The relaxed Iowa City summer received a splash of African vibrancy and energy this year courtesy of the Mandela Washington Fellowship program.
The flagship program of the United States government’s Young African Leaders Initiative brings hundreds of young leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa to college campuses across America where they study business, civic engagement, or public management. The University of Iowa, through Tippie’s Institute for International Business (IIB), has hosted 25 Mandela Washington Fellows a year since 2016, under the direction of the IIB’s Executive Director Dimy Doresca.
“This program has been the highlight of Tippie in the summer,” Doresca said. “I’ve never seen cohorts with higher levels of energy and excitement.”
The Fellows venture beyond campus during the program. They visit farms, businesses, and government leaders. They dine with local families, volunteer with nonprofit organizations, participate in leadership training, and engage in plenty of networking.
One of the goals is to inspire them to take what they learn back to their home countries and use it to become leaders in the private sector or start their own business ventures.
“It is good for Africa and good for Iowa,” Doresca said. “Mandela Washington Fellows make deep connections with Iowa business leaders, communities, and families. They go back and serve as ambassadors to Iowa. They talk about the people, products, and services Iowa can offer.
“Before becoming a host college, I felt we were missing out by not being in Africa and making connections with entrepreneurs there,” Doresca said. “There are many new opportunities.”
Doresca notes 60 to 65 percent of Africa’s population is under the age of 25, making it the world’s youngest continent. In addition, Africa contains around 60 percent of the uncultivated arable land on the planet.
“Africa is a place where Iowa agricultural expertise and agricultural products can make a big difference,” Doresca said.
The 2024 cohort arrived on June 19 and quickly embraced Iowa City’s serene summer vibe, while also looking forward to getting down to work.
"It is good for Africa and good for Iowa." -Dimy Doresca
“Iowa is so clean and peaceful,” said Adja Kante, an entrepreneur from Dakar, Senegal, who makes and sells healthy granola products. Fellowship alumni in Dakar raved about the program, so Kante applied with the goal of meeting American-based food industry experts so she can “learn new techniques that aid the people of Senegal.”
Samson Genya, a software designer from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, first heard about the program a decade ago while at university, and vowed he’d be a Fellow one day. He was excited to participate in leadership-building exercises on his first day at Tippie.
“I want to understand leadership better and use it to help rally people into helping me solve problems,” he said.
Genya’s startup company, Endlesstec, aims to grow Africa’s digital economy and help address what he called the “tech poverty” of Sub-Saharan Africa.
To date, more than 170 Mandela Washington Fellows have completed the program through Tippie. The IIB has worked hard to stay in touch with as many as possible following their return to Africa, including Freedom Mukanga of Zimbabwe, who founded an entrepreneurship training company, Hozi Innovator, and Romanus Kanyanga of Namibia, who launched the marketing startup Kanyanga Media Group and is utilizing expertise from other Fellows as he builds up the business.
“Our fellows are extremely good at leveraging the network they created during their time in Iowa,” Doresca said. “It helps them have an impact on their communities when they return home.”
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The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX. The University of Iowa is a sub-grantee of IREX and has implemented Leadership Institutes as a part of the Fellowship since 2016. For more information about the Mandela Washington Fellowship, please visit the Fellowship’s website at www.mandelawashingtonfellowship.org.
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This article appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of Tippie Magazine.
Photos by Justin Torner | University of Iowa
