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At Drexel, 25 Mandela fellows learn to be leaders

For the last six weeks, the young African business and nonprofit leaders have been immersed in Philadelphia's culture while being trained on leadership best practices.

Mandela Washington Fellows learn about public speaking and executive presence with Drexel professor Stan Ridgley.
Mandela Washington Fellows learn about public speaking and executive presence with Drexel professor Stan Ridgley.Read moreDrexel University Institute for Strategic Leadership

Unopa Makanyanga, 33, runs a nonprofit in Zimbabwe that makes organizations more efficient through technology. Nickolaus Bauer, 32, cofounded a social enterprise in South Africa that creates spaces for children in economically disadvantaged areas of Johannesburg. And Mohamed Yahia, 35, of Sudan, promotes peaceful coexistence through artistic storytelling in comics and games.

Makanyanga, Bauer, and Yahia are among 25 Mandela Washington Fellows who have spent the last six weeks at Drexel University, studying leadership methods, doing community service, and immersing themselves in Philadelphia culture.

"What we've learned from Drexel is huge," said Yahia, "but how we implement it among each other in our conversations, in developing our own ideas, I think it's the next big step."

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is the four-year-old flagship program for the State Department's Young African Leaders Initiative, which connects fellows with American colleges and universities for training in civic leadership, public management, and business and entrepreneurship.

"We're looking for … young leaders, people who are really committed to their communities, people who have a proven accomplishment in one of those tracks," said Britta Bjornlund, a branch chief  who runs the program out of the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

This year, 1,000 fellows from 48 countries are studying at 40 colleges and universities after 64,000 applicants competed for the coveted spots. All are between the ages of 25 and 35, and for most of them, it's their first experience in the United States.

"One of [the program's] big talking points is that they have a lower acceptance rate than Harvard," said Alison Young, executive director of the Institute for Strategic Leadership at Drexel's LeBow College of Business.

This is Drexel's first year in the Mandela Washington Fellowship, and Young said Drexel is the first Philadelphia partner institution. Other partners include Rutgers, Howard, and Northwestern Universities.

"For us it's teaching people how to build relationships and build community to increase the capacity of their organizations and the sustainability of their organizations," Young said. "It's primarily leadership-focused, but we're trying to build skills around fund-raising and networking in America."

The Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, funded in part by a $150,000 grant from the federal government, was created by the Obama administration in 2013 to invest in the next generation of African leaders.  After the first class in 2014, the program was renamed for former South African President Nelson Mandela. In each of its first two years, the program drew 500 fellows.

Since their arrival on June 16,  the fellows from Drexel have met with public officials such as former Mayor Michael A. Nutter, and have gone on field trips to Philadelphia landmarks, a Phillies game, Brooklyn, and the Amish community near Lancaster. For their community service, fellows fed the hungry. At the end of their six weeks, fellows from Drexel will join their peers in Washington for a weeklong summit, where they will meet with U.S. leaders.

Makanyanga, Bauer, and Yahia said the Mandela Washington Fellowship has been about innovation and learning new methods of problem-solving.

For Makanyanga, her time shadowing the head of a Philadelphia nonprofit made her consider using new methods in her own work.

"I walked through that organization and I was thinking … how do I make it work in my community, which is a little bit different, but they're still facing the same fundamental social issue of poverty," she said.

Bauer said his time in the program has allowed him to view issues from different perspectives.

"Age-old problems like poverty, inequality, prejudice, they're not going to be solved by using old techniques," he said. "I think we're uniquely placed to see a lot of the world's problems, a lot of Africa's problems, through fresh eyes."