards, Y! Africa, and YNaija.com. In this role, he has consulted for organizations including Microsoft, Google, the British Council, and the US government. The group managed the campaign communications for two consecutive Nigerian presidents, through StateCraft Inc, the group’s governance communication company.

Adebola crusades on entrepreneurship, leadership and impact change focusing on youth across the world. His accolades include: the Top 100 of Our Generation UK, a Global Changemaker by the British Council CNBC Young Business Leader, Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneur, and Business Day 49 under 40. He has also spoken for the African Union at Harvard and NYU Stern universities. Adebola is an alumnus of the London School of Journalism, London School of Marketing and Pan Atlantic University. Adebola is also a member of the African Leadership Network.

by Tosan Aduayi for Trendy Africa Magazine

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